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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8998-8.txt b/8998-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18b4cd8 --- /dev/null +++ b/8998-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,26882 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Paris As It Was and As It Is, by Francis W. Blagdon + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Paris As It Was and As It Is + +Author: Francis W. Blagdon + +Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8998] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARIS AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS *** + + + + +Produced by John Hagerson, Carlo Traverso, and Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +PARIS + +AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS; + +OR + +A Sketch of the French Capital, + +ILLUSTRATIVE OF + +THE EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION, + +WITH RESPECT TO + +SCIENCES, +LITERATURE, +ARTS, +RELIGION, +EDUCATION, +MANNERS, +AND +AMUSEMENTS; + +COMPRISING ALSO + +A correct Account of the most remarkable National Establishments and +Public Buildings. + +In a Series of Letters, + +WRITTEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER, + +DURING THE YEARS 1801-2, + +TO A FRIEND IN LONDON. + + * * * * * + +_Ipsâ varietate tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis, quædem fortasse +omnibus placeant. PLIN. Epist._ + + * * * * * + + +VOL. I + +LONDON + +1803 + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +In the course of the following production, the Reader will meet with +several references to a Plan of Paris, which it had been intended to +prefix to the work; but that intention having been frustrated by the +rupture between the two countries, in consequence of which the copies +for the whole of the Edition have been detained at Calais, it is +hoped that this apology will be accepted for the omission. + + + +CONTENTS. + + +VOLUME FIRST. + +New Organization of the National Institute + +INTRODUCTION + +LETTER I. +On the ratification of the preliminary treaty of peace, the author +leaves London for Paris--He arrives at Calais on the 16th of October, +1801--Apparent effect of the peace--After having obtained a passport, +he proceeds to Paris, in company with a French naval officer. + +LETTER II. +Journey from Calais to Paris--Improved state of agriculture--None of +the French gun-boats off Boulogne moored with chains at the time of +the attack--St. Denis--General sweep made, in 1793, among the +sepultures in that abbey--Arrival at Paris--Turnpikes now established +throughout Prance--Custom-house scrutiny. + +LETTER III. +Objects which first strike the observer on arriving at Paris after an +absence of ten or twelve years--Tumult in the streets considerably +diminished since the revolution--No liveries seen--Streets less +dangerous than formerly to pedestrians--Visits paid to different +persons by the author--Price of lodgings nearly doubled since 1789 +--The author takes apartments in a private house. + +LETTER IV. +Climate of Paris--_Thermolampes_ or stoves which afford light and +heat on an economical plan--Sword whose hilt was adorned with the +_Pitt_ diamond, and others of considerable value, presented to the +Chief Consul. + +LETTER V. +Plan on which these letters are written. + +LETTER VI. +The _Louvre_ or _National Palace of Arts and Sciences_ described +--_Old Louvre_--Horrors of St. Bartholomew's day--From this palace +Charles IX fired on his own subjects--Additions successively made to +it by different kings--_Bernini_, sent for by Lewis XIV, forwarded +the foundation of the _New Louvre_, and returned to Italy--_Perrault_ +produced the beautiful colonnade of the _Louvre_, the master-piece of +French architecture--Anecdote of the Queen of England, relict of +Charles I--Public exhibition of the productions of French Industry. + +LETTER VII. +_Central Museum of the Arts_--_Gallery of Antiques_--Description of +the different halls and of the most remarkable statues contained in +them, with original observations by the learned connoisseur, +_Visconti_. + +LETTER VIII. +Description of the _Gallery of Antiques_, and of its _chefs-d'oeuvre_ +of sculpture continued and terminated--Noble example set by the +French in throwing open their museums and national establishments to +public inspection--Liberal indulgence shewn to foreigners. + +LETTER IX. +General A----y's breakfast--Montmartre--Prospect thence enjoyed +--Theatres. + +LETTER X. +Regulations of the Police to be observed by a stranger on his arrival +in the French capital--Pieces represented at the _Théâtre Louvois_ +--_Palais du gouvernement_ or Palace of the Tuileries described--It was +constructed, by Catherine de Medicis, enlarged by Henry IV and Lewis +XIII, and finished By Lewis XIV--The tenth of August, 1792, as +pourtrayed by an actor in that memorable scene--Number of lives lost +on the occasion--Sale of the furniture, the king's wardrobe, and +other effects found in the palace--_Place du Carrousel_--Famous +horses of gilt bronze brought from Venice and placed here--The fate +of France suspended by a thread--Fall of _Robespiere_ and his +adherents. + +LETTER XI. +Massacre of the prisoners at Paris in September, 1792--Private ball +--The French much improved in dancing--The waltz described--Dress of +the women. + +LETTER XII. +_Bonaparte_--Grand monthly parade--Agility of the First Consul in +mounting his charger--Consular guards, a remarkably fine body of men +--Horses of the French cavalry, sorry in appearance, but capable of +enduring fatigue and privations. + +LETTER XIII. +_Jardin des Tuileries_--This garden now kept in better order than +under the monarchy--The newly-built house of _Véry_, the +_restaurateur_--This quarter calls to mind the most remarkable events +in the history of the revolution--_Place de la Concorde_--Its name is +a strong contrast to the great number of victims here sacrificed +--Execution of the King and Queen, _Philippe Égalité_, _Charlotte +Corday_, Madame _Roland_, _Robespiere_, _cum multus aliis_ +--Unexampled dispatch introduced in putting persons to death by means +of the guillotine--_Guillotin_, the inventor or improver of this +instrument, dies of grief--Little impression left on the mind of the +spectators of these sanguinary scenes--Lord _Cornwallis_ arrives in +Paris. + +LETTER XIV. +National fête, in honour of peace, celebrated in Paris on the 18th of +Brumaire, year X (9th of November, 1801)--_Garnerin_ and his wife +ascend in a balloon--Brilliancy of the illuminations--Laughable +accident. + +LETTER XV. +Description of the fête continued--Apparent apathy of the people +--Songs composed in commemoration of this joyful event--Imitation of +one of them. + +LETTER XVI. +_Gallery of the Louvre_--_Saloon of the Louvre_--Italian School--The +most remarkable pictures in the collection mentioned, with original +remarks on the masters by _Visconti_--Lord _Cornwallis's_ reception +in Paris. + +LETTER XVII. +_Gallery of the Louvre_ in continuation--French School--Flemish +School--The pictures in the _Saloon_ are seen to much greater +advantage than those in the _Gallery_--_Gallery of Apollo_--These +superb repositories of the finest works of art are indiscriminately +open to the public. + +LETTER XVIII. +_Palais Royal_, now called _Palais du Tribunat_--Its construction +begun, in 1629, by Cardinal _Richelieu_, who makes a present of it to +_Lewis_ XIII--It becomes the property of the Orleans family--Anecdote +of the Regent--Considerable alterations made in this palace--_Jardin +du Palais du Tribunat_--This garden is surrounded by a range of +handsome buildings, erected in 1782 by the duke of Orleans, then duke +of Chartres--The _Cirque_ burnt down in 1797--Contrast between the +company seen here in 1789 and in 1801--The _Palais Royal_, the +theatre of political commotions--Mutual enmity of the queen and the +duke of Orleans, which, in the sequel, brought these great personages +to the scaffold--Their improper example imitated by the nobility of +both sexes--The projects of each defeated--The duke's pusillanimity +was a bar to his ambition--He exhausted his immense fortune to gain +partisans, and secure the attachment of the people--His imprisonment, +trial, and death. + +LETTER XIX. +The _Palais du Tribunat_, an epitome of all the trades in Paris +--Prohibited publications--Mock auctions--_Magazins de confiance à prix +fixe_--Two speculations, of a somewhat curious nature, established +there with success--_The Palais Royal_, a vortex of dissipation +--Scheme of _Merlin_ of Douay for cleansing this Augæan stable. + +LETTER XX. +_Thé_, a sort of route--Contrast in the mode of life of the Parisians +before and since the revolution--_Petits soupers_ described--An +Englishman improves on all the French _bons vivans_ under the old +_régime_. + +LETTER XXI. +Public places of various descriptions--Their title and number +--Contrast between the interior police now established in the theatres +in Paris, and that which existed before the revolution--Admirable +regulations at present adopted for the preservation of order at the +door of the theatres--Comparatively small number of carriages now +seen in waiting at the grand French opera. + +LETTER XXII. +_Palais du Corps Législatif_--Description of the hall of the sittings +of that body--Opening of the session--Speech of the President--Lord +_Cornwallis_ and suite present at this sitting--_Petits appartemens_ +of the _ci-devant Palais Bourbon_ described. + +LETTER XXIII. +_Halle au Blé_--Lightness of the roof of the dome--Annual consumption +of bread-corn in _Paris_--Astrologers--In former times, their number +in _Paris_ exceeded _30,000_--Fortune-tellers of the present day +--Church of _St. Eustache_--_Tourville_, the brave opponent of Admiral +_Russel_, had no epitaph--Festivals of reason described. + +LETTER XXIV. +_Museum of French Monuments_--Steps taken by the Constituent Assembly +to arrest the progress of Vandalism--Many master-pieces of painting, +sculpture, and architecture, destroyed in various parts of France +--_Grégoire_, ex-bishop of Blois, publishes three reports, to expose +the madness of irreligious barbarism, which claim particular +distinction.--They saved from destruction many articles of value in +the provinces--Antique monuments found in 1711, in digging among the +foundation of the ancient church of Paris--Indefatigable exertions of +_Lenoir_, the conservator of this museum--The halls of this museum +fitted up according to the precise character peculiar to each +century, and the monuments arranged in them in historical and +chronological order--Tombs of _Clovis_, _Childebert_, and +_Chilperic_--Statues of _Charlemagne_, _Lewis IX_, and of _Charles_, +his brother, together with those of the kings that successively +appeared in this age down to king _John_--Tombs of _Charles V_, _Du +Gueselin_, and _Sancerre_--Mausolea of _Louis d'Orléans_ and of +_Valentine de Milan_--Statues of _Charles VI_, _Rénée d'Orléans_, +_Philippe de Commines_, _Lewis XI_, _Charles VII_, _Joan_ of _Arc_, +_Isabeau de Bavière_--Tomb of _Lewis XII_--Tragical death of +_Charles_ the _Bad_. + +LETTER XXV. +_Museum of French Monuments_ continued--Tombs of _Francis I_, of the +_Valois_, and of _Diane de Poitiers_--Character of that celebrated +woman--Statues of _Turenne_, _Condé_, _Colbert_, _La Fontaine_, +_Racine_, and _Lewis XIV_--Mausolea of Cardinals _Richelieu_ and +_Mazarin_--Statues of _Montesquieu_, _Fontenelle_, _Voltaire_, +_Rousseau_, _Helvetius_, _Crébillon_, and _Piron_--Tombs of +_Maupertuis_, _Caylus_, and Marshal _d'Harcourt_--This museum +contains a chronology of monuments, both antique and modern, from +2500 years before our era down to the present time, beginning with +those of ancient Greece, and following all the gradations of the art +from its cradle to its decrepitude--Sepulchre of _Héloïse_ and +_Abélard_. + +LETTER XXVI. +Dinner at General _A----y's_--Difference in the duration of such a +repast now and before the revolution--The General's ancestor, +_François A----y_, planned and completed the famous canal of +Languedoc--_Dépôt de la guerre_--Such an establishment much wanted in +England--Its acknowledged utility has induced Austria, Spain, and +Portugal, to form others of a similar nature--Geographical and +topographical riches of this _dépôt_. + +LETTER XXVII. +_Boulevards_--Their extent--Amusements they present--_Porte St. +Denis_--Anecdote of Charles VI--_Porte St. Martin_--_La Magdeleine_ +--Ambulating conjurers--Means they employ to captivate curiosity. + +LETTER XXVIII. +French funds and national debt--Supposed liquidation of an annuity +held by a foreigner before the war, and yet unliquidated--Value of a +franc. + +LETTER XXIX. +Grand monthly parade--Etiquette observed on this occasion, in the +apartments of the palace of the _Tuileries_--_Bonaparte_--His person +--His public character in Paris--Obstruction which the First Consul +met with in returning from the parade--_Champs Elysées_--Sports and +diversions there practised--Horses, brought from Marly to this spot, +the master-pieces of the two celebrated sculptors, _Costou_ +--Comparison they afford to politicians. + +LETTER XXX. +_Madonna de Foligno_--Description of the method employed by the +French artists to transfer from pannel to canvass this celebrated +master-piece of _Raphael_. + +LETTER XXXI. +_Pont Neuf_--Henry IV--His popularity--Historical fact concerning the +cause of his assassination brought to light--The Seine swollen by the +rains--It presents a dull scene in comparison to the Thames--Great +number of washerwomen--_La Samaritaine_--Shoe-blacks on the _Pont +Neuf_--Their trade decreased--Recruiting Officers--The allurements +they formerly employed are now become unnecessary in consequence of +the conscription--Anecdote of a British officer on whom a French +recruiter had cast his eye--Disappointment that ensued. + +LETTER XXXII. +Balls now very numerous every evening in Paris--_Bal du Salon des +Étrangers_--Description of the women--Comparison between the French +and English ladies--Character of Madame _Tallien_--Generosity, +fortitude, and greatness of soul displayed by women during the most +calamitous periods of the revolution--Anecdote of a young Frenchman +smitten by a widow--An attachment, founded on somewhat similar +circumstances, recorded by historians of Henry III of France +--Sympathy, and its effects. + +LETTER XXXIII. +_Pont National_, formerly called the _Pont Royal_--Anecdote of Henry +IV and a waterman--_Coup d'oeil_ from this bridge--Quays of Paris +--Galiot of St. Cloud--_Pont de la Concorde_--Paris besieged by the +Swedes, Danes, and Normans, in 885--The Seine covered with their +vessels for the space of two leagues--A vessel ascends the Seine from +Rouen to Paris in four days--Engineers have ever judged it +practicable to render the Seine navigable, from its mouth to the +capital, for vessels of a certain burden--Riches accruing from +commerce pave the way to the ruin of States, as well as the extension +of their conquests. + +LETTER XXXIV. +French literature--Effects produced on it by the revolution--The +sciences preferred to literature, and for what reason--The French +government has flattered the literati and artists; but the solid +distinctions have been reserved for men of science--Epic Poetry +--Tragedy--Comedy--Novels--Moral Fable--Madrigal and Epigram--Romance +--Lyric Poetry--Song--Journals. + +LETTER XXXV. +_Pont au Change_--_Palais de Justice_--Once a royal residence +--Banquet given there, in 1313, by Philip the Fair, at which were +present Edward II and his queen Isabella--Alterations which this +palace has undergone, in consequence of having, at different times, +been partly reduced to ashes--Madame _La Motte_ publicly whipped--In +1738, _Lewis XVI_ here held a famous bed of justice, in which +_D'Espresmenil_ struck the first blow at royalty--He was exiled to +the _Ile de St. Marguerite_--After having stirred up all the +parliaments against the royal authority, he again became the humble +servant of the crown--After the revolution, the _Palais de Justice_ +was the seat of the Revolutionary Tribunal--_Dumas_, its president, +proposed to assemble there five or six hundred victims at a time--He +was the next day condemned to death by the same tribunal--The _Palais +de Justice_, now the seat of different tribunals--The _grande +chambre_ newly embellished in the antique style--_La Conciergerie_, +the place of confinement of _Lavoisier_, _Malsherbes_, _Cordorcet_, +_&c._--Fortitude displayed by the hapless _Marie-Antoinette_ after +her condemnation--_Pont St. Michel_--_Pont Notre-Dame_--Cathedral of +_Notre-Dame_--Anecdote of _Pepin_ the Short--Devastations committed +in this cathedral--Medallions of _Abélard_ and _Héloïse_ to be seen +near _Notre-Dame_ in front of the house where _Fulbert_, her supposed +uncle, resided--_Petit Pont_--_Pont au Double_--_Pont Marie_--Workmen +now employed in the construction of three new bridges--_Pont de la +Tournelle_. + +LETTER XXXVI. +Paris a charming abode for a man of fortune--Summary of its +advantages--_Idalium_--_Tivoli_--_Frascati_--_Paphos_--_La +Phantasmagorie_ of _Robertson_--_Fitzjames_, the famous +ventriloquist--Method of converting a galantee-show into an +exhibition somewhat similar to that of the phantasmagorists. + +LETTER XXXVII. +Paris the most melancholy abode in the world for a man without money +--_Restaurateurs_--In 1765, _Boulanger_ first conceived the idea of +_restoring_ the exhausted animal functions of the delibitated +Parisians--He found many imitators--The _restaurateurs_, in order to +make their business answer, constitute themselves _traiteurs_--_La +Barrière_--_Beauvilliers_, _Robert_, _Naudet_, and _Véry_ dispute the +palm in the art of Appicius--Description of _Beauvilliers'_ +establishment--His bill of fare--Expense of dining at a fashionable +_restaurateur's_ in Paris--Contrast between establishments of this +kind existing before the revolution, and those in vogue at the +present day--Cheap eating-houses--The company now met with at the +fashionable rendezvous of good cheer compared with that seen here in +former times--_Cabinets particuliers_--Uses to which they are +applied--Advantages of a _restaurateur's_--_Beauvilliers_ pays great +attention to his guests--Cleanly and alert waiters--This +establishment is admirably well managed. + + +VOLUME SECOND. + +LETTER XXXVIII. +National Institution of the Deaf and Dumb--France indebted to the +philanthropic _Abbé de l'Épée_ for the discovery of the mode of +instructing them--It has been greatly improved by _Sicard_, the +present Institutor--Explanation of his system of instruction--The +deaf and dumb are taught grammar, metaphysics, logic, religion, the +use of the globes, geography, arithmetic, history, natural history, +arts and trades--Almost every thing used by them is made by +themselves--Lessons of analysis which astonish the spectators. + +LETTER XXXIX. +Public women--Charlemagne endeavours to banish them from Paris--His +daughters, though addicted to illicit enjoyments, die universally +regretted--_Les Filles Dieu_--_Les Filles pénitentes ou repenties_ +--Courtesans--Luxury displayed in their equipages and houses--Kept +women--Opera-dancers--Secret police maintained by Lewis XVI, in 1792 +--Grisettes--Demireps--A French woman, at thirty, makes an excellent +friend--_Rousseau's_ opinion of this particular class of women in +Paris. + +LETTER XL. +National Institution of the Industrious Blind--Circumstance which +gave rise to this establishment--_Valentin Haüy_, its founder, found +his project seconded by the Philanthropic Society--His plan of +instruction detailed--Museum of the Blind--After two or three +lessons, a blind child here teaches himself to read without the +further help of any master. + +LETTER XLI. +_Théâtre des Arts et de la République_, or Grand French opera--Old +opera-house burnt down, and a new one built and opened in 72 days +--Description of the present house--Operas of _Gluck_; also those of +_Piccini_ and _Sacchini_--Gluckists and Piccinists--The singing is +the weakest department at the French opera--Merits of the singers of +both sexes--Choruses very full--Orchestra famous--The Chief Consul, +being very partial to Italian music, sends to that land of harmony to +procure the finest musical compositions. + +LETTER XLII. +Dancing improved in France--Effect of some of the ballets--_Noverre_ +and _Gardel_ first introduce them on the French stage--Rapid change +of scenery--Merits of the dancers of both sexes--The rector of St. +Roch refuses to admit into that church the corpse of Mademoiselle +_Chameroi_--The dancers in private society now emulate those who make +dancing their profession--Receipts of the opera. + +LETTER XLIII. +New year's day still celebrated in Paris on the 1st of January +--Customs which prevail there on that occasion--_Denon's_ account of +the French expedition to Egypt--That country was the cradle of the +arts and sciences--_Fourrier_ confirms the theory of _Dupuis_, +respecting the origin, &c. of the figures of the Zodiac. + +LETTER XLIV. +_Hôtel des Invalides_--It was projected by Henry IV and erected by +Lewis XIV--Temple of Mars--To its arches are suspended the standards +and colours taken from the enemy--Two British flags only are among +the number--Monument of _Turenne_--Circumstances of his death--Dome +of the _Invalides_--Its refectories and kitchens--Anecdote of Peter +the Great--Reflections on establishments of this description--_Champ +de Mars_--_École Militaire_--Various scenes of which the _Champ de +Mars_ has been the theatre--Death of _Bailly_--Modern national fêtes +in France, a humble imitation of the Olympic games. + +LETTER XLV. +Object of the different learned and scientific institutions, which, +before the revolution, held their sittings in the _Louvre_--Anecdote +of Cardinal Richelieu--National Institute of Arts and Sciences +--Organization of that learned body--Description of the apartments of +the Institute--Account of its public quarterly meeting of the 15th +Nivose, year X, (5th of January, 1802)--Marriage of Mademoiselle +_Beauharnois_ to _Louis Bonaparte_. + +LETTER XLVI. +_Opéra Buffa_--The Italian comedians who came to Paris in 1788, had a +rapid influence on the musical taste of the French public--Performers +of the new Italian company--Productions of _Cimarosa_, _Paësiello_, +&c.--Madame _Bolla_. + +LETTER XLVII. +Present state of public worship--Summary of the proceedings of the +constitutional clergy--National councils of the Gallican church held +at Paris--Conduct of the Pope, _Pius VII_--The Cardinal Legate, +_Caprara_, arrives in Paris--The Concordat is signed--Subsequent +transactions. + +LETTER XLVIII. +_Pantheon_--Description of this edifice--_Marat_ and _Mirabeau_ +pantheonized and dispantheonized--The remains of _Voltaire_ and +_Rousseau_ removed hither--The Pantheon in danger of falling--This +apprehension no longer exists--_Bonaparte_ leaves Paris for Lyons. + +LETTER XLIX. +Scientific societies of Paris--_Société Philotechnique_--_Société +Libre des Sciences, Lettres, et Arts_--_Athénée des Arts_--_Société +Philomatique_--_Société Académique des Sciences_--_Société +Galvanique_--_Société des Belles-Lettres_--_Académie de Législation_ +--_Observateurs de l'Homme_--_Athénée de Paris_. + +LETTER L. +Coffee-houses--Character of the company who frequent them--Contrast +between the coffee-houses of the present and former times--Coffee +first introduced at Paris, in 1669, by the Turkish ambassador--_Café +méchanique_--Subterraneous coffee-houses of the _Palais du +Tribunat_. + +LETTER LI. +Public instruction--The ancient colleges and universities are +replaced by Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Lyceums, and Special +Schools--National pupils--Annual cost of these establishments +--Contrast between the old system of education and the new plan, +recently organized. + +LETTER LII. +Milliners--_Montesquieu's_ observation on the commands of the fair +sex--Millinery a very extensive branch of trade in Paris--_Bal de +l'Opéra_--Dress of the men and women--Adventures are the chief object +of those who frequent these masquerades. + +LETTER LIII. +_Théâtre Français de la République_--The house described--List of the +stock-pieces--Names of their authors--_Fabre d'Eglantine_--His +_Philinte de Molière_ a _chef-d'oeuvre_--Some account of its author +--_La Chaussée_ the father of the _drame_, a tragi-comic species of +dramatic composition. + +LETTER LIV. +Principal performers in tragedy at the _Théâtre Français_--_Vanhove_, +_Monvel_, _St. Prix_, and _Naudet_--_Talma_, and _Lafond_--_St. Fal_, +_Damas_, and _Dupont_--Mesdames _Raucourt_ and _Vestris_--Mesdames +_Fleury_, _Talma_, _Bourgoin_, and _Volnais_--Mesdames _Suin_ and +_Thénard_--_Début_ of Mademoiselle _Duchesnois_; Madame _Xavier_, and +Mademoiselle _Georges_--Disorderly conduct of the _Duchesnistes_, who +are routed by the _Georgistes_. + +LETTER LV. +Principal performers in comedy at the _Théâtre Français_--_Vanhove_, +and _Naudet_--_Molé_, _Fleury_, and _Baptiste_ the elder--_St. Fal_, +_Dupont_, _Damas_, and _Armand_--_Grandménil_, and _Caumont_ +--_Dugazon_, _Dazincourt_, and _Larochelle_--Mesdemoiselles _Contat_, +and _Mézeray_--Madame _Talma_--Mesdemoiselles _Mars, Bourgoin_, and +_Gros_--Mesdemoiselles _Lachassaigne_ and _Thénard_--Mesdemoiselles +_Devienne_ and _Desbrosses_--Contrast between the state of the French +stage before and since the revolution. + +LETTER LVI. +French women fond of appearing in male attire--Costume of the French +Ladies--Contrast it now presents to that formerly worn--The change in +their dress has tended to strengthen their constitution--The women in +Paris extremely cleanly in their persons--Are now very healthy. + +LETTER LVII. +The studies in the colleges and universities interrupted by bands of +insurgents--_Collège de France_--It is in this country the only +establishment where every branch of human knowledge is taught in its +fullest extent--Was founded by Francis I--Disputes between this new +College and the University--Its increasing progress--The improvements +in the sciences spread by the instruction of this College--Its +present state. + +LETTER LVIII. +_Théâtre de l'Opéra Comique_--Authors who have furnished it with +stock-pieces, and composers who have set them to music--Principal +performers at this theatre--_Elleviou_, _Gavaudan_, _Philippe_, and +_Gaveaux_--_Chenard_, _Martin_, _Rézicourt_, _Juliet_, and _Moreau_ +--_Solié_, and _St. Aubin_--_Dozainville_, and _Lesage_--Mesdames _St. +Aubin_, _Scio_, _Lesage_, _Crétu_, _Philis_ the elder, _Gavaudan_, +and _Pingenet_--Mesdames _Dugazon_, _Philippe_, and _Gonthier_. + +LETTER LIX. +France owes her salvation to the _savans_ or men of science +--Polytechnic School--Its object--Its formation and subsequent +progress--Changes recently introduced into this interesting +establishment. + +LETTER LX. +Pickpockets and sharpers--Anecdote of a female swindler--Anecdote of +a sharper--Housebreakers--_Chauffeurs_--A new species of assassins +--_Place de Grève_--Punishment for thieves re-established--On the +continent, ladies flock to the execution of criminals. + +LETTER LXI. +Schools for Public Services--The Polytechnic School, the grand +nursery whence the pupils are transplanted into the Schools of +Artillery, Military Engineers, Bridges and Highways, Mines, Naval +Engineers, and Navigation--Account of these schools--_Prytanée +Français_--Special Schools--Special School of Painting and Sculpture +--Competitions--National School of Architecture--Conservatory of +Music--Present state of Music in France--Music has done wonders in +reviving the courage of the French soldiers--The French are no less +indebted to _Rouget de Lille_, author of the _Marseillois_, than the +Spartans were to _Tyrtæus_--Gratuitous School for Drawing--Veterinary +School--New Special Schools to Le established in France. + +LETTER LXII. +Funerals--No medium in them under the old _régime_--Ceremonies +formerly observed--Those practised at the present day--Marriages +--Contrast they present. + +LETTER LXIII. +Public Libraries--_Bibliothèque Nationale_--Its acquisitions since +the revolution--School for Oriental Living Languages. + +LETTER LXIV. +_Bibliothèque Mazarine_--_Bibliothèque du Panthéon_--_Bibliothèque de +l'Arsenal_--The Arsenal--Other libraries and literary _dépôts_ in +Paris. + +LETTER LXV. +Dancing--Nomenclature of caperers in Paris, from the wealthiest +classes down to the poorest--Beggars form the last link of the chain. + +LETTER LXVI. +_Bureau des Longitudes_--Is on a more extensive scale than the Board +of Longitude in England--National Observatory--Subterraneous quarries +that have furnished the stone with which most of the houses in Paris +are constructed--Measures taken to prevent the buildings in Paris +from being swallowed up in these extensive labyrinths--Present state +of the Observatory--_Lalande_, _Méchain_, and _Bouvard_--_Carroché_, +and _Lenoir_--_Lavoisier_, and _Borda_--_Delambre_, _Laplace_, +_Burckhardt_, _Vidal_, _Biot_, and _Puisson_--New French weights and +measures--Concise account of the operations employed in measuring an +arc of the terrestrial meridian--Table of the new French measures and +weights--Their correspondence with the old, and also with those of +England. + +LETTER LXVII. +_Dépôt de la Marine_--An establishment much wanted in England. + +LETTER LXVIII. +_Théâtre Louvois_--_Picard_, the manager of this theatre, is the +_Molière_ of his company--_La Grande Ville, ou les Provinciaux à +Paris_--Principal performers at this theatre--_Picard_, _Devigny_, +_Dorsan_, and _Clozel_--Mesdemoiselles _Adeline_, _Molière_, +_Lescot_, and Madame _Molé_--_Théâtre du Vaudeville_--Authors who +write for this theatre--Principal performers--Public malignity, the +main support of this theatre. + +LETTER LXIX. +_Hôtel de la Monnaie_--Description of this building--_Musée des +Mines_--Formed by M. _Sage_--The arrangement of this cabinet is +excellent--_Cabinet du Conseil des Mines_--Principal mineral +substances discovered in France since the revolution. + +LETTER LXX. +_Théâtre Montansier_--Principal performers--_Ambigu Comique_--The +curiosity of a stranger may be satisfied in a single visit to each of +the minor theatres in Paris. + +LETTER LXXI. +Police of Paris--Historical sketch of it--Its perfections and +imperfections--Anecdote of a minister of police--_Mouchards_ +--Anecdote which shews the detestation in which they are held--The +Parisian police extends to foreign countries--This truth exemplified +by two remarkable facts--No _habeas corpus_ in France. + +LETTER LXXII. +The _savans_ saved France, when their country was invaded +--Astonishing exertions made by the French on that occasion--Anecdote +relating to _Robespierre_--Extraordinary resources created by the men +of science--Means employed for increasing the manufacture of powder, +cannon, and muskets--The produce of these new manufactories +contrasted with that of the old ones--Territorial acquisitions of the +French--The Carnival revived in Paris. + +LETTER LXXIII. +Public gaming-houses--_Académies de jeu_, which existed in Paris +before the revolution--Gaming-houses licensed by the police--The +privilege of granting those licences is farmed by a private +individual--Description of the _Maisons de jeu_--Anecdote of an old +professed gambler--Gaming prevails in all the principal towns of +France--The excuse of the old government for promoting gaming, is +reproduced at the present day. + +LETTER LXXIV. +Museum of Natural History, or _Jardin des Plantes_--Is much enlarged +since the revolution--One of the first establishments of instruction +in Europe--Contrast between its former state and that in which it now +is--_Fourcroy_, the present director--His eloquence--Collections in +this establishment--Curious articles which claim particular notice. + +LETTER LXXV. +The Carnival--That of 1802 described--The Carnival of modern times, +an imitation of the Saturnalia of the ancients--Was for some years +prohibited, since the revolution--Contrast between the Carnival under +the monarchy and under the republican government. + +LETTER LXXVI. +_Palais du Sénat Conservateur_, or _Luxembourg_ Palace--Mary of +Medicis, by whom it was erected, died in a garret--It belonged to +_Monsieur_, before the revolution--Improvements in the garden of the +Senate--National nursery formed in an adjoining piece of ground +--_Bastille_--_Le Temple_--Its origin--Lewis XVI and his family +confined in this modern state-prison. + +LETTER LXXVII. +Present slate of the French Press--The liberty of the press, the +measure of civil liberty--Comparison, between the state of the press +in France and in England. + +LETTER LXXVIII. +Hospitals and other charitable institutions--_Hôtel-Dieu_--Extract +from the report of the _Academy of Sciences_ on this abode of +pestilence--Reforms introduced into it since the revolution--The +present method of purifying French hospitals deserves to be adopted +in England--Other hospitals in Paris--_Hospice de la Maternité_--_La +Salpêtrière_--_Bicêtre_--Faculties and Colleges of Physicians, as +will as Colleges and Commonalties of Surgeons, replaced in France by +Schools of Health--School of Medicine of Paris--France overrun by +quacks--New law for checking the serious mischief they occasion +--Society of Medicine--Gratuitous School of Pharmacy--Free Society of +Apothecaries--Changes in the teaching and practice of medicine in +France. + +LETTER LXXIX. +Private seminaries for youth of both sexes--Female education +--Contrast between that formerly received in convents, and that now +practised in the modern French boarding-schools. + +LETTER LXXX. +Progressive aggrandisement of Paris--Its origin--Under the name of +Lutetia, it was the capital of Gaul--Julian's account of it--The +sieges it has sustained--Successively embellished by different kings +--Progressive amelioration of the manners of its inhabitants--Rapid +view of the causes which improved them, from the reign of Philip +Augustus to that of Lewis XIV--Contrast between the number of public +buildings before and since the revolution--Population of Paris, from +official documents--Ancient division of Paris--Is now divided into +twelve mayoralties--_Barrières_ and high wall by which it is +surrounded--Anecdote of the _commis des barrières_ seizing an +Egyptian mummy. + +LETTER LXXXI. +French Furniture--The events of the revolution have contributed to +improve the taste of persons connected with the furnishing line +--Contrast between the style of the furniture in the Parisian houses +in 1789-90 and 1801-2--_Les Gobelins_, the celebrated national +manufactory for tapestry--_La Savonnerie_, a national manufactory for +carpeting--National manufactory of plate-glass. + +LETTER LXXXII. +Academy of Fine Arts at the _ci-devant Collège de Navarre_ +--Description of the establishment of the _Piranesi_--Three hundred +artists of different nations distributed in the seven classes of this +academy--Different works executed here in Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, Mosaic, and Engraving. + +LETTER LXXXIII. +Conservatory of Arts and Trades--It contains a numerous collection of +machines of every description employed in the mechanical arts +--_Belier hydraulique_, newly invented by _Montgolfier_--Models of +curious buildings--The mechanical arts in France have experienced +more or less the impulse given to the sciences--The introduction of +the Spanish merinos has greatly improved the French wools--New +inventions and discoveries adopted in the French manufactories +--Characteristic difference of the present state of French industry, +and that in which it was before the revolution. + +LETTER LXXXIV. +Society for the encouragement of national industry--Its origin--Its +objects detailed--Free Society of Agriculture--Amidst the storms of +the revolution, agriculture has teen improved in France--Causes of +that improvement--The present state of agriculture briefly contrasted +with that which existed before the revolution--_Didot's_ stereotypic +editions of the classics--Advantages attending the use of stereotype +--This invention claimed by France, but proved to belong to Britain +--Printing-office of the Republic, the most complete typographical +establishment in being. + +LETTER LXXXV. +Present State of Society in Paris--In that city are three very +distinct kinds of society--Description of each of these--Other +societies are no more than a diminutive of the preceding--Philosophy +of the French in forgeting their misfortunes and losses--The +signature of the definitive treaty announced by the sound of cannon +--In the evening a grand illumination is displayed. + +LETTER LXXXVI. +Urbanity of the Parisians towards strangers--The shopkeepers in Paris +overcharge their articles--Furnished Lodgings--Their price--The +_Milords Anglais_ now eclipsed by the Russian Counts--Expense of +board in Paris--Job and Hackney Carriages--Are much improved since +the revolution--Fare of the latter--Expense of the former +--Cabriolets--Regulations of the police concerning these carriages +--The negligence of drivers now meets with due chastisement--French +women astonish bespattered foreigners by walking the streets with +spotless stockings--Valets-de-place--Their wages augmented--General +Observations--An English traveller, on visiting Paris, should provide +himself with letters of recommendation--Unless an Englishman acquires +a competent knowledge of the manners of the country, he fails in what +ought to be the grand object of foreign travel--Situation of one who +brings no letters to Paris--The French now make a distinction between +individuals only, not between nations--Are still indulgent to the +English--Animadversion on the improper conduct of irrational British +youths. + +LETTER LXXXVII. +Divorce--The indissolubility of marriage in France, before the +revolution, was supposed to promote adultery--No such excuse can now +be pleaded--Origin of the present laws on divorce--Comparison on that +subject between the French and the Romans--The effect of these laws +illustrated by examples--The stage ought to be made to conduce to the +amelioration of morals--In France, the men blame the women, with a +view of extenuating their own irregularities--To reform women, men +ought to begin by reforming themselves. + +LETTER LXXXVIII. +The author is recalled to England--Mendicants--The streets of Paris +less infested by them now than before the revolution--Pawnbrokers +--Their numbers much increased in Paris, and why--_Mont de Piété_ +--Lotteries now established in the principal towns in France--The +fatal consequences of this incentive to gaming--Newspapers--Their +numbers considerably augmented--Journals the most in request--Baths +--_Bains Vigier_ described--School of Natation--Telegraphs--Those in +Paris differ from those in use in England--Telegraphic language may +be abridged--Private collections most deserving of notice in Paris +--_Dépôt d'armes_ of _M. Boutet_--_M. Régnier_, an ingenious mechanic +--The author's reason for confining his observations to the capital +--Metamorphoses in Paris--The site of the famous Jacobin convent is +intended for a market-place--Arts and Sciences are become popular in +France, since the revolution--The author makes _amende honorable_, or +confesses his inability to accomplish the task imposed on him by his +friend--He leaves Paris. + + + +NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE.[1] + +On the 3d of Pluviôse, year XI (23d of January, 1803), the French +government passed the following decree on this subject. + +_Art_. I. The National Institute, at present divided into three +classes, shall henceforth consist of four; namely: + + _First Class_--Class of physical and mathematical sciences. + + + _Second Class_--Class of the French language and literature. + + _Third Class_--Class of history and ancient literature. + + _Fourth Class_--Class of fine arts. + +The present members of the Institute and associated foreigners shall +be divided into these four classes. A commission of five members of +the Institute, appointed by the First Consul, shall present to him +the plan of this division, which shall be submitted to the +approbation of the government. + +II. The first class, shall be formed of the ten sections, which at +present compose the first class of the Institute, of a new section of +geography and navigation, and of eight foreign associates. + +These sections shall be composed and distinguished as follows: + + MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES. + + + Geometry six members. + Mechanics six ditto. + Astronomy six ditto. + Geography and Navigation three ditto. + General Physics six ditto. + + PHYSICAL SCIENCES. + + Chemistry six ditto. + Mineralogy six ditto. + Botany six ditto. + Rural Economy and the Veterinary Art six ditto. + Anatomy and Zoology six ditto. + Medicine and Surgery six ditto. + +The first class shall name, with the approbation of the Chief Consul, +two perpetual secretaries; the one for the mathematical sciences; the +other, for the physical. The perpetual secretaries shall be members +of the class, but shall make no part of any section. + +The first class may elect six of its members from among the other +classes of the Institute. It may name a hundred correspondents, taken +from among the learned men of the nation, and those of foreign +countries. + +III. The second class shall be composed of forty members. + +It is particularly charged with the compilation and improvement of +the dictionary of the French tongue. With respect to language, it +shall examine important works of literature, history, and sciences. +The collection of its critical observations shall be published at +least four times a year. + +It shall appoint from its own members, and with the approbation of +the First Consul, a perpetual secretary, who shall continue to make +one of the sixty members of whom the class is composed. + +It may elect twelve of its members from among those of the other +classes of the Institute. + +IV. The third class shall be composed of forty members and eight +foreign associates. + +The learned languages, antiquities and ornaments, history, and all +the moral and political sciences in as far as they relate to history, +shall be the objects of its researches and labours. It shall +particularly endeavour to enrich French literature with the works of +Greek, Latin, and Oriental authors, which have not yet been +translated. + +It shall employ itself in the continuation of diplomatic collections. + +With the approbation of the First Consul, it shall name from its own +members a perpetual secretary, who shall make one of the forty +members of whom the class is composed. + +It may elect nine of its members from among those of the classes of +the Institute. + +It may name sixty national or foreign correspondents. + +V. The fourth class shall be composed of twenty-eight members and +eight foreign associates. They shall be divided into sections, named +and composed as follows: + + Painting ten members. + Sculpture six ditto. + Architecture six ditto. + Engraving three ditto. + Music (composition) three ditto. + +With the approbation of the First Consul, it shall appoint a +perpetual secretary, who shall be a member of the class, but shall +not make part of the sections. + +It may elect six of its members from among the other classes of the +Institute. + +It may name thirty-six national or foreign correspondents. + +VI. The associated foreign members shall have a deliberative vote +only for objects relating to sciences, literature, and arts. They +shall not make part of any section, and shall receive no salary. + +VII. The present associates of the Institute, scattered throughout +the Republic, shall make part of the one hundred and ninety-six +correspondents, attached to the classes of the sciences, +belles-lettres, and fine arts. + +The correspondents cannot assume the title of members of the +Institute. They shall drop that of correspondents, when they take up +their constant residence in Paris. + +VIII. The nominations to the vacancies shall be made by each of the +classes in which those vacancies shall happen to occur. The persons +elected shall be approved by the First Consul. + +IX. The members of the four classes shall have a right to attend +reciprocally the private sittings of each of them, and to read papers +there when they have made the request. + +They shall assemble four times a year as the body of the Institute, +in order to give to each other an account of their transactions. + +They shall elect in common the librarian and under-librarian, as well +as all the agents who belong in common to the Institute. + +Each class shall present for the approbation of the government the +particular statutes and regulations of its interior police. + +X. Each class shall hold every year a public sitting, at which the +other three shall assist. + +XI. The Institute shall receive annually, from the public treasury, +1500 francs for each of its members, not associates; 6000 francs for +each of its perpetual secretaries; and, for its expenses, a sum which +shall be determined on, every year, at the request of the Institute, +and comprised in the budget of the Minister of the Interior. + +XII. The Institute shall have an administrative commission, composed +of five members, two of the first class, and one of each of the other +three, appointed by their respective classes. + +This commission shall cause to be regulated in the general sittings, +prescribed in Art. IX, every thing relative to the administration, to +the general purposes of the Institute, and to the division of the +funds between the four classes. + +Each class shall afterwards regulate the employment of the funds +which shall have been assigned for its expenses, as well as every +thing that concerns the printing and publication of its memoirs. + +XIII. Every year, each class shall distribute prizes, the number and +value of which shall be regulated as follows: + +The first class, a prize of 3000 francs. + +The second and third classes, each a prize of 1500 francs. + +And the fourth class, great prizes of painting, sculpture, +architecture, and musical composition. Those who shall have gained +one of these four great prizes, shall be sent to Rome, and maintained +at the expense of the government. + +XIV. The Minister of the Interior is charged with the execution of +the present decree, which shall be inserted in the Bulletin of the +Laws. + +[Footnote 1: Referred to in Letter XLV, Vol. II of this work.] + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +On ushering into the world a literary production, custom has +established that its parent should give some account of his +offspring. Indeed, this becomes the more necessary at the present +moment, as the short-lived peace, which gave birth to the following +sheets, had already ceased before they were entirely printed; and the +war in which England and France are now engaged, is of a nature +calculated not only to rouse all the energy and ancient spirit of my +countrymen, but also to revive their prejudices, and inflame their +passions, in a degree proportionate to the enemy's boastful and +provoking menace. + +I therefore premise that those who may be tempted to take up this +publication, merely with a view of seeking aliment for their enmity, +will, in more respects than one, probably find themselves +disappointed. The two nations were not rivals in arms, but in the +arts and sciences, at the time these letters were written, and +committed to the press; consequently, they have no relation whatever +to the present contest. Nevertheless, as they refer to subjects which +manifest the indefatigable activity of the French in the +accomplishment of any grand object, such parts may, perhaps, furnish +hints that may not be altogether unimportant at this momentous +crisis. + +The plan most generally adhered to throughout this work, being +detailed in LETTER V, a repetition of it here would be superfluous; +and the principal matters to which the work itself relates, are +specified in the title. I now come to the point. + +A long residence in France, and particularly in the capital, having +afforded me an opportunity of becoming tolerably well acquainted with +its state before the revolution, my curiosity was strongly excited to +ascertain the changes which that political phenomenon might have +effected. I accordingly availed myself of the earliest dawn of peace +to cross the water, and visit Paris. Since I had left that city in +1789-90, a powerful monarchy, established on a possession of fourteen +centuries, and on that sort of national prosperity which seemed to +challenge the approbation of future ages, had been destroyed by the +force of opinion which, like, a subterraneous fire, consumed its very +foundations, and plunged the nation into a sea of troubles, in which +it was, for several years, tossed about, amid the wreck of its +greatness. + +This is a phenomenon of which antiquity affords no parallel; and it +has produced a rapid succession of events so extraordinary as almost +to exceed belief. + +It is not the crimes to which it has given birth that will be thought +improbable: the history of revolutions, as well ancient as modern, +furnishes but too many examples of them; and few have been committed, +the traces of which are not to be found in the countries where the +imagination of the multitude has been exalted by strong and new +ideas, respecting Liberty and Equality. But what posterity will find +difficult to believe, is the agitation of men's minds, and the +effervescence of the passions, carried to such a pitch, as to stamp +the French revolution with a character bordering on the marvellous +--Yes; posterity will have reason to be astonished at the facility +with which the human mind can be modified and made to pass from one +extreme to another; at the suddenness, in short, with which the ideas +and manners of the French were changed; so powerful, on the one hand, +is the ascendency of certain imaginations; and, on the other, so +great is the weakness of the vulgar! + +It is in the recollection of most persons, that the agitation of the +public mind in France was such, for a while, that, after having +overthrown the monarchy and its supports; rendered private property +insecure; and destroyed individual freedom; it threatened to invade +foreign countries, at the same time pushing before it Liberty, that +first blessing of man, when it is founded on laws, and the most +dangerous of chimeras, when it is without rule or restraint. + +The greater part of the causes which excited this general commotion, +existed before the assembly of the States-General in 1789. It is +therefore important to take a mental view of the moral and political +situation of France at that period, and to follow, in imagination at +least, the chain of ideas, passions, and errors, which, having +dissolved the ties of society, and worn out the springs of +government, led the nation by gigantic strides into the most complete +anarchy. + +Without enumerating the different authorities which successively +ruled in France after the fall of the throne, it appears no less +essential to remind the reader that, in this general disorganization, +the inhabitants themselves, though breathing the same air, scarcely +knew that they belonged to the same nation. The altars overthrown; +all the ancient institutions annihilated; new festivals and +ceremonies introduced; factious demagogues honoured with an +apotheosis; their busts exposed to public veneration; men and cities +changing names; a portion of the people infected with atheism, and +disguised in the livery of guilt and folly; all this, and more, +exercised the reflection of the well-disposed in a manner the most +painful. In a word, though France was peopled with the same +individuals, it seemed inhabited by a new nation, entirely different +from the old one in its government, its creed, its principles, its +manners, and even its customs. + +War itself assumed a new face. Every thing relating to it became +extraordinary: the number of the combatants, the manner of recruiting +the armies, and the means of providing supplies for them; the +manufacture of powder, cannon, and muskets; the ardour, impetuosity, +and forced marches of the troops; their extortions, their successes, +and their reverses; the choice of the generals, and the superior +talents of some of them, together with the springs, by which these +enormous bodies of armed men were moved and directed, were equally +new and astonishing. + +History tells us that in poor countries, where nothing inflames +cupidity and ambition, the love alone of the public good causes +changes to be tried in the government; and that those changes derange +not the ordinary course of society; whereas, among rich nations, +corrupted by luxury, revolutions are always effected through secret +motives of jealousy and interest; because there are great places to +be usurped, and great fortunes to be invaded. In France, the +revolution covered the country with ruins, tears, and blood, because +means were not to be found to moderate in the people that +_revolutionary spirit_ which parches, in the bud, the promised fruits +of liberty, when its violence is not repressed. + +Few persons were capable of keeping pace with the rapid progress of +the revolution. Those who remained behind were considered as guilty +of desertion. The authors of the first constitution were accused of +being _royalists_; the old partisans of republicanism were punished +as _moderates_; the land-owners, as _aristocrates_; the monied men, +as _corrupters_; the bankers and financiers, as _blood-suckers_; the +shop-keepers, as _promoters of famine_; and the newsmongers, as +_alarmists_. The factious themselves, in short, were alternately +proscribed, as soon as they ceased to belong to the ruling faction. + +In this state of things, society became a prey to the most baneful +passions. Mistrust entered every heart; friendship had no attraction; +relationship, no tie; and men's minds, hardened by the habit of +misfortune, or overwhelmed by fear, no longer opened to pity. + +Terror compressed every imagination; and the revolutionary +government, exercising it to its fullest extent, struck off a +prodigious number of heads, filled the prisons with victims, and +continued to corrupt the morals of the nation by staining it with +crimes. + +But all things have an end. The tyrants fell; the dungeons were +thrown open; numberless victims emerged from them; and France seemed +to recover new life; but still bewildered by the _revolutionary +spirit_, wasted by the concealed poison of anarchy, exhausted by her +innumerable sacrifices, and almost paralyzed by her own convulsions, +she made but impotent efforts for the enjoyment of liberty and +justice. Taxes became more burdensome; commerce was annihilated; +industry, without aliment; paper-money, without value; and specie, +without circulation. However, while the French nation was degraded at +home by this series of evils, it was respected abroad through the +rare merit of some of its generals, the splendour of its victories, +and the bravery of its soldiers. + +During these transactions, there was formed in the public mind that +moral resistance which destroys not governments by violence, but +undermines them. The intestine commotions were increasing; the +conquests of the French were invaded; their enemies were already on +their frontiers; and the division which had broken out between the +Directory and the Legislative Body, again threatened France with a +total dissolution, when a man of extraordinary character and talents +had the boldness to seize the reins of authority, and stop the +further progress of the revolution.[1] Taking at the full the tide +which leads on to fortune, he at once changed the face of affairs, +not only within the limits of the Republic, but throughout Europe. +Yet, after all their triumphs, the French have the mortification to +have failed in gaining that for which they first took up arms, and +for which they have maintained so long and so obstinate a struggle. + +When a strong mound has been broken down, the waters whose amassed +volume it opposed, rush forward, and, in their impetuous course, +spread afar terror and devastation. On visiting the scene where this +has occurred, we naturally cast our eyes in every direction, to +discover the mischief which they have occasioned by their irruption; +so, then, on reaching the grand theatre of the French revolution, did +I look about for the traces of the havock it had left behind; but, +like a river which had regained its level, and flowed again in its +natural bed, this political torrent had subsided, and its ravages +were repaired in a manner the most surprising. + +However, at the particular request of an estimable friend, I have +endeavoured to draw the contrast which, in 1789-90 and 1801-2, Paris +presented to the eye of an impartial observer. In this arduous +attempt I have not the vanity to flatter myself that I have been +successful, though I have not hesitated to lay under contribution +every authority likely to promote my object. The state of the French +capital, before the revolution, I have delineated from the notes I +had myself collected on the spot, and for which purpose I was, at +that time, under the necessity of consulting almost as many books as +Don Quixote read on knight-errantry; but the authors from whom I have +chiefly borrowed, are St. FOIX, MERCIER, DULAURE, PUJOULX, and BIOT. + +My invariable aim has been to relate, _sine ira nec studio_, such +facts and circumstances as have come to my knowledge, and to render +to every one that justice which I should claim for myself. After a +revolution which has trenched on so many opposite interests, the +reader cannot be surprised, if information, derived from such a +variety of sources, should sometimes seem to bear the character of +party-spirit. Should this appear _on the face of the record_, I can +only say that I have avoided entering into politics, in order that no +bias of that sort might lead me to discolour or distort the truths I +have had occasion to state; and I have totally rejected those +communications which, from their tone of bitterness, personality, and +virulence, might be incompatible with the general tenour of an +impartial production. + +Till the joint approbation of some competent judges, who visited the +French capital after having perused, in manuscript, several of these +letters, had stamped on them a comparative degree of value, no one +could think more lightly of them than the author. Urged repeatedly to +produce them to the public, I have yielded with reluctance, and in +the fullest confidence that, notwithstanding the recent change of +circumstances, a liberal construction will be put on my sentiments +and motives. I have taken care that my account of the national +establishments in France should be perfectly correct; and, in fact, I +have been favoured with the principal information it contains by +their respective directors. In regard to the other topics on which I +have touched, I have not failed to consult the best authorities, even +in matters, which, however trifling in themselves, acquire a relative +importance, from being illustrative of some of the many-coloured +effects of a revolution, which has humbled the pride of many, +deranged the calculations of all, disappointed the hopes of not a +few, and deceived those even by whom it had been engendered and +conducted. + +Yet, whatever pains I have taken to be strictly impartial, it cannot +be denied that, in publishing a work of this description at a time +when the self-love of most men is mortified, and their resentment +awakened, I run no small risk of displeasing all parties, because I +attach myself to none, but find them all more or less deserving of +censure. Without descending either to flattery or calumny, I speak +both well and ill of the French, because I copy nature, and neither +draw an imaginary portrait, nor write a systematic narrative. If I +have occasionally given vent to my indignation in glancing at the +excesses of the revolution, I have not withheld my tribute of +applause from those institutions, which, being calculated to benefit +mankind by the gratuitous diffusion of knowledge, would reflect +honour on any nation. In other respects, I have not been unmindful of +that excellent precept of TACITUS, in which he observes that "The +principal duty of the historian is to rescue from oblivion virtuous +actions, and to make bad men dread infamy and posterity for what they +have said and done."[2] + +In stating facts, it is frequently necessary to support them by a +relation of particular circumstances, which may corroborate them in +an unquestionable manner. Feeling this truth, I have some times +introduced myself on my canvass, merely to shew that I am not an +ideal traveller. I mean one of those pleasant fellows who travel post +in their elbow-chair, sail round the world on a map suspended to one +side of their room, cross the seas with a pocket-compass lying on +their table, experience a shipwreck by their fireside, make their +escape when it scorches their shins, and land on a desert island in +their _robe de chambre_ and slippers. + +I have, therefore, here and there mentioned names, time, and place, +to prove that, _bonâ fide_, I went to Paris immediately after the +ratification of the preliminary treaty. To banish uniformity in my +description of that metropolis, I have, as much as possible, varied +my subjects. Fashions, sciences, absurdities, anecdotes, education, +fêtes, useful arts, places of amusement, music, learned and +scientific institutions, inventions, public buildings, industry, +agriculture, &c. &c. &c. being all jumbled together in my brain, I +have thence drawn them, like tickets from a lottery; and it will not, +I trust, be deemed presumptuous in me to indulge a hope that, in +proportion to the blanks, there will be found no inadequate number of +prizes. + +I have pointed out the immense advantages which France is likely to +derive from her Schools for Public Services, and other establishments +of striking utility, such as the _Dépôt de la Guerre_ and the _Dépôt +de la Marine_, in order that the British government may be prompted +to form institutions, which, if not exactly similar, may at least +answer the same purpose. Instead of copying the French in objects of +fickleness and frivolity, why not borrow from them what is really +deserving of imitation? + +It remains for me to observe, by way of stimulating the ambition of +British genius, that, in France, the arts and sciences are now making +a rapid and simultaneous progress; first, because the revolution has +made them popular in that country; and, secondly, because they are +daily connected by new ties, which, in a great measure, render them +inseparable. Facts are there recurred to, less with a view to draw +from them immediate applications than to develop the truths resulting +from them. The first step is from these facts to their most simple +consequences, which are little more than bare assertions. From these +the _savans_ proceed to others more minute, till, at length, by +imperceptible degrees, they arrive at the most abstracted +generalities. With them, method is an induction incessantly verified +by experiment. Whence, it gives to human intelligence, not wings +which lead it astray, but reins which guide it. United by this common +philosophy, the sciences and arts in France advance together; and the +progress made by one of them serves to promote that of the rest. +There, the men who profess them, considering that their knowledge +belongs not to themselves alone, not to their country only, but to +all mankind, are continually striving to increase the mass of public +knowledge. This they regard as a real duty, which they are proud to +discharge; thus treading in the steps of the most memorable men of +past ages. + +Then, while the more unlearned and unskilled among us are emulating +the patriotic enthusiasm of the French in volunteering, as they did, +to resist invasion, let our men of science and genius exert +themselves not to be surpassed by the industrious _savans_ and +artists of that nation; but let them act on the principle inculcated +by the following sublime idea of our illustrious countryman, the +founder of modern philosophy. "It may not be amiss," says BACON, "to +point out three different kinds, and, as it were, degrees of +ambition. The first, that of those who desire to enhance, in their +own country, the power they arrogate to themselves: this kind of +ambition is both vulgar and degenerate. The second, that of those who +endeavour to extend the power and domination of their country, over +the whole of the human race: in this kind there is certainly a +greater dignity, though; at the same time, no less a share of +cupidity. But should any one strive to restore and extend the power +and domination of mankind over the universality of things, +unquestionably such an ambition, (if it can be so denominated) would +be more reasonable and dignified than the others. Now, the empire of +man, over things, has its foundation exclusively in the arts and +sciences; for it is only by an obedience to her laws, that Nature can +be commanded."[3] + +LONDON, June 10, 1803. + +[Footnote 1: Of two things, we are left to believe one. BONAPARTE +either was or was not invited to put himself at the head of the +government of France. It is not probable that the Directory should +send for him from Egypt, in order to say to him: "we are fools and +drivelers, unfit to conduct the affairs of the nation; so turn us out +of office, and seat yourself in our place." Nevertheless, they might +have hoped to preserve their tottering authority through his support. +Be this as it may, there it something so singular in the good fortune +which has attended BONAPARTE from the period of his quitting +Alexandria, that, were it not known for truth, it might well be taken +for fiction. Sailing from the road of Aboukir on the 24th of August, +1799, he eludes the vigilance of the English cruisers, and lands at +Frejus in France on the 14th of October following, the forty-seventh +day after his departure from Egypt. On his arrival in Paris, so far +from giving an account of his conduct to the Directory, he turns his +back on them; accepts the proposition made to him, from another +quarter, to effect a change in the government; on the 9th of +November, carries it into execution; and, profiting by the _popularis +aura_, fixes himself at the head of the State, at the same time +kicking down the ladder by which he climbed to power. To achieve all +this with such promptitude and energy, most assuredly required a mind +of no common texture; nor can any one deny that ambition would have +done but little towards its accomplishment, had it not been seconded +by extraordinary firmness.] + +[Footnote 2: _"Præcipuum munus annalium reor, ne virtutes sileantur, +utque praxis dictis factisque ex posteritate et infamiâ metus sit."_] + +[Footnote 3: "_Præterca non abs refuerit, tria hominum ambitionis +genera et quasi gradus distinguere. Primum eorum qui propriam +potentiam in patria sua amplificare cupiunt; quod genus vulgare est +et degener. Secundum eorum, qui patriæ potentiam et imperium inter +humanum genus amplificare nituntur; illud plus certe habet +dignitatis, cupiditatis haud minus. Quod si quis humani generis +ipsius potentiam et imperium in rerum univertitatem instaurare et +amplificare conetur ea procul dubio ambitio (si modo ita cocanda sit) +reliquls et sanior est et augustior. Hominis autem imperium in res, +in solis artibus et scientiis ponitur: naturæ enim non imperatur, +nisi parendo_." Nov. org. scientiarum. Aphor. CXXIX. (Vol. VIII. page +72, new edition of BACON'S works. London, printed 1803.)] + + + +A SKETCH OF PARIS, &c. &c. + +LETTER I. + +_Calais, October 16, 1801._ + +MY DEAR FRIEND, + +Had you not made it a particular request that I would give you the +earliest account of my debarkation in France, I should, probably, not +have been tempted to write to you till I reached Paris. I well know +the great stress which you lay on first impressions; but what little +I have now to communicate will poorly gratify your expectation. + +From the date of this letter, you will perceive that, since we parted +yesterday, I have not been dilatory in my motions. No sooner had a +messenger from the Alien-Office brought me the promised passport, or +rather his Majesty's licence, permitting me to embark for France, +than I proceeded on my journey. + +In nine hours I reached Dover, and, being authorized by a proper +introduction, immediately applied to Mr. Mantell, the agent for +prisoners of war, cartels, &c. for a passage across the water. An +English flag of truce was then in the harbour, waiting only for +government dispatches; and I found that, if I could get my baggage +visited in time, I might avail myself of the opportunity of crossing +the sea in this vessel. On having recourse to the collector of the +customs, I succeeded in my wish: the dispatches arriving shortly +after, mid my baggage being already shipped, I stepped off the quay +into the Nancy, on board of which I was the only passenger. A +propitious breeze sprang up at the moment, and, in less than three +hours, wafted me to Calais pier. + +By the person who carried the dispatches to Citizen Mengaud, the +commissary for this department (_Pas de Calais_), I sent a card with +my name and rank, requesting permission to land and deliver to him a +letter from M. Otto. This step was indispensable: the vessel which +brought me was, I find, the first British flag of truce that has been +suffered to enter the harbour, with the exception of the Prince of +Wales packet, now waiting here for the return of a king's messenger +from Paris; and her captain even has not yet been permitted to go on +shore. It therefore appears that I shall be the first Englishman, not +in an official character, who has set foot on French ground since the +ratification of the preliminary treaty. + +The pier was presently crowded with people gazing at our vessel, as +if she presented a spectacle perfectly novel: but, except the +tri-coloured cockade in the hats of the military, I could not observe +the smallest difference in their general appearance. Instead of crops +and round wigs, which I expected to see in universal vogue, here were +full as many powdered heads and long queues as before the revolution. +Frenchmen, in general, will, I am persuaded, ever be Frenchmen in +their dress, which, in my opinion, can never be _revolutionized_, +either by precept or example. The _citoyens_, as far as I am yet able +to judge, most certainly have not fattened by warfare more than JOHN +BULL: their visages are as sallow and as thin as formerly, though +their persons are not quite so meagre as they are pourtrayed by +Hogarth. + +The prospect of peace, however, seemed to have produced an +exhilarating effect on all ranks; satisfaction appeared on every +countenance. According to custom, a host of inkeepers' domestics +boarded the vessel, each vaunting the superiority of his master's +accommodations. My old landlord Ducrocq presenting himself to +congratulate me on my arrival, soon freed me from their +importunities, and I, of course, decided in favour of the _Lion +d'Argent_. + +Part of the _Boulogne_ flotilla was lying in the harbour. +Independently of the decks of the gunboats being full of soldiers, +with very few sailors intermixed, playing at different games of +chance, not a plank, not a log, or piece of timber, was there on the +quay but was also covered with similar parties. This then accounts +for that rage for gambling, which has carried to such desperate +lengths those among them whom the fate of war has lodged in our +prisons. + +My attention was soon diverted from this scene, by a polite answer +from the commissary, inviting me to his house. I instantly +disembarked to wait on him; my letter containing nothing more than an +introduction, accompanied by a request that I might be furnished with +a passport to enable me to proceed to Paris without delay, Citizen +Mengaud dispatched a proper person to attend me to the town-hall, +where the passports are made out, and signed by the mayor; though +they are not delivered till they have also received the commissary's +signature. However, to lose no time, while one of the clerks was +drawing my picture, or, in other words, taking down a minute +description of my person, I sent my keys to the custom-house, in +order that my baggage might be examined. + +By what conveyance I was to proceed to Paris was the next point to be +settled; and this has brought me to the _Lion d'Argent_. + +Among other vehicles, Ducrocq has, in his _remise_, an +apparently-good _cabriolet de voyage_, belonging to one of his Paris +correspondents; but, on account of the wretched state of the roads, +he begs me to allow him time to send for his coachmaker, to examine +it scrupulously, that I may not be detained by the way, from any +accident happening to the carriage. + +I was just on the point of concluding my letter, when a French naval +officer, who was on the pier when I landed, introduced himself to me, +to know whether I would do him the favour to accommodate him with a +place in the cabriolet under examination. I liked my new friend's +appearance and manner too well not to accede to his proposal. + +The carriage is reported to be in good condition. I shall therefore +send my servant on before as a courier, instead of taking him with me +as an inside passenger. As we shall travel night and day, and the +post-horses will be in readiness at every stage, we may, I am told, +expect to reach Paris in about forty-two hours. Adieu; my next will +be from the _great_ city. + + + +LETTER II. + +_Paris, October 19, 1801._ + +Here I am safe arrived; that is, without any broken bones; though my +arms, knees, and head are finely pummelled by the jolting of the +carriage. Well might Ducrocq say that the roads were bad! In several +places, they are not passable without danger--Indeed, the government +is so fully aware of this, that an inspector has been dispatched to +direct immediate repairs to be made against the arrival of the +English ambassador; and, in some _communes_, the people are at work +by torch-light. With this exception, my journey was exceedingly +pleasant. At ten o'clock the first night, we reached _Montreuil_, +where we supped; the next day we breakfasted at _Abbeville_, dined at +_Amiens_, and supped that evening at _Clermont_. + +The road between _Calais_ and _Paris_ is too well known to interest +by description. Most of the abbeys and monasteries, which present +themselves to the eye of the traveller, have either been converted +into hospitals or manufactories. Few there are, I believe, who will +deny that this change is for the better. A receptacle for the relief +of suffering indigence conveys a consolatory idea to the mind of the +friend of human nature; while the lover of industry cannot but +approve of an establishment which, while it enriches a State, affords +employ to the needy and diligent. This, unquestionably, is no bad +appropriation of these buildings, which, when inhabited by monks, +were, for the most part, no more than an asylum of sloth, hypocrisy, +pride, and ignorance. + +The weather was fine, which contributed not a little to display the +country to greater advantage; but the improvements recently made in +agriculture are too striking to escape the notice of the most +inattentive observer. The open plains and rising grounds of +_ci-devant Picardy_ which, from ten to fifteen years ago, I have +frequently seen, in this season, mostly lying fallow, and presenting +the aspect of one wide, neglected waste, are now all well cultivated, +and chiefly laid down in corn; and the corn, in general, seems to +have been sown with more than common attention. + +My fellow-traveller, who was a _lieutenant de vaisseau_, belonging to +_Latouche Tréville's_ flotilla, proved a very agreeable companion, +and extremely well-informed. This officer positively denied the +circumstance of any of their gun-boats being moored with chains +during our last attack. While he did ample justice to the bravery of +our people, he censured the manner in which it had been exerted. The +divisions of boats arriving separately, he said, could not afford to +each other necessary support, and were thus exposed to certain +discomfiture. I made the best defence I possibly could; but truth +bears down all before it. + +The loss on the side of the French, my fellow-traveller declared, was +no more than seven men killed and forty-five wounded. Such of the +latter as were in a condition to undergo the fatigue of the ceremony, +were carried in triumphal procession through the streets of +_Boulogne_, where, after being harangued by the mayor, they were +rewarded with civic crowns from the hands of their fair +fellow-citizens. + +Early the second morning after our departure from _Calais_, we +reached the town of _St. Denis_, which, at one time since the +revolution, changed its name for that of _Françiade_. I never pass +through this place without calling to mind the persecution which poor +Abélard suffered from Adam, the abbot, for having dared to say, that +the body of _St. Denis_, first bishop of Paris, in 240, which had +been preserved in this abbey among the relics, was not that of the +areopagite, who died in 95. The ridiculous stories, imposed on the +credulity of the zealous catholics, respecting this wonderful saint, +have been exhibited in their proper light by Voltaire, as you may see +by consulting the _Questions sur l'Encyclopédie_, at the article +_Denis_. + +It is in every person's recollection that, in consequence of the +National Convention having decreed the abolition of royalty in +France, it was proposed to annihilate every vestige of it throughout +the country. But, probably, you are not aware of the thorough sweep +that was made among the sepultures in this abbey of _St. Denis_. + +The bodies of the kings, queens, princes, princesses, and celebrated +personages, who had been interred here for nearly fifteen hundred +years, were taken up, and literally reduced to ashes. Not a wreck was +left behind to make a relic. + +The remains of TURENNE alone were respected. All the other bodies, +together with the entrails or hearts, enclosed in separate urns, were +thrown into large pits, lined with a coat of quick lime: they were +then covered with the same substance; and the pits were afterwards +filled up with earth. Most of them, as may be supposed, were in a +state of complete putrescency; of some, the bones only remained, +though a few were in good preservation. + +The bodies of the consort of Charles I. Henrietta Maria of France, +daughter of Henry IV, who died in 1669, aged 60, and of their +daughter Henrietta Stuart, first wife of Monsieur, only brother to +Lewis XIV, who died in 1670, aged 26, both interred in the vault of +the Bourbons, were consumed in the general destruction. + +The execution of this decree was begun at _St. Denis_ on Saturday the +12th of October 1793, and completed on the 25th of the same month, in +presence of the municipality and several other persons. + +On the 12th of November following, all the treasure of _St. Denis_, +(shrines, relics, &c.) was removed: the whole was put into large +wooden chests, together with all the rich ornaments of the church, +consisting of chalices, pyxes, cups, copes, &c. The same day these +valuable articles were sent off, in great state, in waggons, +decorated for the purpose, to the National Convention. + +We left _St. Denis_ after a hasty breakfast; and, on reaching Paris, +I determined to drive to the residence of a man whom I had never +seen; but from whom I had little doubt of a welcome reception. I +accordingly alighted in the _Rue neuve St. Roch_, where I found +B----a, who perfectly answered the character given me of him by +M. S----i. + +You already know that, through the interest of my friend, Captain +O----y, I was so fortunate as to procure the exchange of B----a's +only son, a deserving youth, who had been taken prisoner at sea, and +languished two years in confinement in Portchester-Castle. + +Before I could introduce myself, one of young B----a's sisters +proclaimed my name, as if by inspiration; and I was instantly greeted +with the cordial embraces of the whole family. This scene made me at +once forget the fatigues of my journey; and, though I had not been in +bed for three successive nights, the agreeable sensations excited in +my mind, by the unaffected expression of gratitude, banished every +inclination to sleep. If honest B----a and his family felt themselves +obliged to me, I felt myself doubly and trebly obliged to Captain +O----y; for, to his kind exertion, was I indebted for the secret +enjoyment arising from the performance of a disinterested action. + +S----i was no sooner informed of my arrival, than he hastened to obey +the invitation to meet me at dinner, and, by his presence, enlivened +the family party. After spending a most agreeable day, I retired to a +temporary lodging, which B----a had procured me in the neighbourhood. +I shall remain in it no longer than till I can suit myself with +apartments in a private house, where I can be more retired, or at +least subject to less noise, than in a public hotel. + +Of the fifty-eight hours which I employed in performing my journey +hither from London, forty-four were spent on my way between Calais +and Paris; a distance that I have often travelled with ease in +thirty-six, when the roads were in tolerable repair. Considerable +delay too is at present occasioned by the erection of _barrières_, or +turnpike-bars, which did not exist before the revolution. At this +day, they are established throughout all the departments, and are an +insuperable impediment to expedition; for, at night, the +toll-gatherers are fast asleep, and the bars being secured, you are +obliged to wait patiently till these good citizens choose to rise +from their pillow. + +To counterbalance this inconvenience, you are not now plagued, as +formerly, by custom-house officers on the frontiers of _every_ +department. My baggage being once searched at _Calais_, experienced +no other visit; but, at the upper town of _Boulogne_, a sight of my +travelling passport was required; by mistake in the dark, I gave the +_commis_ a scrawl, put into my hands by Ducrocq, containing an +account of the best inns on the road. Would you believe that this +inadvertency detained us a considerable time, so extremely +inquisitive are they, at the present moment, respecting all papers? +At _Calais_, the custom-house officers even examined every piece of +paper used in the packing of my baggage. This scrutiny is not +particularly adopted towards Englishmen; but must, I understand, be +undergone by travellers of every country, on entering the territory +of the Republic. + +_P. S._ Lord Cornwallis is expected with impatience; and, at _St. +Denis_, an escort of dragoons of the 19th demi-brigade is in waiting +to attend him into Paris. + + + +LETTER III. + +_Paris, October 21, 1801._ + +On approaching this capital, my curiosity was excited in the highest +degree; and, as the carriage passed rapidly along from the +_Barrière_, through the _Porte St. Denis_, to the _Rue neuve St. +Roch_, my eyes wandered in all directions, anxiously seeking every +shade of distinction between _monarchical_ and _republican_ Paris. + +The first thing that attracted my attention, on entering the +_faubourg_, was the vast number of inscriptions placed, during the +revolution, on many of the principal houses; but more especially on +public buildings of every description. They are painted in large, +conspicuous letters; and the following is the most general style in +which they have been originally worded: + + "RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE, UNE ET INDIVISIBLE." + "LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ, OU LA MORT." + +Since the exit of the French Nero, the last three words "_ou la +mort_" have been obliterated, but in few places are so completely +effaced as not to be still legible. In front of all the public +offices and national establishments, the tri-coloured flag is +triumphantly displayed; and almost every person you meet wears in his +hat the national cockade. + +The tumult which, ten or twelve years ago, rendered the streets of +Paris so noisy, so dirty, and at the same time so dangerous, is now +most sensibly diminished. Boileau's picture of them is no longer +just. No longer are seen those scenes of confusion occasioned by the +frequent stoppages of coaches and carts, and the contentions of the +vociferating drivers. You may now pass the longest and most crowded +thoroughfares, either on foot or otherwise, without obstacle or +inconvenience. The contrast is striking. + +Indeed, from what I have observed, I should presume that there is +not, at the present day, one tenth part of the number of carriages +which were in use here in 1780-90. Except on the domestics of foreign +ambassadors and foreigners, I have as yet noticed nothing like a +livery; and, in lieu of armorial bearings, every carriage, without +distinction, has a number painted on the pannel. However, if private +equipages are scarce, thence ensues more than one advantage; the +public are indemnified by an increased number of good hackney +coaches, chariots, and cabriolets; and, besides, as I have just +hinted, pedestrians are not only far less exposed to being +bespattered, but also to having their limbs fractured. + +Formerly, a _seigneur de la cour_ conceived himself justified in +suffering his coachman to drive at a mischievous rate; and in narrow, +crowded streets, where there is no foot-pavement, it was extremely +difficult for persons walking to escape the wheels of a great number +of carriages rattling along in this shameful manner. But he who +guided the chariot of a _ministre d'état_, considered it as a +necessary and distinctive mark of his master's pre-eminence to +_brûler le pavé_. This is so strictly true, that, before the +revolution, I have here witnessed repeated accidents of the most +serious nature, resulting from the exercise of this sort of +ministerial privilege: on one occasion particularly, I myself +narrowly escaped unhurt, when a decent, elderly woman was thrown +down, close by my feet, and had both her thighs broken through the +unfeeling wantonness of the coachman of the Baron de Breteuil, at +that time minister for the department of Paris. + +Owing to the salutary regulations of the police, the recurrence of +these accidents is now, in a great measure, prevented; and, as the +empirics say in their hand-bills: "_Prevention is better than cure._" + +But for these differences, a person who had not seen Paris for some +years, might, unless he were to direct his visits to particular +quarters, cross it from one extremity to the other, without remarking +any change to inform his mind, that here had been a revolution, or +rather that, for the last ten years, this city had been almost one +continual scene of revolutions. + +Bossnet, once preaching before Lewis XIV, exclaimed: "Kings die, and +so do kingdoms!" Could that great preacher rise from his grave into +the pulpit, and behold France without a king, and that kingdom, not +crumbled away, but enlarged, almost with the rapid accumulation of a +snow-ball, into an enormous mass of territory, under the title of +French Republic, what would he not have to say in a sermon? _Rien de +nouveau sous le ciel_, though an old proverb, would not now suit as a +maxim. This, in fact, seems the age of wonders. The league of +monarchs has ended by producing republics; while a republic has +raised a dukedom into a monarchy, and, by its vast preponderance, +completely overturned the balance of power. + +Not knowing when I may have an opportunity of sending this letter, I +shall defer to close it for the present, as I may possibly lengthen +it. But you must not expect much order in my narrations. I throw my +thoughts on paper just as they happen to present themselves, without +any studied arrangement. + +_October 21, in continuation_. + +When we have been for some time in the habit of corresponding with +strangers, we are apt to draw such inferences from their language and +style, as furnish us with the means of sketching an ideal portrait of +their person. This was the case with myself. + +Through the concurrence of the two governments, I had, as you know, +participated, in common with others, in the indulgence of being +permitted to correspond, occasionally, on subjects of literature with +several of the _savans_ and literati of France. Indeed, the principal +motive of my journey to Paris was to improve that sort of +acquaintance, by personal intercourse, so as to render it more +interesting to both parties. In my imagination, I had drawn a +full-length picture of most of my literary correspondents. I was now +anxious to see the originals, and compare the resemblance. + +Yesterday, having first paid my respects to Mr. M----y, the successor +to Captain C----s, as commissary for the maintenance and exchange of +British prisoners of war, and at present _Chargé d'affaires_ from our +court to the French Republic, I called on M. F----u, formerly +minister of the naval department, and at present counsellor of state, +and member of the National Institute, as well as of the board of +longitude. I then visited M. O----r, and afterwards M. +L------re, also members of the Institute, and both well known to our +proficients in natural history, by the works which each has published +in the different branches of that interesting science. + +In one only of my ideal portraits had I been very wide of the +likeness. However, without pretending to be a Lavater, I may affirm +that I should not have risked falling into a mistake like that +committed, on a somewhat similar occasion, by Voltaire. + +This colossus of French literature, having been for a long time in +correspondence with the great Frederic, became particularly anxious +to see that monarch. On his arrival in a village where the +head-quarters of the Prussian army were then established, Voltaire +inquired for the king's lodging: thither he paced with redoubled +speed; and, being directed to the upper part of the house, he hastily +crossed a large garret; he then found himself in a second, and was +just on the point of entering the third, when, on turning round, he +perceived in one of the comers of the room, a soldier, not overclean +in appearance, lying on a sorry bedstead. He went up and said to him +with eagerness: "Where's the king?"--"I am Frederic," replied the +soldier; and, sure enough, it was the monarch himself. + +I am now settled in my new apartments, which are situated in the most +centrical part of Paris. When you visit this capital, I would by all +means, recommend to you, should you intend to remain here a few +weeks, to get into private lodgings. + +I know of no article here so much augmented in price, within the last +ten years, as the apartments in all the hotels. After looking at +several of them in the _Rue de la Loi_, accompanied by a French +friend, who was so obliging as to take on himself all the trouble of +inquiry, while I remained a silent bystander, I had the curiosity to +go to the _Hôtel d'Angleterre_, in the _Rue des Filles St. Thomas_, +hot far from the _ci-devant Palais Royal_. The same apartments on the +first floor of this hotel which I occupied in 1789, happened to be +vacant. At that time I paid for them twelve louis d'or a month; the +furniture was then new; it is now much the worse for nearly eleven +years' wear; and the present landlord asked twenty-five louis a +month, and even refused twenty-two, if taken for three months +certain. The fact is, that all the landlords of ready-furnished +hotels in Paris seem to be buoyed up with an idea that, on the peace, +the English and foreigners of other nations will flock hither in such +numbers as to enable them to reap a certain and plentiful harvest. +Not but all lodgings are considerably increased in price, which is +ascribed to the increase of taxes. + +To find private lodgings, you have only to cast your eye on the daily +advertiser of Paris, called _Les Petites Affiches_. There I read a +description of my present quarters, which are newly fitted up in +every particular, and, I assure you, with no small degree of tasteful +fancy. My landlady, who is a milliner, and, for aught I know, a very +fashionable one, left not the smallest convenience to my conjecture, +but explained the particular use of every hole and corner in the most +significant manner, not even excepting the _boudoir_. + +This would be a most excellent situation for any one whose principal +object was to practise speaking French; for, on the right hand of the +_porte-cochère_ or gateway, (which, by the bye, is here reckoned an +indispensable appendage to a proper lodging), is the _magazin des +modes_, where my landlady presides over twenty damsels, many of whom, +though assiduously occupied in making caps and bonnets, would, I am +persuaded, find repartee for the most witty gallant. + + + +LETTER IV. + +_Paris, October 23, 1801._ + +Since my arrival, I have been so much engaged in paying and receiving +visits, that I really have not yet been able to take even a hasty +view of any of the grand sights introduced here since the revolution, + +On Wednesday I dined with M. S----i, whose new 8vo edition of Buffon +proceeds, I find, with becoming spirit. It is quite a journey to his +residence; for he lives in one of the most retired quarters of Paris, +However, I had no reason to repine at the distance, as the party was +exceedingly cheerful. Naturalists and literati were not wanting. + +Egypt was a subject that engrossed much of the conversation: it was +mentioned as a matter of regret that, during the dominion of the +French in that country, curiosity had not prompted the Institute, +established at Cairo, to open one of the pyramids, with a view of +ascertaining the object of the erection of those vast masses. At the +desert, we had luscious grapes as large as damsons, in bunches of +from three to five pounds in weight. They were of the species of the +famous _chasselas de Fontainebleau_, which are said to have sprung +from a stock of vine-plants, imported by Francis I. from the island +of Cyprus. These did not come from that town, but grew against the +naked wall in S----i's garden. From this you may form a judgment of +the climate of Paris. + +The persons with whom I have had any correspondence, respecting +literature, vie with each other in shewing me every mark of cordial +hospitality; and those to whom I have been introduced, are by no +means backward in friendly attention. All the lovers of science here +seem to rejoice that the communication, which has been so long +interrupted between the two countries, promises to be shortly +re-opened. + +After dining yesterday with Mr. M----y, the British minister, in +company with Mr. D----n, the member for Ilchester, we all three went +to an exhibition almost facing Mr. M----y's residence in the _Rue +St. Dominique_. This was the third time of its being open to the +public. As it is of a novel kind, some account of it may not be +uninteresting. In French, it is denominated + + THERMOLAMPES, + _or stoves which afford heat and light on an economical plan_. + +The author of this invention, for which a patent has been obtained, +is M. LEBON, an engineer of bridges and highways. The place of +exhibition was the ground floor of one of the large hotels in the +_Faubourg St. Germain_, on which was a suite of rooms, extremely +favourable for displaying the effect of this new method of lighting +and warming apartments. + +In lieu of fire or candle, on the chimney stood a large crystal +globe, in which appeared a bright and clear flame diffusing a very +agreeable heat; and on different pieces of furniture were placed +candlesticks with metal candles, from the top of each of which issued +a steady light, like that of a lamp burning with spirits of wine. +These different receptacles were supplied with inflammable gas by +means of tubes communicating with an apparatus underneath. By this +contrivance, in short, all the apartments were warmed very +comfortably, and illuminated in a brilliant manner. + +On consulting M. LEBON, he communicated to me the following +observations: "You may have remarked," said he, "in sitting before a +fire, that wood sometimes burns without flame, but with much smoke, +and then you experience little heat, sometimes with flame, but with +little smoke, and then you find much warmth. You may have remarked +too, that ill-made charcoal emits smoke; it is, on that account, +susceptible of flaming again; and the characteristic difference +between wood and charcoal is, that the latter has lost, together with +its smoke, the principle and aliment of flame, without which you +obtain but little heat. Experience next informs us, that this portion +of smoke, the aliment of flame, is not an oily vapour condensable by +cooling, but a gas, a permanent air, which may be washed, purified, +conducted, distributed, and afterwards turned into flame at any +distance from the hearth. + +"It is almost needless," continued he, "to point out the formation of +verdigrise, white lead, and a quantity of other operations, in which +acetous acid is employed. I shall only remark that it is this +pyroligneous acid which penetrates smoked meat and fish, that it has +an effect on leather which it hardens, and that _thermolampes_ are +likely to render tanning-mills unnecessary, by furnishing the tan +without further trouble. But to return to the aëriform principle. + +"This aliment of flame is deprived of those humid vapours, so +perceptible and so disagreeable to the organs of sight and smell. +Purified to a perfect transparency, it floats in the state of cold +air, and suffers itself to be directed by the smallest and most +fragil pipes. Chimnies of an inch square, made in the thickness of +the plaster of ceilings or walls, tubes even of gummed silk would +answer this purpose. The end alone of the tube, which, by bringing +the inflammable gas into contact with the atmospheric air, allows it +to catch fire, and on which the flame reposes, ought to be of metal. + +"By a distribution so easy to be established, a single stove may +supply the place of all the chimnies of a house. Every where +inflammable air is ready to diffuse immediately heat and light of the +most glowing or most mild nature, simultaneously or separately, +according to your wishes. In the twinkling of an eye, you may conduct +the flame from one room to another; an advantage equally convenient +and economical, and which can never be obtained with our common +stoves and chimnies. No sparks, no charcoal, no soot, to trouble you; +no ashes, no wood, to soil your apartments. By night, as well as by +day, you can have a fire in your room, without a servant being +obliged to look after it. Nothing in the _thermolampes_, not even the +smallest portion of inflammable air, can escape combustion; while in +our chimnies, torrents evaporate, and even carry off with them the +greater part of the heat produced. + +"The advantage of being able to purify and proportion, in some +measure, the principles of the gas which feeds the flame is," said M. +LEBON, "set forth in the clearest manner. But this flame is so +subjected to our caprice, that even to tranquilize the imagination, +it suffers itself to be confined in a crystal globe, which is never +tarnished, and thus presents a filter pervious to light and heat. A +part of the tube that conducts the inflammable air, carries off, out +of doors, the produce of this combustion, which, nevertheless, +according to the experiments of modern chymists, can scarcely be any +thing more than an aqueous vapour. + +"Who cannot but be fond of having recourse to a flame so subservient? +It will dress your victuals, which, as well as your cooks, will not +be exposed to the vapour of charcoal; it will warm again those dishes +on your table; dry your linen; heat your oven, and the water for your +baths or your washing, with every economical advantage that can be +wished. No moist or black vapours; no ashes, no breaze, to make a +dirt, or oppose the communication of heat; no useless loss of +caloric; you may, by shutting an opening, which is no longer +necessary for placing the wood in your oven, compress and coerce the +torrents of heat that were escaping from it. + +"It may easily be conceived, that an inflammable principle so docile +and so active may be made to yield the most magnificent +illuminations. Streams of fire finely drawn out, the duration, +colour, and form of which may be varied at pleasure, the motion of +suns and turning-columns, must produce an effect no less agreeable +than brilliant." Indeed, this effect was exhibited on the garden +façade of M. LEBON'S residence. + +"Wood," concluded he, "yields in condensable vapours two thirds of +its weight; those vapours may therefore be employed to produce the +effects of our steam-engines, and it is needless to borrow this +succour from foreign water." + +_P. S._. On the 1st of last Vendémiaire, (23rd of September), the +government presented to the Chief Consul a sword, whose hilt was +adorned with fourteen diamonds, the largest of which, called the +_Regent_, from its having been purchased by the Duke of Orleans, when +Regent, weighs 184 carats. This is the celebrated _Pitt_ diamond, of +which we have heard so much: but its weight is exceeded by that of +the diamond purchased by the late empress of Russia, which weighs 194 +carats; not to speak of the more famous diamond, in possession of the +Great Mogul, which is said to weigh 280 carats. + + + +LETTER V. + +_Paris, October 24, 1801._ + +Last night I received yours of the 20th ult. and as Mr. M----y +purposes to send off a dispatch this morning, and will do me the +favour to forward this, with my former letters, I hasten to write you +a few lines. + +I scarcely need assure you, my dear friend, that I will, with +pleasure, communicate to you my remarks on this great city and its +inhabitants, and describe to you, as far as I am able, the principal +curiosities which it contains, particularizing, as you desire, those +recently placed here by the chance of war; and giving you a succinct, +historical account of the most remarkable national establishments and +public buildings. But to pass in review the present state of the +_arts, sciences, literature, manners, &c. &c._ in this capital, and +contrast it with that which existed before the revolution, is a task +indeed; and far more, I fear, than it will be in my power to +accomplish. + +However, if you will be content to gather my observations as they +occur; to listen to my reflections, while the impression of the +different scenes which produced them, is still warm in my mind; in +short, to take a faithful sketch, in lieu of a finished picture, I +will do the best I can for your satisfaction. + +Relying on your indulgence, you shall know the life I lead: I will, +as it were, take you by the arm, and, wherever I go, you shall be my +companion. Perhaps, by pursuing this plan, you will not, at the +expiration of three or four months, think your time unprofitably +spent. Aided by the experience acquired by having occasionally +resided here, for several months together, before the revolution, it +will be my endeavour to make you as well acquainted with Paris, as I +shall then hope to be myself. For this purpose, I will lay under +contribution every authority, both written and oral, worthy of being +consulted. + + + +LETTER VI + +_Paris, October 26, 1801._ + +From particular passages in your letter, I clearly perceive your +anxiety to be introduced among those valuable antiques which now +adorn the banks of the Seine. On that account, I determined to +postpone all other matters, and pay my first visit to the CENTRAL +MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, established in the + +LOUVRE. + +But, before, we enter the interior of this building, it may not be +amiss to give you some account of its construction, and describe to +you its exterior beauties. + +The origin of this palace, as well as the etymology of its name, is +lost in the darkness of time. It is certain, however, that it +existed, under the appellation of _Louvre_, in the reign of Philip +Augustus, who surrounded it with ditches and towers, and made it a +fortress. The great tower of the _Louvre_, celebrated in history, was +insulated, and built in the middle of the court. All the great +feudatories of the crown derived their tenure from this tower, and +came hither to swear allegiance and pay homage. "It was," says St. +Foix, "a prison previously prepared for them, if they violated their +oaths."[1] Three Counts of Flanders were confined in it at different +periods. + +The _Louvre_, far from being cheerful from its construction, received +also from this enormous tower a melancholy and terrifying aspect +which rendered it unworthy of being a royal residence. Charles V. +endeavoured to enliven and embellish this gloomy abode, and made it +tolerably commodious for those times. Several foreign monarchs +successively lodged in it; such as Manuel, emperor of Constantinople; +Sigismund, emperor of Germany; and the emperor Charles the Fifth. + +This large tower of the _Louvre_, which had, at different periods, +served as a palace to the kings of France, as a prison to the great +lords, and as a treasury to the state, was at length taken down in +1528. + +The _Tower of the Library_ was famous, among several others, because +it contained that of Charles V. the most considerable one of the +time, and in which the number of volumes amounted to nine hundred. + +OLD LOUVRE + +The part of this palace which, at the present day, is called the _Old +Louvre_, was begun under Francis I. from the plan of PIERRE LESCOT, +abbot of Clugny; and the sculpture was executed by JEAN GOUGEON, +whose minute correctness is particularly remarkable in the festoons +of the frieze of the second order, and in the devices emblematic of +the amours of Henry II. This edifice, though finished, was not +inhabited during the reign of that king, but it was by his son +Charles IX. + +Under him, the _Louvre_ became the bloody theatre of treacheries and +massacres which time will never efface from the memory of mankind, +and which, till the merciless reign of Robespierre, were unexampled +in the history of this country. I mean the horrors of St. +Bartholemew's day. + +While the alarmed citizens were swimming across the river to escape +from death, Charles IX. from a window of this palace, was firing at +them with his arquebuse. During that period of the revolution, when +all means were employed to excite and strengthen the enmity of the +people against their kings, this act of atrocity was called to their +mind by an inscription placed under the very window, which looks on +the _Quai du Louvre_. + +Indeed, this instance of Charles's barbarity is fully corroborated by +historians. "When it was day-light," says Brantome, "the king peeped +out of his chamber-window, and seeing some people in the _Faubourg +St. Germain_ moving about and running away, he took a large arquebuse +which he had ready at hand, and, calling out incessantly: _Kill, +kill!_ fired a great many shots at them, but in vain; for the piece +did not carry so far."--This prince, according to Masson, piqued +himself on his dexterity in cutting off at a single blow the head of +the asses and pigs which he met with on his way. Lansac, one of his +favourites, having found him one day with his sword drawn and ready +to strike his mule, asked him seriously: "What quarrel has then +happened between His Most Christian Majesty and my mule?" Murad Bey +far surpassed this blood-thirsty monarch in address and strength. The +former, we are told by travellers in Egypt, has been known, when +riding past an ox, to cut off its head with one stroke of his +scimitar. + +The capital was dyed with the blood of Charles's murdered subjects. +Into this very _Louvre_, into the chamber of Marguerite de Valois, +the king's sister, and even to her bed, in which she was then lying, +did the fanatics pursue the officers belonging to the court itself, +as is circumstantially related by that princess in her Memoirs. + +Let us draw the curtain on these scenes of horror, and pass rapidly +from this period of fanaticism and cruelty, when the _Louvre_ was +stained by so many crimes to times more happy, when this palace +became the quiet cradle of the arts and sciences, the school for +talents, the _arena_ for genius, and the asylum of artists and +literati. + +The centre pavilion over the principal gate of the _Old Louvre_, was +erected under the reign of Lewis XIII. from the designs of LE +MERCIER, as well as the angle of the left part of the building, +parallel to that built by Henry II. The eight gigantic cariatides +which are there seen, were sculptured by SARRASIN. + +The façade towards the _Jardin de l'Infante_, (as it is called), that +towards the _Place du Louvre_, and that over the little gate, towards +the river, which were constructed under the reigns of Charles IX. and +Henry III. in the midst of the civil wars of the League, partake of +the taste of the time, in regard to the multiplicity of the +ornaments; but the interior announces, by the majesty of its +decorations, the refined taste of Lewis XIV. + +NEW LOUVRE. + +The part of the _Louvre_, which, with the two sides of the old +building, forms the perfect square, three hundred and seventy-eight +feet[2] in extent, called the _New Louvre_, consists in two double +façades, which are still unfinished. LE VEAU, and after him D'ORBAY, +were the architects under whose direction this augmentation was made +by order of Lewis XIV. + +That king at first resolved to continue the _Louvre_ on the plan +begun by Francis I.: for some time he caused it to be pursued, but +having conceived a more grand and magnificent design, he ordered the +foundation of the superb edifice now standing, to be laid on the 17th +of October 1665, under the administration of COLBERT. + +Through a natural prejudice, Lewis XIV. thought that he could find no +where but in Italy an artist sufficiently skilful to execute his +projects of magnificence. He sent for the Cavaliere BERNINI from +Rome. This artist, whose reputation was established, was received in +France with all the pomp due to princes of the blood. The king +ordered that, in the towns through which he might pass, he should be +complimented and receive presents from the corporations, &c. + +BERNINI was loaded with wealth and honours: notwithstanding the +prepossession of the court in favour of this Italian architect, +notwithstanding his talents, he did not succeed in his enterprise. +After having forwarded the foundation of this edifice, he made a +pretext of the impossibility of spending the winter in a climate +colder than that of Italy. "He was promised," says St. Foix, "three +thousand louis a year if he would stay; but," he said, "he would +positively go and die in his _own_ country." On the eve of his +departure, the king sent him three thousand louis, with the grant of +a pension of five hundred. He received the whole with great coolness. + +Several celebrated architects now entered the lists to complete this +grand undertaking.--MANSARD presented his plans, with which COLBERT +was extremely pleased: the king also approved of them, and absolutely +insisted on their being executed without any alteration. MANSARD +replied that he would rather renounce the glory of building this +edifice than the liberty of correcting himself, and changing his +design when he thought he could improve it. Among the competitors was +CLAUDE PERRAULT, that physician so defamed by Boileau, the poet. His +plans were preferred, and merited the preference. Many pleasantries +were circulated at the expense of the new medical architect; and +PERRAULT replied to those sarcasms by producing the beautiful +colonnade of the _Louvre_, the master-piece of French architecture, +and the admiration of all Europe. + +The façade of this colonnade, which is of the Corinthian order; is +five hundred and twenty-five feet in length: it is divided into two +peristyles and three avant-corps. The principal gate is in the centre +avant-corps, which is decorated with eight double columns, crowned by +a pediment, whose raking cornices are composed of two stones only, +each fifty-four feet in length by eight in breadth, though no more +than eighteen inches in thickness. They were taken from the quarries +of Meudon, and formed but one single block, which was sawed into two. +The other two avant-corps are ornamented by six pilasters, and two +columns of the same order, and disposed in the same manner. On the +top, in lieu of a ridged roof, is a terrace, bordered by a stone +balustrade, the pedestals of which are intended to bear trophies +intermixed with vases. + +PERRAULT'S enemies disputed with him the invention of this +master-piece. They maintained that it belonged to LE VEAU, the +architect; but, since the discovery of the original manuscript and +drawings of PERRAULT, there no longer remains a doubt respecting +the real author of this beautiful production. + +In front of this magnificent colonnade, a multitude of salesmen erect +their stalls, and there display quantities of old clothes, rags, &c. +This contrast, as Mercier justly remarks, still speaks to the eye of +the attentive observer. It is the image of all the rest, grandeur and +beggary, side by side. + +However, it is not on the _outside_ of these walls only, that beggary +has been so nearly allied to grandeur. At least we have a solitary +instance of this truth of a very sinking nature. + +Cardinal de Retz tells us, that going one morning to the _Louvre_ to +see the Queen of England, he found her in the chamber of her +daughter, aftenwards Dutchess of Orleans, and that she said to him: +"You see, I come to keep Henriette company: the poor girl could not +leave her bed to-day, for want of fuel."--It is true, he adds, that, +for six months past Cardinal Mazarin had not paid her pension; the +tradesmen, would no longer give her credit, and she had not a piece +of wood to warm her. + +Like St. Paul's in London, the façade of the _Louvre_ cannot be seen +to the best advantage, on account of the proximity of the surrounding +buildings; and, like many other great undertakings too, will, +probably, never be completed, but remain a monument of the fickleness +of the nation. + +Lewis XIV, after having for a long time made the _Louvre_ his +residence; abandoned it for _Versailles_: "Sire," said Dufreny once +to that prince, "I never look at the _New Louvre_, without +exclaiming, superb monument of the magnificence of our greatest +kings, you would have been finished, had you been given to one of the +begging orders of friars!" From that period, the _Louvre_ was wholly +consecrated to the sittings of different academies, and to the +accommodation of several men of science and artists, to whom free +apartments were allotted. + +I much regret having, for this year at least, lost a sight here, +which I should have viewed with no inconsiderable degree of +attention. This is the + +PUBLIC EXHIBITION OF THE PRODUCTIONS OF FRENCH INDUSTRY. + +Under the directorial government, this exhibition was opened in the +_Champ de Mars_; but it now takes place, annually, in the square of +the _Louvre_, during the five complementary days of the republican +calendar; namely, from the 18th to the 22d of September, both +inclusive. + +The exhibition not only includes manufactures of every sort, but also +every new discovery, invention, and improvement. For the purpose of +displaying these objects to advantage, temporary buildings are +erected along the four interior walls of this square, each of which +are subdivided into twenty-five porticoes; so that the whole square +of the _Louvre_, during that period, represents a fair with a hundred +booths. The resemblance, I am told, is rendered still more perfect by +the prodigious crowd; persons of all ranks being indiscriminately +admitted to view these productions. Precautions, however, are taken +to prevent the indiscreet part of the public from rushing into the +porticoes, and sentinels are posted at certain intervals to preserve +order. + +This, undoubtedly, is a very laudable institution, and extremely well +calculated to excite emulation in the national manufactures, +specimens of which being sent from all the principal manufacturing +towns, the hundred porticoes may be said to comprise an epitome of +the present state of all the flourishing manufactures of France. +Indeed, none but new inventions and articles of finished workmanship, +the fabrication of which is known, are suffered to make part of the +exhibition. Even these are not admitted till after a previous +examination, and on the certificate of a private jury of five +members, appointed for that purpose by the prefect of each +department. A new jury, composed of fifteen members, nominated by the +Minister of the Interior, again examine the different articles +admitted; and agreeably to their decision, the government award +premiums and medals to those persons who have made the greatest +improvement in any particular fabric or branch of industry, or +produced any new discovery or invention. The successful candidates +are presented to the Chief Consul by the Minister of the Interior, +and have the honour of dining with him at his public monthly dinner. + +From all that I can learn concerning this interesting exhibition, it +appears, that, though the useful arts, in general, cannot at present +be put in competition here with those of a similar description among +us, the object of the French government is to keep up a spirit of +rivalship, and encourage, by every possible means, the improvement of +those manufactures in which England is acknowledged to surpass other +countries. + +I am reminded that it is time to prepare for going out to dinner. I +must therefore not leave this letter, like the _Louvre_, unfinished. +Fortunately, my good friend, the prevailing fashion here is to dine +very late, which leaves me a long morning; but for this, I know not +when I should have an opportunity of writing long letters. Restrain +then your impatience, and I promise that you shall very shortly be +ushered into the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES, + + "Where the smooth chisel all its force has shewn, + And soften'd into flesh the rugged stone." + +[Footnote 1: _Essais historiques sur Paris_.] + +[Footnote 2: It may be necessary to observe that, throughout these +letters, we always speak of French feet. The English foot is to the +French as 12 to 12.789, or as 4 to 4.263.] + + + +LETTER VII. + +_Paris, October 28, 1801._ + +Having, in my last letter, described to you the outside of the +_Louvre_, (with the exception of the Great Gallery, of which I shall +speak more at length in another place), I shall now proceed to give +you an account of some of the principal national establishments +contained within its walls. + +Before the revolution, the _Louvre_ was, as I have said, the seat of +different academies, such as the _French Academy_, the _Academy of +Sciences_, the _Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres_, the +_Academy of Painting and Sculpture_, and the _Academy of +Architecture_. All these are replaced by the _National Institute of +Arts and Sciences_, of which, however, I shall postpone further +mention till I conduct you to one of its public sittings. + +At the period to which I revert, there existed in the _Louvre_ a +hall, called the _Salle des Antiques_, where, besides, some original +statues by French artists, were assembled models in plaster of the +most celebrated master-pieces of sculpture in Italy, together with a +small number of antiques. In another apartment, forming part of those +assigned to the Academy of Painting, and called the _Galérie +d'Apollon_, were seen several pictures, chiefly of the French school; +and it was intended that the Great Gallery should be formed into a +Museum, containing a collection of the finest pictures and statues at +the disposal of the crown. + +This plan, which had partly been carried into execution under the old +_régime_, is now completed, but in a manner infinitely more +magnificent than could possibly have been effected without the +advantages of conquest. The _Great Gallery_ and _Saloon_ of the +_Louvre_ are solely appropriated to the exhibition of pictures of the +old masters of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools; and the +_Gallery of Apollo_ to that of their drawings; while a suite of lofty +apartments has been purposely fitted up in this palace for the +reception of original antiques, in lieu of those copies of them +before-mentioned. In other rooms, adjoining to the Great Gallery, are +exhibited, as formerly, that is during one month every year, the +productions of living painters, sculptors, architects, and +draughtsmen. + +These different exhibitions are placed under the superintendance of a +board of management, or an administration, (as the French term it), +composed of a number of antiquaries, artists, and men of science, +inferior to none in Europe in skill, judgment, taste, or erudition. +The whole of this grand establishment bears the general title of + +CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS. + +The treasures of painting and sculpture which the French nation have +acquired by the success of their arms, or by express conditions in +treaties of alliance or neutrality, are so immense as to enable them, +not only to render this CENTRAL MUSEUM the grandest collection of +master-pieces in the world, but also to establish fifteen +departmental Museums in fifteen of the principal towns of France. +This measure, evidently intended to favour the progress of the fine +arts, will case Paris of a great number of the pictures, statues, &c. +amassed here from different parts of France, Germany, Belgium, +Holland, Italy, Piedmont, Savoy, and the States of. Venice. + +If you cast your eye on the annexed _Plan of Paris_, and suppose +yourself near the exterior south-west angle of the _Louvre_, or, as +it is more emphatically styled, the NATIONAL PALACE OF ARTS AND +SCIENCES, you will be in the right-hand corner of the _Place du Vieux +Louvre_, in which quarter is the present entrance to the CENTRAL +MUSEUM OF THE ARTS. Here, after passing through a court, you enter a +vestibule, on the left of which is the Hall of the Administration of +the Museum. On the ground-floor, facing the door of this vestibule, +is the entrance to the + +GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. + +In this gallery, which was, for the first time, opened to the public +on the 18th of Brumaire, year ix. of the French republic, (9th of +November 1800), are now distributed no less than one hundred and +forty-six statues, busts, and bas-reliefs. It consists of several +handsome apartments, bearing appropriate denominations, according to +the principal subjects which each contains. Six only are at present +completely arranged for public inspection: but many others are in a +state of preparation. + +The greater part of the statues here exhibited, are the fruit of the +conquests of the army of Italy. Conformably to the treaty of +Tolentino, they were selected at Rome, from the Capitol and the +Vatican, by BARTHÉLEMY, BERTHOLET, MOITTE, MONGE, THOUIN, and TINET, +who were appointed, by the French government, commissioners for the +research of objects appertaining to the Arts and Sciences. + +In the vestibule, for the moderate price of fifteen _sous_, is sold a +catalogue, which is not merely a barren index, but a perspicuous and +satisfactory explanation of the different objects that strike the eye +of the admiring spectator as he traverses the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. It +is by no means my intention to transcribe this catalogue, or to +mention every statue; but, assisted by the valuable observations with +which I was favoured by the learned antiquary, VISCONTI, long +distinguished for his profound knowledge of the fine arts, I shall +describe the most remarkable only, and such as would fix the +attention of the connoisseur. + +On entering the gallery, you might, perhaps, be tempted to stop in +the first hall; but we will visit them all in regular succession, and +proceed to that which is now the furthest on the left hand. The +ceiling of this apartment, painted by ROMANELLI, represents the four +seasons; whence it is called the + +HALL OF THE SEASONS. + +In consequence, among other antiques, here are placed the statues of +the rustic divinities, and those relating to the Seasons. Of the +whole, I shall distinguish the following: + + N° 210. DIANA. + +Diana, habited as a huntress, in a short tunic without sleeves, is +holding her bow in one hand; while, with the other, she is drawing an +arrow from her quiver, which is suspended at her shoulder. Her legs +are bare, and her feet are adorned with rich sandals. The goddess, +with a look expressive of indignation, appears to be defending the +fabulous hind from the pursuit of Hercules, who, in obedience to the +oracle of Apollo, was pursuing it, in order to carry it alive to +Eurystheus; a task imposed on him by the latter as one of his twelve +labours. + +To say that, in the opinion of the first-rate connoisseurs, this +statue might serve as a companion to the _Apollo of Belvedere_, is +sufficient to convey an idea of its perfection; and, in fact, it is +reckoned the finest representation of Diana in existence. It is of +Parian marble, and, according to historians, has been in France ever +since the reign of Henry IV. It was the most perfect of the antiques +which adorned the Gallery of Versailles. The parts wanting have been +recently restored with such skill as to claim particular admiration. + + 214. ROME. + +In this bust, the city of Rome is personified as an Amazon. The +helmet of the female warrior is adorned with a representation of the +she-wolf, suckling the children of Mars. + +This antique, of Parian marble, is of a perfect Greek style, and in +admirable preservation. It formerly belonged to the Gallery of +Richelieu-Castle. + + 51. ADOLESCENS SPINAM AVELLENS. + +This bronze figure represents a young man seated, who seems employed +in extracting a thorn from his left foot. + +It is a production of the flourishing period of the art, but, +according to appearance, anterior to the reign of Alexander the +Great. It partakes a little of the meagre style of the old Greek +school; but, at the same time, is finished with astonishing truth, +and exhibits a graceful simplicity of expression. In what place it +was originally discovered is not known. It was taken from the +Capitol, where it was seen in the _Palazzo dei Conservatori_. + + 50. A FAUN, _in a resting posture_. + +This young faun, with no other covering than a deer's skin thrown +over his shoulders, is standing with his legs crossed, and leaning on +the trunk of a tree, as if resting himself. + +The grace and finished execution that reign throughout this figure, +as well as the immense number of copies still existing of it, and all +antiques, occasion it to be considered as the copy of the Faun in +bronze, (or Satyr as it is termed by the Greeks), of Praxiteles. That +statue was so celebrated, that the epithet of [Greek: perizoætos], or +the famous, became its distinctive appellation throughout Greece. + +This Faun is of Pentelic marble: it was found in 1701, near _Civita +Lavinia_, and placed in the Capitol by Benedict XIV. + + 59. ARIADNE, _known by the name of_ CLEOPATRA. + +In this beautiful figure, Ariadne is represented asleep on a rock in +the Isle of Naxos, abandoned by the faithless Theseus, and at the +moment when Bacchus became enamoured of her, as described by several +ancient poets. + +It is astonishing how the expression of sleep could be mistaken for +that of death, and cause this figure to be called _Cleopatra_. The +serpent on the upper part of the left arm is evidently a bracelet, of +that figure which the Greek women called [Greek: opidion], or the +little serpent. + +For three successive centuries, this statue of Parian marble +constituted one of the principal ornaments of the Belvedere of the +Vatican, where it was placed by Julius II. + + 190. AUGUSTUS. + +This head of Augustus, adorned with the civic crown of oak leaves, is +one of the fine portraits of that emperor. It is executed in Parian +marble, and comes from Verona, where it was admired in the +_Bevilacqua_ cabinet. + + * * * * * + +On quitting the HALL OF THE SEASONS, we return to that through which +we first passed to reach it. This apartment, from being ornamented +with the statues of ZENO, TRAJAN, DEMOSTHENES, and PHOCION, is +denominated the + +HALL OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN. + +It is decorated with eight antique granite pillars brought from +_Aix-la-Chapelle_, where they stood in the nave of the church, which +contained the tomb of Charlemagne. + +Among the antiques placed in it, I shall particularize + + N° 75. MENANDER. + +This figure represents the poet, honoured by the Greeks with the +title of _Prince of the New Comedy_, sitting on a hemi-cycle, or +semicircular seat, and resting after his literary labours. He is clad +in the Grecian tunic and _pallium_. + + 76. POSIDIPPUS. + +The dress of Posidippus, who was reckoned among the Greeks one of the +best authors of what was called the _New Comedy_, is nearly that of +Menander, the poet. Like him, he is represented sitting on a +hemi-cycle. + +These two statues, which are companions, are admirable for the noble +simplicity of their execution. They are both of Pentelic marble, and +were found in the XVIth century at Rome, in the gardens of the +convent of _San Lorenzo_, on Mount Viminal. After making part of the +baths of Olympius, they were placed by Sixtus V. at _Negroni_, whence +they were removed to the Vatican by Pius VI. + + * * * * * + +Continuing our examination, after leaving the HALL OF ILLUSTRIOUS +MEN, we next come to the + +HALL OF THE ROMANS. + +The ceiling of this hall is ornamented with subjects taken from the +Roman history, painted by ROMANELLI; and in it are chiefly assembled +such works of sculpture as have a relation to that people. + +Among several busts and statues, representing ADRIAN, PUBLIUS +CORNELIUS SCIPIO, MARCUS JUNIUS BRUTUS, LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS, CICERO, +&c. I shall point out to your notice, + + 209. _The_ TORSO _of_ BELVEDERE. + +This admirable remnant of a figure seated, though the head, arms, and +legs are wanting, represents the apotheosis of Hercules. The lion's +skin spread on the rock, and the enormous size of the limbs, leave no +doubt as to the subject of the statue. Notwithstanding the muscles +are strongly marked, the veins in the body of the hero are +suppressed, whence antiquaries have inferred, that the intention of +the author was to indicate the very moment of his deification. +According to this idea, our countryman FLAXMAN has immortalized +himself by restoring a copy of the _Torso_, and placing Hebe on the +left of Hercules, in the act of presenting to him the cup of +immortality. + +On the rock, where the figure is seated, is the following Greek +inscription: + + [Greek: APOLLONIOS] + [Greek: NESTOROS] + [Greek: ATÆNAIOS] + [Greek: EPOIEI.] + +By which we are informed, that it is the production of APOLLONIUS, +_the Athenian, the son of Nestor_, who, probably, flourished in the +time of Pompey the Great. + +This valuable antique is of Pentelic marble, and sculptured in a most +masterly style. It was found at Rome, near Pompey's theatre, now +_Campo di Fiore_. Julius II. placed it in the garden of the Vatican, +where it was long the object of the studies of MICHAEL ANGELO, +RAPHAEL, &c. those illustrious geniuses, to whom we are indebted for +the improvement of the fine arts. Among artists, it has always been +distinguished by the appellation of the _Torso of Belvedere_. + + 94. _A wounded warrior, commonly called the_ GLADIATOR MORIENS. + +This figure, represents a barbarian soldier, dying on the field of +battle, without surrendering. It is remarkable for truth of +imitation, of a choice nature, though not sublime, (because the +subject would not admit of it,) and for nobleness of expression, +which is evident without affectation. + +This statue formerly belonged to the _Villa-Ludovisi_, whence it was +removed to the Museum of the Capitol by Clement XII. It is from the +chisel of AGASIAS, a sculptor of Ephesus, who lived 450 years before +the Christian era. + + 82. CERES. + +This charming figure is rather that of a Muse than of the goddess of +agriculture. It is admirable for the _ideal_ beauty of the drapery. +She is clad in a tunic; over this is thrown a mantle, the execution +of which is so perfect, that, through it, are perceived the knots of +the strings which fasten the tunic below the bosom. + +It formerly belonged to the _Villa-Mattei_, on Mount Esquiline; but +was taken from the Museum of the Vatican, where it had been placed by +Clement XIV. + + 80. _A Roman orator, called_ GERMANICUS. + +Hitherto this admirable figure of a Roman orator, with the attributes +of Mercury, the god of eloquence, has passed for that of Germanicus, +though it is manifestly too old for him. Here we have another model +of beautiful elegance of form, though not of an _ideal_ sublimity. + +On the shell of a tortoise, at tide foot of the statue, is inscribed +in beautiful Greek characters: + + [Greek: KLEOMENÆS] + [Greek: KLEOMENOYS] + [Greek: ATÆNIOSE] + [Greek: POIÆSEN.] + +Whence we learn that it is the production of CLEOMENES, an Athenian +artist, mentioned by Pliny, and who flourished towards the end of the +Roman republic, about 500 years before Christ. This statue was taken +from the Gallery of Versailles, where it had been placed in the reign +of Lewis XIV. It formerly belonged to the garden of Sixtus V. at +_Villa-Montalto_, in Rome. + + 97. ANTINOÜS, _called the_ ANTINOÜS OF THE CAPITOL. + +In this monument, Adrian's favourite is represented as having +scarcely attained the age of puberty. He is naked, and his attitude +has some affinity to that of Mercury. However, his countenance seems +to be impressed with that cast of melancholy, by which all his +portraits are distinguished: Hence has been applied to him that verse +of Virgil on Marcellus; + + _"Sed frons læta parum, et dejecto lumina vultu"_ + +This beautiful figure, of Carrara marble, is sculptured in a masterly +manner. It comes from the Museum of the Capitol, and previously +belonged to the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Albani. The +fore-arm and left leg are modern. + + 200. ANTINOÜS. + +In this colossal bust of the Bithynian youth, are some peculiarities +which call to mind the images of the Egyptian god _Harpocrates_. It +is finely executed in hard Greek marble, and comes from the Museum of +the Vatican. As recently as the year 1790, it was dug from the ruins +of the _Villa-Fede_ at Tivoli. + +But enough for to-day--to-morrow I will resume my pen, and we will +complete our survey of the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. + + + +LETTER VIII. + +_Paris, October 29, 1801._ + +If the culture of the arts, by promoting industry and increasing +commerce, improves civilization, and refines manners, what modern +people can boast of such advantages as are now enjoyed by the French +nation? While the sciences keep pace with the arts, good taste bids +fair to spread, in time, from the capital throughout the country, and +to become universal among them. In antiquity, Athens attests the +truth of this proposition, by rising, through the same means, above +all the cities of Greece; and, in modern times, have we not seen in +Florence, become opulent, the darkness of ignorance vanish, like a +fog, before the bright rays of knowledge, diffused by the flourishing +progress of the arts and sciences? + +When I closed my letter yesterday, we had just terminated our +examination of the HALL OF THE ROMANS. On the same line with it, the +next apartment we reach, taking its name from the celebrated group +here placed, is styled the + +HALL OF THE LAOCOON. + +Here are to be admired four pillars of _verde antico_, a species of +green marble, obtained by the ancients, from the environs of +Thessalonica. They were taken from the church of _Montmorency_, where +they decorated the tomb of Anne, the constable of that name. The +first three apartments are floored with inlaid oak; but this is paved +with beautiful marble. + +Of the _chefs d'oeuvre_ exhibited in this hall, every person of taste +cannot but feel particular gratification in examining the +undermentioned; + + N° 108. LAOCOON. + +The pathetic story which forms the subject of this admirable group is +known to every classic reader. It is considered as one of the most +perfect works that ever came from the chisel; being at once a +master-piece of composition, design, and feeling. Any sort of +commentary could but weaken the impression which it makes on the +beholder. + +It was found in 1506, under the pontificate of Julius II, at Rome, on +Mount Esquiline, in the ruins of the palace of Titus. The three +Rhodian artists, AGESANDER, POLYDORUS, and ATHENOPORUS, mentioned by +Pliny, as the sculptors of this _chef d'oeuvre_ flourished during the +time of the Emperors, in the first century of the Christian era. + +The group is composed of five blocks, but joined in so skilful a +manner, that Pliny thought them of one single piece. The right arm of +the father and two arms of the children are wanting. + + 111. AMAZON. + +This uncommonly beautiful figure of Parian marble represents a woman, +whose feminine features and form seem to have contracted the +impression of the masculine habits of warfare. Clad in a very fine +tunic, which, leaving the left breast exposed, is tucked up on the +hips, she is in the act of bending a large bow. No attitude could be +better calculated for exhibiting to advantage the finely-modelled +person of this heroine. + +For two centuries, this statue was at the _Villa-Mattei_, on Mount +Coelius at Rome, whence it was removed to the Museum of the Vatican +by Clement XIV. + + 118. MELEAGER. + +The son of OEneus, king of Calydon, with nothing but a _chlamis_ +fastened on his shoulders, and winding round his left arm, is here +represented resting himself, after having killed the formidable wild +boar, which was ravaging his dominions; at his side is the head of +the animal, and near him sits his faithful dog. + +The beauty of this group is sublime, and yet it is of a different +cast, from either that of the _Apollo of Belvedere_, or that of the +_Mercury_, called Antinoüs, of which we shall presently have occasion +to speak. + +This group is of Greek marble of a cinereous colour: there are two +different traditions respecting the place where it was found; but the +preference is given to that of Aldroandi, who affirms that it was +discovered in a vineyard bordering on the Tiber. It belonged to +Fusconi, physician to Paul III, and was for a long time in the +_Pighini_ palace at Rome, whence Clement XIV had it conveyed to the +Vatican. + + 103 and 104. _Two busts, called_ TRAGEDY and COMEDY. + +These colossal heads of Bacchantes adorned the entrance of the +theatre of the _Villa-Adriana_ at Tivoli. Though the execution of +them is highly finished, it is no detriment to the grandeur of the +style. + +The one is of Pentelic marble; and the other, of Parian. Having been +purchased of Count Fede by Pius VI, they were placed in the Museum of +the Vatican. + + 105. ANTINOÜS. + +This bust is particularly deserving of attention, on account of its +beauty, its excellent preservation, and perfect resemblance to the +medals which remain of Adrian's favourite. + +It is of Parian marble of the finest quality, and had been in France +long before the revolution. + + 112. ARIADNE, _called_ (in the catalogue) BACCHUS. + +Some sculptors have determined to call this beautiful head that of +BACCHUS; while the celebrated VISCONTI, and other distinguished +antiquaries, persist in preserving to it its ancient name of ARIADNE, +by which it was known in the Museum of the Capitol. + +Whichever it may be, it is of Pentelic marble, and unquestionably one +of the most sublime productions of the chisel, in point of _ideal_ +beauty. + + * * * * * + +From the HALL OF THE LAOCOON, we pass into the apartment, which, from +the famous statue, here erected, and embellished in the most splendid +manner, takes the appellation of the + +HALL OF THE APOLLO. + +This hall is ornamented with four pillars of red oriental granite of +the finest quality: those which decorate the niche of the Apollo were +taken from the church that contained the tomb of Charlemagne at +_Aix-la-Chapelle_. The floor is paved with different species of +scarce and valuable marble, in large compartments, and, in its +centre, is placed a large octagonal table of the same substance. + +In proportion to the dimensions of this apartment, which is +considerably larger than any of the others, a greater number of +antiques are here placed, of which the following are the most +pre-eminent. + + N° 145. APOLLO PYTHIUS, _commonly called the_ APOLLO OF BELVEDERE. + +The name alone of this _chef d'oeuvre_ might be said to contain its +eulogium. But as you may, probably, expect from me some remarks on +it, I shall candidly acknowledge that I can do no better than +communicate to you the able and interesting description given of it +by the Administration of the Museum, of which the following is a fair +abridgment. + +"Apollo has just discharged the mortal arrow which has struck the +serpent Python, while ravaging Delphi. In his left hand is held his +formidable bow; his right has but an instant quitted it: all his +members still preserve the impression given them by this action. +Indignation is seated on his lips; but in his looks is the assurance +of success. His hair, slightly curled, floats in long ringlets round +his neck, or is gracefully turned up on the crown of his head, which +is encircled by the _strophium_, or fillet, characteristic of kings +and gods. His quiver is suspended by a belt to the right shoulder: +his feet are adorned with rich sandals. His _chlamis_ fastened on the +shoulder, and tucked up only on the left arm, is thrown back, as if +to display the majesty of his divine form to greater advantage. + +"An eternal youth is spread over all his beautiful figure, a sublime +mixture of nobleness and agility, of vigour and elegance, and which +holds a happy medium between the delicate form of Bacchus, and the +more manly one of Mercury." + +This inimitable master-piece is of Carrara marble, and, consequently, +was executed by some Greek artist who lived in the time of the +Romans; but the name of its author is entirely unknown. The fore-arm +and the left hand, which were wanting, were restored by GIOVANNI +ANGELO DE MONTORSOLI, a sculptor, who was a pupil of Michael Angelo. + +Towards the end of the fifteenth century, it was discovered at _Capo +d'Anzo_, twelve leagues from Rome, on the sea-shore, near the ruins +of the ancient _Antium_. Julius II, when cardinal, purchased this +statue, and placed it in his palace; but shortly after, having +arrived at the pontificate, he had it conveyed to the Belvedere of +the Vatican, where, for three centuries, it was the admiration of the +world. + +On the 16th of Brumaire, year IX, (7th of November, 1801) BONAPARTE, +as First Consul, celebrated, in great pomp, the inauguration of the +Apollo; on which occasion he placed between the plinth of the statue, +and its pedestal, a brass tablet bearing a suitable inscription. + +The Apollo stands facing the entrance-door of the apartment, in an +elevated recess, decorated, as I have before observed, with beautiful +granite pillars. The flight of steps, leading to this recess, is +paved with the rarest marble, inlaid with squares of curious antique +mosaic, and on them are placed two Egyptian sphynxes of red oriental +granite, taken from the Museum of the Vatican. + + 142. VENUS OF THE CAPITOL. + +This figure of Parian marble represents the goddess of beauty issuing +from the bath. Her charms are not concealed by any veil or garment. +She is slightly turning her head to the left, as if to smile on the +Graces, who are supposed to be preparing to attire her. + +In point of execution, this is allowed to be the most beautiful of +all the statues of Venus which we have remaining. The _Venus of +Medicis_ surpasses it in sublimity of form, approaching nearer to +_ideal_ beauty. + +Bupalus, a sculptor of the Isle of Scio, is said to have produced +this master-piece. He lived 600 years before Christ, so that it has +now been in existence upwards of two thousand four hundred years. It +was found about the middle of the eighteenth century, near +_San-Vitale_, at Rome. Benedict XIV having purchased it of the +_Stati_ family, placed it in the Capitol. + + 125. MERCURY, _commonly called the_ ANTINOÜS OF BELVEDERE. + +This statue, also of the finest Parian marble, is one of the most +beautiful that can be imagined. More robust in form than either that +of the _Apollo_ or of the _Meleager_, it loses nothing by being +contemplated after the former. In short, the harmony which reigns +between its parts is such, that the celebrated POUSSIN, in preference +to every other, always took from it the _proportions of the human +figure_. + +It was found at Rome, on Mount Esquiline, under the pontificate of +Paul III, who placed it in the Belvedere of the Vatican, near the +Apollo and the Laocoon. + + 151. _The Egyptian_ ANTINOÜS. + +In this statue, Antinoüs is represented as a divinity of Egypt. He is +standing in the usual attitude of the Egyptian gods, and is naked, +with the exception of his head and wrist, which are covered with a +species of drapery in imitation of the sacred garments. + +This beautiful figure is wrought with superior excellence. It is of +white marble, which leads to a conjecture that it might have been +intended to represent Orus, the god of light, it having been the +custom of the Egyptians to represent all their other divinities in +coloured marble. It was discovered in 1738, at Tivoli, in the +_Villa-Adriana_, and taken from the Museum of the Capitol. + +To judge from the great number of figures of Antinoüs, sculptured by +order of Adrian to perpetuate the memory of that favourite, the +emperor's gratitude for him must have been unbounded. Under the form +of different divinities, or at different periods of life, there are +at present in the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES no less than five portraits of +him, besides three statues and two busts. Three other statues of +Antinoüs, together with a bust, and an excellent bass-relief, in +which he is represented, yet remain to be placed. + + 156. BACCHUS. + +The god of wine is here represented standing, and entirely naked. He +is leaning carelessly with his left arm on the trunk of an elm, round +which winds a grape-vine. + +This statue, of the marble called at Rome _Greco duro_, is reckoned +one of the finest extant of the mirth-inspiring deity. + + * * * * * + +Having surveyed every object deserving of notice in the HALL OF THE +APOLLO, we proceed, on the right hand, towards its extremity, and +reach the last apartment of the gallery, which, from being +consecrated to the tuneful Nine, is called the + +HALL OF THE MUSES. + +It is paved with curious marble, and independently of the Muses, and +their leader, Apollo, here are also assembled the antique portraits +of poets and philosophers who have rendered themselves famous by +cultivating them. Among these we may perceive HOMER and VIRGIL; but +the most remarkable specimen of the art is + + N° 177. EURIPIDES. + +In this hermes we have a capital representation of the features of +the rival of Sophocles. The countenance is at once noble, serious, +and expressive. It bears the stamp of the genius of that celebrated +tragic poet, which was naturally sublime and profound, though +inclined to the pathetic. + +This hermes is executed in Pentelic marble, and was taken from the +academy of _Mantua_. + +Since the revival of the arts, the lovers of antiquity have made +repeated attempts to form a collection of antique statues of the +Muses; but none was ever so complete as that assembled in the Museum +of the Vatican by Pius VI, and which the chance of war has now +transferred to the banks of the Seine. Here the bard may offer up to +them a solemn invocation, and compose his lay, as it were, under +their very eyes. + +The statues of CLIO, THALIA, TERPSICHORE, ERATO, POLYHYMNIA, and +CALLIOPE, together with the APOLLO MUSAGETES, were discovered in +1774, at _Tivoli_, among the ruins of the villa of Cassius. To +complete the number, Pius VI obtained the EUTERPE and the URANIA from +the _Lancellotti_ palace at _Veletri_. They are supposed to be +antique copies of the statues of the Nine Muses by Philiscus, which, +according to Pliny, graced the portico of Octavia. + + * * * * * + +The air of grandeur that reigns in the general arrangement of the +gallery is very striking: and the tasteful and judicious distribution +of this matchless assemblage of antiques does great honour to the +Council of the CENTRAL MUSEUM. Among the riches which Rome possessed, +the French commissioners also, by their choice selection, have +manifested the depth of their knowledge, and the justness of their +discrimination. + +The alterations and embellishments made in the different apartments +of the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES have been executed under the immediate +direction of their author, M. RAYMOND, member of the National +Institute, and architect to the NATIONAL PALACE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. +In winter, the apartments are kept warm by means of flues, which +diffuse a genial vapour. Here, without the expense of a single +_liard_, the young draughtsman may form his taste by studying the +true antique models of Grecian sculpture; the more experienced artist +may consult them as he finds occasion in the composition of his +subjects; while the connoisseur, the amateur, or the simple observer +may spend many an agreeable hour in contemplating these master-pieces +which, for centuries, have inspired universal admiration. + +These are the materials on which Genius ought to work, and without +which the most promising talent may be greatly misapplied, if not +entirely lost. It was by studying closely these correct models, that +the great MICHAEL ANGELO, the, sublime RAPHAEL, and other eminent +masters, acquired that idea of excellence which is the result of the +accumulated experience of successive ages. Here, in one visit, the +student may imbibe those principles to ascertain which many artists +have consumed the best part of their days; and penetrated by their +effect, he is spared the laborious investigation by which they came +to be known and established. It is unnecessary to expatiate on the +advantages which the fine arts may expect to derive from such a +repository of antiques in a capital so centrical as Paris. The +contemplation of them cannot fail to fire the genius of any artist of +taste, and prompt his efforts towards the attainment of that grand +style, which, disdaining the minute accidental particularities of +individual objects, improves partial representation by the general +and invariable ideas of nature. + +A vast collection of antiquities of every description is still +expected from Italy, among which are the _Venus of Medicis_ and the +_Pallas of Veletri_, a finely-preserved statue, classed by artists +among those of the first rank, dug up at _Veletri_ in 1799, in +consequence of the researches made there by order of the French +commissioners. Upwards of five hundred cases were lying on the banks +of the Tiber, at Rome, ready to be sent off to France, when the +Neapolitans entered that city. They carried them all away: but by the +last article of the treaty of peace with the king of Naples, the +whole of them are to be restored to the French Republic. For the +purpose of verifying their condition, and taking measures for their +conveyance to Paris, two commissioners have been dispatched to Italy: +one is the son of CHAPTAL, Minister of the Interior, and the other is +DUFOURNY, the architect. On the arrival of these cases, even after +the fifteen departmental Museums have been supplied, it is asserted +that there will yet remain in the French capital, antiquities in +sufficient number to form a museum almost from Paris to Versailles. + +The CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS is open to the public in general on +the 8th, 9th, and 10th of each decade;[1] the other days are +appropriated to the study of young pupils; but a foreigner has only +to produce his _permis de séjour_ to gain admission _gratis_ every +day from the hour of ten o'clock to four. To the credit of the +nation, I must observe that this exception in favour of foreigners +excites no jealousy whatever. + +It is no more than a justice due to the liberality of the French +republican government to add, that they set a noble example which is +worthy of being followed, not only in England, but in every other +country, where the arts and sciences are honoured, or the general +interests of mankind held in estimation. From persons visiting any +national establishment, whether museum, library, cabinet, or garden, +in this capital, no sort of fee or perquisite is now expected, or +allowed to be taken. Although it was not a public day when I paid my +first visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM, no sooner did I shew my _permis de +séjour_, than the doors were thrown open; and from M. VISCONTI, and +other members of the Council, who happened to be present, I +experienced the most polite and obliging attention. As an Englishman, +I confess that I felt a degree of shame on reflecting to what pitiful +exaction a foreigner would be subject, who might casually visit any +public object of curiosity in our metropolis. + +[Footnote 1: By a subsequent regulation, Saturday and Sunday are the +days on which the CENTRAL MUSEUM is open to public inspection.] + + + +LETTER IX. + +_Paris, October 31, 1801._ + +In answer to your question, I shall begin by informing you that I +have not set eyes on the _petit caporal_, as some affect to style the +Chief Consul. He spends much of his time, I am told, at _Malmaison_, +his country-seat; and seldom appears in public, except in his box at +the Opera, or at the French theatre; but at the grand monthly parade, +I shall be certain to behold him, on the 15th of the present month of +Brumaire, according to the republican calendar, which day answers to +the 6th of November. I have therefore to check my impatience for a +week longer. + +However, if I have not yet seen BONAPARTE himself, I have at least +seen a person who has seen him, and will take care that I shall have +an opportunity of seeing him too: this person is no less than a +general--who accompanied him in his expedition to Egypt--who was +among the chosen few that returned with him from that country--who +there surveyed the mouths of the Nile--who served under him in the +famous campaign of Syria; and who at this day is one of the first +military engineers in Europe. In a word, it is General A----y, of the +artillery, at present Director of that scientific establishment, +called the DÉPÔT DE LA GUERRE. He invited me the day before yesterday +to breakfast, with a view of meeting some of his friends whom he had +purposely assembled. + +I am not fond of breakfasting from home; _mais il faut vivre à Rome +comme à Rome_. Between ten and eleven o'clock I reached the _Dépôt_, +which is situated in the _Rue de l'Université_, _Faubourg St, +Germain_, at the _ci-devant Hôtel d'Harcourt_, formerly belonging to +the duke of that name. Passing through the gate-way, I was proceeding +boldly to the principal entrance of the hotel, when a sentinel +stopped me short by charging his bayonet. "Citizen," said he +fiercely, at the same time pointing to the lodge on the right, "you +must speak to the porter." I accordingly obeyed the mandate. "What's +your business, citizen?" inquired the porter gruffly.--"My business, +citizen," replied I, "is only to breakfast with the general."--"Be so +good, citizen," rejoined he in a milder tone, "as to take the trouble +to ascend the grand stair-case, and ring the bell on the +first-floor." + +Being introduced into the general's apartments, I there found eight +or ten persons of very intelligent aspect, seated at a round table, +loaded with all sorts of good things, but, in my mind, better +calculated for dinner than breakfast. Among a great variety of +delicacies, were beef-steaks, or, as they are here termed, _bif-ticks +à l'Anglaise_. Oysters too were not forgotten: indeed, they compose +an essential part of a French breakfast; and the ladies seem +particularly partial to them, I suppose, because they are esteemed +strengthening to a delicate constitution. + +Nothing could be more pleasant than this party. Most of the guests +were distinguished literati, or military men of no ordinary stamp. +One of the latter, a _chef de brigade_ of engineers, near whom I +considered myself fortunate in being placed, spoke to me in the +highest terms of Mr. SPENCER SMITH, Sir Sidney's brother, to whose +interference at _Constantinople_, he was indebted for his release +from a Turkish prison. + +Notwithstanding the continual clatter of knives and forks, and the +occasional gingle of glasses, the conversation, which suffered no +interruption, was to me extremely interesting: I never heard any men +express opinions more liberal on every subject that was started. It +was particularly gratifying to my feelings, as an Englishman, to hear +a set of French gentlemen, some of whom had participated in the sort +of disgrace attached to the raising of the siege of _St. Jean +d'Acre_, generously bestow just encomiums on my brother-officer, to +whose heroism they owed their failure. Addison, I think, says, +somewhere in the Spectator, that national prejudice is a laudable +partiality; but, however laudable it may be to indulge such a +partiality, it ought not to render us blind to the merit of +individuals of a rival nation. + +General A----y, being one of those whose talents have been found too +useful to the State to be suffered to remain in inaction, was obliged +to attend at the _Conseil des Mines_ soon after twelve o'clock, when +the party separated. Just as I was taking leave, he did me the favour +to put into my hand a copy of his _Histoire du Canal du Midi_, of +which I shall say more when I have had leisure to peruse it. + +I do not know that a man in good health, who takes regular exercise, +is the worse for breakfasting on a beef-steak, in the long-exploded +style of Queen Bess; but I am no advocate for all the accessories of +a French _déjeûner à la fourchette_. The strong Mocha coffee which I +swallowed, could not check the more powerful effect of the Madeira +and _crème de rose_. I therefore determined on taking a long walk, +which, when saddle-horses are not to be procured, I have always found +the best remedy for the kind of restlessness created by such a +breakfast. + +I accordingly directed my steps across the _Pont & Place de la +Concorde_, traversed the street of the same name; and, following the +_Boulevard_ for a certain distance, struck off to the left, that is, +towards the north, in order to gain the summit of + +MONTMARTRE. + +In ancient times, there stood on this hill a temple dedicated to +Mars, whence the name _Mons Martis_, of which has been made +_Montmartre_. At the foot of it, was the _Campus Martius_, or _Champ +de Mars_, where the French kings of the first race caused their +throne to be erected every year on the first of May. They came hither +in a car, decorated with green boughs and flowers, and drawn by four +oxen. Such, indeed, was the town-equipage of king DAGOBERT. + + "Quatre boeufs attelés, d'un pas tranquil et lent, + Promenaient dans Paris le monarque indolent." + +Having seated themselves on the throne, they gave a public audience +to the people, at the same time giving and receiving presents, which +were called _estrennes_. Hence annual presents were afterwards termed +_étrennes_, and this gave rise to the custom of making them. + +On this hill too fell the head of [Greek: Dionusios] or _St. Denis_; +and in latter times, this was the spot chosen by the Marshal DE +BROGLIE, who commanded the thirty-five thousand troops by which the +French capital was surrounded in May 1789, for checking the spirit of +the turbulent Parisians, by battering their houses' about their ears, +and burying them under the ruins. + +On the summit of _Montmartre_, is a circular terrace, in the centre +of which stands a windmill, and not far from it, are several others. +Round its brow are several _maisonettes_, or little country boxes, +and also some public gardens with bowers, where lovers often regale +their mistresses. Hence you command a full view of the city of Paris. +You behold roof rising above roof; and the churches towering above +the houses have, at this distance, somewhat the appearance of lofty +chimnies. You look down on the capital as far as the Seine, by which +it is intersected: beyond that river, the surface of the land rises +again in the form of an amphitheatre. On all sides, the prospect is +bounded by eminences of various degrees of elevation, over which, as +well as over the plains, and along the banks of the river, are +scattered villas, windmills, country-seats, hamlets, villages, and +coppices; but, from want of enclosures, the circumjacent country has +not that rich and variegated aspect which delights the eye in our +English rural scenery. This was always one of my favourite walks +during my residence in Paris before the revolution; and I doubt not, +when you visit the French capital, that you will have the curiosity +to scale the heights of _Montmartre_. + +As to the theatres, concerning which you interrogate me, I shall +defer entering into any particular detail of them, till I have made +myself fully acquainted with the attractions of each: this mode of +proceeding will not occasion any material delay, as I generally visit +one of them every evening, but always endeavour to go to that house +where the _best_ performers are to be seen, in their _best_ +characters, and in the _best_ pieces. I mention this, in order that +you may not think me inattentive to your request, by having hitherto +omitted to point out to you the difference between the theatrical +amusements here under the monarchy, and those of the republic. + +The _thèâtre des arts_ or grand French opera, the _opera buffa_ or +Italian comic opera, the _théâtre Feydeau_ or French comic opera, and +the _théâtre Français_, chiefly engage my attention. Yesterday +evening I went to the last-mentioned theatre purposely to see +Mademoiselle CONTAT, who played in both pieces. The first was _Les +Femmes Savantes_, a comedy, in which Molière, wishing to aim a blow +at female pedantry, has, perhaps, checked, in some French women, a +desire for improvement; the second was _La fausse Agnès_, a laughable +afterpiece. Notwithstanding the enormous _embonpoint_ which this +celebrated comic actress has acquired since I saw her last on the +Parisian stage upwards of ten years ago, she acquitted herself with +her accustomed excellence. I happened to sit next to a very warm +admirer of her superior talents, who told me that, bulky as she was +become, he had been highly gratified in seeing her perform at _Rouen_ +not long since, in her favourite character of _Roxalane_, in _Les +Trois Sultanes_. "She was much applauded, no doubt." observed I. +--"Not at all," replied he, "for the crowd was so great, that in no +part of the house was it possible for a man to use his hands." + + + +LETTER X. + +_Paris, November 2, 1801._ + +On reaching Paris, every person, whether Jew or Gentile, foreigner or +not, coming from any department of the republic, except that of _La +Seine_, in which the capital is situated, is now bound to make his +appearance at the _Préfecture de Police_. + +The new-comer, accompanied by two housekeepers, first repairs to the +Police-office of the _arrondissement_, or district, in which he has +taken up his residence, where he delivers his travelling passport; in +lieu of which he receives a sort of certificate, and then he shews +himself at the _Préfecture de Police_, or General Police-office, at +present established in the _Cité_. + +Here, his name and quality, together with a minute description of his +person and his place of abode, are inserted in a register kept for +that purpose, to which he puts his signature; and a printed paper, +commonly called a _permis de séjour_, is given to him, containing a +duplicate of all these matters, filled up in the blanks, which he +also signs himself. It is intended that he should always carry this +paper about him, in order that he may produce it when called on, or, +in case of necessity, for verifying his person, on any particular +occasion, such as passing by a guard-house on foot after eleven +o'clock at night, or being unexpectedly involved in any affray. In a +word, it answers to a stranger the same end as a _carte de sureté_, +or ticket of safety, does to an inhabitant of Paris. + +I accordingly went through this indispensable ceremony in due form on +my arrival here; but, having neglected to read a _nota bene_ in the +margin of the _permis de séjour_, I had not been ten hours in my new +apartments before I received a visit from an Inspector of Police of +the _arrondissement_, who, very civilly reminding me of the omission, +told me that I need not give myself the trouble of going to the +Central Police-office, as he would report my removal. However, being +determined to be strictly _en règle_, I went thither myself to cause +my new residence to be inserted in the paper. + +I should not have dwelt on the circumstance, were it not to shew you +the precision observed in the administration of the police of this +great city. + +Under the old _régime_, every master of a ready-furnished hotel was +obliged to keep a register, in which he inserted the name and quality +of his lodgers for the inspection of the police-officers whenever +they came: this regulation is not only strictly adhered to at +present; but every person in Paris, who receives a stranger under his +roof as an inmate, is bound, under penalty of a fine, to report him +to the police, which is most vigilantly administered by Citizen +FOUCHÉ. + +Last night, not being in time to find good places at the _Théâtre des +Arts_, or Grand French Opera, I went to the _Théâtre Louvois_, which +is within a few paces of it, in hopes of being more successful. I +shall not at present attempt to describe the house, as, from my +arriving late, I was too ill accommodated to be able to view it to +advantage. + +However, I was well seated for seeing the performance. It consisted +of three _petites pièces_: namely, _Une heure d'absence_, _La petite +ville_, and _Le café d'une petite ville_. The first was entertaining; +but the second much more so; and though the third cannot claim the +merit of being well put together, I shall say a few words of it, as +it is a production _in honour of peace_, and on that score alone, +would, at this juncture, deserve notice. + +After a few scenes somewhat languid, interspersed with common-place, +and speeches of no great humour, a _dénouement_, by no means +interesting, promised not to compensate the audience for their +patience. But the author of the _Café d'une petite ville_, having +eased himself of this burden, revealed his motive, and took them on +their weak side, by making a strong appeal to French enthusiasm. This +cord being adroitly struck, his warmth became communicative, and +animating the actors, good humor did the rest. The accessories were +infinitely more interesting than the main subject. An allemande, +gracefully danced by two damsels and a hero, in the character of a +French hussar, returned home from the fatigues of war and battle, was +much applauded; and a Gascoon poet, who declares that, for once in +his life, he is resolved to speak truth, was loudly encored in the +following couplets, adapted to the well-known air of _"Gai, le coeur +à la danse."_ + + "Celui qui nous donne la paix, + Comme il fit bien la guerre! + Sur lui déjà force conplets.... + Mai il en reste à faire: + Au diable nous nous donnions, + Il revient, nous respirons.... + Il fait changer la danse; + + Par lui chez nous plus de discord; + Il regle la cadence, + Et nous voilà d'accord." + +True it is, that BONAPARTE, as principal ballet-master, has changed +the dance of the whole nation; he regulates their step to the measure +of his own music, and _discord_ is mute at the moment: but the +question is, whether the French are bona-fide _d'accord_, (as the +Gascoon affirms,) that is, perfectly reconciled to the new tune and +figure? Let us, however, keep out of this maze; were we to enter it, +we might remain bewildered there, perhaps, till old Father Time came +to extricate us. + +The morning is inviting: suppose we take a turn in the _Tuileries_, +not with a view of surveying this garden, but merely to breathe the +fresh air, and examine the + +PALAIS DU GOUVERNEMENT. + +Since the Chief Consul has made it his town-residence, this is the +new denomination given to the _Palais des Tuileries_, thus called, +because a tile-kiln formerly stood on the site where it is erected. +At that time, this part of Paris was not comprised within its walls, +nothing was to be seen here, in the vicinity of the tile-kiln, but a +few coppices and scattered habitations. + +Catherine de Medicis, wishing to enlarge the capital on this side, +visited the spot, and liking the situation, directed PHILIBERT DE +L'ORME and JEAN BULLAN, two celebrated French architects, to present +her with a plan, from which the construction of this palace was begun +in May 1564. At first, it consisted only of the large square pavilion +in the centre of the two piles of building, which have each a terrace +towards the garden, and of the two pavilions by which they are +terminated. + +Henry IV enlarged the original building, and, in 1600, began the +grand gallery which joins it to the _Louvre_, from the plan of DU +CERCEAU. Lewis XIII made some alterations in the palace; and in 1664, +exactly a century from the date of its construction being begun, +Lewis XIV directed LOUIS DE VEAU to finish it, by making the +additions and embellishments which have brought it to its present +state. These deviations from the first plan have destroyed the +proportions required by the strict rules of art; but this defect +would, probably, be overlooked by those who are not connoisseurs, as +the architecture, though variously blended, presents, at first sight, +an _ensemble_ which is magnificent and striking. + +The whole front of the palace of the _Tuileries_ consists of five +pavilions, connected by four piles of building, standing on the same +line, and extending for the space of one thousand and eleven feet. +The first order of the three middle piles is Ionic, with encircled +columns. The two adjoining pavilions are also ornamented with Ionic +pillars; but fluted, and embellished with foliage, from the third of +their height to the summit. The second order of these two pavilions +is Corinthian. The two piles of building, which come next, as well as +the two pavilions of the wings, are of a Composite order with fluted +pillars. From a tall iron spindle, placed on the pinnacle of each of +the three principal pavilions is now seen floating a horizontal +tri-coloured streamer. Till the improvements made by Lewis XIV, the +large centre pavilion had been decorated with the Ionic and Corinthian +orders only, to these was added the Composite. + +On the façade towards the _Place du Carrousel_, the pillars of all +these orders are of brown and red marble. Here may be observed the +marks of several cannon-balls, beneath each of which is inscribed, in +black, 10 AOÛT. + +This tenth of August 1792, a day ever memorable in the history of +France, has furnished many an able writer with the subject of an +episode; but, I believe, few of them were, any more than myself, +actors in that dreadful scene. While I was intently remarking the +particular impression of a shot which struck the edge of one of the +casements of the first floor of the palace, my _valet de place_ came +up to know at which door I would have the carriage remain in waiting. + +On turning round, I fancied I beheld the man who "drew Priam's +curtain in the dead of night." That messenger, I am sure, could not +have presented a visage more pale, more spiritless than my Helvetian. +Recollecting that he had served in the Swiss guards, I was the less +at a loss to account for his extreme agitation. "In what part of the +_château_ were you, Jean," said I, "when these balls were aimed at +the windows?"----"There was my post," replied he, recovering himself, +and pointing to one of the centre casements.--"Is it true," continued +I, "that, by way of feigning a reconciliation, you threw down +cartridges by handfuls to the Marseillese below, and called out; +_vive la nation?"_----"It is but too true," answered Jean; "we then +availed ourselves of the moment when they advanced under the +persuasion that they were to become our friends, and opened on them a +tremendous fire, by which we covered the place with dead and dying. +But we became victims of our own treachery: for our ammunition being, +by this _ruse de guerre_, the sooner expended, we presently had no +resource left but the bayonet, by which we could not prevent the mob +from closing on us."--"And how did you contrive to escape," said I? +--"Having thrown away my Swiss uniform," replied he, "in the general +confusion, I fortunately possessed myself of the coat of a national +volunteer, which he had taken off on account of the hot weather. This +garment, bespattered with blood, I instantly put on, as well as his +hat with a tri-coloured cockade."--"This disguise saved your life," +interrupted I.--"Yes, indeed;" rejoined he. "Having got down to the +vestibule, I could not find a passage into the garden; and, to +prevent suspicion, I at once mixed with the mob on the place where we +are now standing."--"How did you get off at last," said I?--"I was +obliged," answered he, "to shout and swear with the _poissardes_, +while the heads of many of my comrades were thrown out of the +windows."--"The _poissardes_," added I, "set no bounds to their +cruelty?"--"No," replied he, "I expected every moment to feel its +effects; my disguise alone favoured my escape: on the dead bodies of +my countrymen they practised every species of mutilation." Here Jean +drew a picture of a nature too horrid to be committed to paper. My +pen could not trace it.----In a word, nothing could exceed the +ferocity of the infuriate populace; and the sacking of the palace of +the Trojan king presents but a faint image of what passed here on the +day which overset the throne of the Bourbons. + +According to a calculation, founded as well on the reports of the +police as on the returns of the military corps, it appears that the +number of men killed in the attack of the palace of the _Tuileries_ +on the 10th of August 1792, amounted in the whole to very near six +thousand, of whom eight hundred and fifty-two were on the side of the +besieged, and three thousand seven hundred and forty on the side of +the besiegers. + +The interior of this palace is not distinguished by any particular +style of architecture, the kings who have resided here having made +such frequent alterations, that the distribution throughout is very +different from that which was at first intended. Here it was that +Catherine de Medicis shut herself up with the Guises, the Gondis, and +Birague, the chancellor, in order to plan the horrible massacre of +that portion of the French nation whose religious tenets trenched on +papal power, and whose spirit of independence alarmed regal jealousy. + +Among the series of entertainments, given on the marriage of the king +of Navarre with Marguerite de Valois, was introduced a ballet, in +which the papists, commanded by Charles IX and his brothers, defended +paradise against the huguenots, who, with Navarre at their head, were +all repulsed and driven into hell. Although this pantomime, solely +invented by Catherine, was evidently meant as a prelude to the +dreadful proscription which awaited the protestants, they had no +suspicion of it; and four days after, was consummated the massacre, +where that monster to whom nature had given the form of a woman, +feasted her eyes on the mangled corpses of thousands of bleeding +victims! + +No sooner was the Pope informed of the horrors of St. Bartholemew's +day; by the receipt of Admiral de Coligny's head which Catherine +embalmed and sent to him, than he ordered a solemn procession, by way +of returning thanks to heaven for the _happy event_. The account of +this procession so exasperated a gentlemen of Anjou, a protestant of +the name of Bressaut de la Rouvraye, that he swore he would make +eunuchs of all the monks who should fall into his hands; and he +rendered himself famous by keeping his word, and wearing the trophies +of his victory. + +The _Louvre_ and the palace of the _Tuileries_ were alternately the +residence of the kings of France, till Lewis XIV built that of +Versailles, after which it was deserted till the minority of Lewis +XV, who, when a little boy, was visited here by Peter the Great, but, +in 1722, the court quitted Paris altogether for Versailles, where it +continued fixed till the 5th of October 1789. + +During this long interval, the palace was left under the direction of +a governor, and inhabited only by himself, and persons of various +ranks dependent on the bounty of the crown. When Lewis XVI and his +family were brought hither at that period, the two wings alone were +in proper order; the remainder consisted of spacious apartments +appointed for the king's reception when he came occasionally to +Paris, and ornamented with stately, old-fashioned furniture, which +had not been deranged for years. The first night of their arrival, +they slept in temporary beds, and on the king being solicited the +next day to choose his apartments, he replied: "Let everyone shift +for himself; for my part, I am very well where I am." But this fit of +ill-humor being over, the king and queen visited every part of the +palace, assigning particular rooms to each person of their suite, and +giving directions for sundry repairs and alterations. + +Versailles was unfurnished, and the vast quantity of furniture +collected in that palace, during three successive reigns, was +transported to the _Tuileries_ for their majesties' accommodation. +The king chose for himself three rooms on the ground-floor, on the +side of the gallery to the right as you enter the vestibule from the +garden; on the entresol, he established his geographical study; and +on the first floor, his bed-chamber: the apartments of the queen and +royal family were adjoining to those of the king; and the attendants +were distributed over the palace to the number of between six and +seven hundred persons. + +The greater part of the furniture, &c. in the palace of the +_Tuileries_ was sold in the spring of 1793. The sale lasted six +months, and, had it not been stopped, would have continued six months +longer. Some of the king's dress-suits which had cost twelve hundred +louis fetched no more than five. By the inventory taken immediately +after the 10th of August 1792, and laid before the Legislative +Assembly, it appears that the moveables of every description +contained in this palace were valued at 12,540,158 livres (_circa_ +£522,560 sterling,) in which was included the amount of the thefts, +committed on that day, estimated at 1,000,000 livres, and that of the +dilapidations, at the like sum, making together about £84,000 +sterling. + +When Catherine de Medicis inhabited the palace of the _Tuileries_, it +was connected to the _Louvre_ by a garden, in the middle of which was +a large pond, always well stocked with fish for the supply of the +royal table. Lewis XIV transformed this garden into a spacious square +or _place_, where in the year 1662, he gave to the queen dowager and +his royal consort a magnificent fête, at which, were assembled +princes, lords, and knights, with their ladies, from every part of +Europe. Hence the square was named + +PLACE DU CARROUSEL. + +Previously to the revolution, the palace of the _Tuileries_, on this +side, was defended by a wall, pierced by three gates opening into as +many courts, separated by little buildings, which, in part, served +for lodging a few troops and their horses. All these buildings are +taken down; the _Place du Carrousel_ is considerably enlarged by the +demolition of various circumjacent edifices; and the wall is replaced +by a handsome iron railing, fixed on a parapet about four feet high. +In this railing are three gates, the centre one of which is +surmounted by cocks, holding in their beak a civic crown over the +letters R. F. the initials of the words _République Française_. On +each side of it are small lodges, built of stone; and at the entrance +are constantly posted two _vedettes_, belonging to the +horse-grenadiers of the consular guard. + +On the piers of the other two gates are placed the four famous horses +of gilt bronze, brought from St. Mark's place at Venice, whither they +had been carried after the capture of Byzantium. These productions +are generally ascribed to the celebrated Lysippus, who flourished in +the reign of Alexander the Great, about 325 years before the +christian era; though this opinion is questioned by some distguished +antiquaries and artists. Whoever may be the sculptor, their destiny +is of a nature to fix attention, as their removal has always been the +consequence of a political revolution. After, the conquest of Greece +by the Romans, they were transported from Corinth to Rome, for the +purpose of adorning the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus. Hence +they were removed to Byzantium, when that city became the seat of the +eastern empire. From Byzantium, they were conveyed to Venice, and +from Venice they have at last reached Paris. + +As on the plain of Pharsalia the fate of Rome was decided by Cæsar's +triumph over Pompey, so on the _Place du Carrousel_ the fate of +France by the triumph of the Convention over Robespierre and his +satellites. Here, Henriot, one of his most devoted creatures, whom he +had raised to the situation of commandant general of the Parisian +guard, after having been carried prisoner before the Committee of +Public Safety, then sitting in the palace of the _Tuileries_, was +released by Coffinhal, the President of the Revolutionary Tribunal, +who suddenly made his appearance at the head of a large body of horse +and foot, supported by four pieces of cannon served by gunners the +most devoted to Robespierre. + +It was half past seven o'clock in the evening, where Coffinhal, +decorated with his municipal scarf, presented himself before the +Committee: all the members thought themselves lost, and their fright +communicating to the very bosom of the Convention, there spread +confusion and terror. But Coffinhal's presence of mind was not equal +to his courage: he availed himself only in part of his advantage. +After having, without the slightest resistance, disarmed the guards +attached to the Convention, he loosened the fettered hands of Henriot +and his aides-de-camp, and conducted them straight to the _Maison +Commune_. + +It is an incontestable fact that had either Coffinhal or Henriot +imitated the conduct of Cromwell in regard to the Levellers, and +marched at the head of their troops into the hall of the Convention, +he might have carried all before him, and Robespierre's tyranny would +have been henceforth established on a basis not to be shaken. + +But, when Henriot soon after appeared on the _Place du Carrousel_, +with his staff and a number of followers, he in vain endeavoured by +haranguing the people to stir them up to act against the Convention; +his voice was drowned in tumultuous clamours, and he was deserted by +his hitherto-faithful gunners. The Convention had had time to recover +from their panic, and to enlighten the Sections. Henriot was outlawed +by that assembly, and, totally disconcerted by this news, he fled for +refuge to the _Maison Commune_, where Robespierre and all his +accomplices were soon surrounded, and fell into the hands of those +whom but an instant before, they had proscribed as conspirators +deserving of the most exemplary punishment. + +Henriot, confused and terrified, sought his safety in flight, and was +stealing along one of the galleries of the _Maison Commune_ when he +met Coffinhal, who was also flying. At the sight of Henriot, who on +coming from the Committee, had pledged his life on the success of his +measures, Coffinhal was unable to check his rage. "Coward!" said he +to him, "to this then has led your certain means of defence! +Scoundrel! you shall not escape the death you are endeavouring to +avoid!" Saying these words, he seized Henriot by the middle, and +threw him out of a window of the second story of the _Maison +Commune_. Henriot falling on the roof of a building in a narrow +street adjoining, was not killed; but he had scarcely recovered +himself before he was recognized by some soldiers in quest of him: he +then crawled into a sewer, close to the spot where he had fallen; +when a soldier thrusting his bayonet into the sewer, put out one of +his eyes, and forced him to surrender. + +Thus, the destiny of France, as is seen, hung by the thread of the +moment. It will be recollected that Henriot had the arsenal at his +disposal; he commanded the Parisian guard, and six thousand men +encamped on the _Plaine des Sablons_, close to the capital: in a +word, all the springs of the public force were in his hands. Had he +seized the critical minute, and attacked the Convention at the +instant of his release, the scene of the 10th of August would have +been renewed, and the _Place du Carrousel_ again stained with the +blood of thousands. + + + +LETTER XI. + +_Paris, November 5, 1801._ + +I rise much later to-day than usual, in consequence of not having +gone to bed till near seven o'clock this morning. Happening to call +yesterday on a French lady of my acquaintance, I perceived some +preparations which announced that she expected company. She did not +leave me long in suspense, but invited me to her party for that +evening. + +This good lady, who is no longer in the flower of her age, was still +in bed, though it was four o'clock when I paid my visit. On +expressing my fears that she was indisposed, she assured me of the +contrary, at the same time adding that she seldom rose till five in +the afternoon, on account of her being under the necessity of keeping +late hours. I was so struck by the expression, that I did not +hesitate to ask her what was the _necessity_ which compelled her to +make a practice of turning day into night? She very courteously gave +me a complete solution of this enigma, of which the following is the +substance. + +"During the reign of terror," said she, "several of us _ci-devant +noblesse_ lost our nearest relatives, and with them our property, +which was either confiscated, or put under sequestration, so that we +were absolutely threatened by famine. When the prisoners were +massacred in September 1792, I left nothing unattempted to save the +life of my uncle and grandfather, who were both in confinement in the +_Abbaye_. All my efforts were unavailing. My interference served only +to exasperate their murderers and contributed, I fear, to accelerate +their death, which it was my misfortune to witness. Their inhuman +butchers, from whom I had patiently borne every species of insult, +went so far as to present to me, on the end of a pike, a human heart, +which had the appearance of having been broiled on the embers, +assuring me that, as it was the heart of my uncle, I might eat it +with safety."--Here an ejaculation, involuntarily escaping me, +interrupted her for a moment. + +"For my part," continued she, "I was so overwhelmed by a conflict of +rage, despair, and grief, that I scarcely retained the use of my +senses. The excess of my horror deprived me of utterance.--What +little I was able to save from the wreck of my fortune, not affording +me sufficient means of subsistence, I was, however reluctantly, at +length compelled to adopt a plan of life, by which I saw other women, +in my forlorn situation, support a decent appearance. I therefore +hired suitable apartments, and twice in each decade, I receive +company. On one of these two nights I give a ball and supper, and on +the other, under the name of _société_, I have cards only. + +"Having a numerous circle of female acquaintance," concluded she, "my +balls are generally well attended: those who are not fond of dancing, +play at the _bouillotte_; and the card-money defrays the expenses of +the entertainment, leaving me a handsome profit. In short, these six +parties, during the month, enable me to pay my rent, and produce me a +tolerable pittance." + +This meloncholy recital affected me so much, that, on its being +terminated, I was unable to speak; but I have reason to think that a +favourable construction was put on my silence. A volume, of the size +of a family bible, would not be sufficient to display half the +contrasts engendered by the revolution. Many a _Marquise_ has been +obliged to turn sempstress, in order to gain a livelihood; but my +friend the _Comtesse_ had much ready wit, though no talents of that +description. Having soothed her mind by venting a few imprecations +against the murderers of her departed relatives, she informed me that +her company began to assemble between the hours of eleven and twelve, +and begged that I would not fail to come to her + +PRIVATE BALL. + +About twelve o'clock, I accordingly went thither, as I had promised, +when I found the rooms perfectly crowded. Among a number of very +agreeable ladies, several were to be distinguished for the elegance +of their figure, though there were no more than three remarkable for +beauty. These terrestrial divinities would not only have embarrassed +the Grand Signior for a preference, but even have distracted the +choice of the Idalian shepherd himself. The dancing was already begun +to an excellent band of music, led by Citizen JULIEN, a mulatto, +esteemed the first player of country-dances in Paris. Of the dancers, +some of the women really astonished me by the ease and gracefulness +of their movements: steps, which are known to be the most difficult, +seemed to cost them not the smallest exertion. Famous as they have +ever been for dancing, they seem now, in Cibber's words, "to outdo +their usual outdoings." + +In former times, an extraordinary degree of curiosity was excited by +any female who excelled in this pleasing accomplishment. I remember +to have read that Don Juan of Austria, governor of the Low Countries, +set out post from Brussels, and came to Paris _incog._ on purpose to +see Marguerite de Valois dance at a dress-ball, this princess being +reckoned, at that time, the best dancer in Europe. What then would be +the admiration of such an _amateur_, could he now behold the +perfection attained here by some of the beauties of the present day? + +The men, doubtless, determined to vie with the women, seemed to pride +themselves more on agility than grace, and, by attempting whatever +required extraordinary effort, reminded me of _figurans_ on the +stage, so much have the Parisian youth adopted a truly theatrical +style of dancing. + +The French country-dances (or cotilions, as we term them in England) +and waltzes, which are as much in vogue here as in Germany, were +regularly interchanged. However, the Parisians, in my opinion, cannot +come up to the Germans in this, their native dance. I should have +wished to have had Lavater by my side, and heard his opinion of the +characters of the different female waltzers. It is a very curious and +interesting spectacle to see one woman assume a languishing air, +another a vacant smile, a third an aspect of stoical indifference; +while a fourth seems lost in a voluptuous trance, a fifth captivates +by an amiable modesty, a sixth affects the cold insensibility of a +statue, and so on in ever-varying succession, though all turning to +the animating changes of the same lively waltz. In short I observed +that, in this species of dance, the eyes and feet of almost every +woman appeared to be constantly at variance. + +Without assuming the part of a moralist, I cannot help thinking that +Werter was not altogether in the wrong when he swore, that, were it +to cost him his life, no woman on whom he had set his affections, +should ever waltz with any one but himself. I am not singular in this +opinion; for I recollect to have met with the same ideas in a book +written by M. JACOBI, I think, a German author. + +Speaking of the waltz, "We either ought," says he, "not to boast so +much of the propriety of our manners, or else not suffer that our +wives and daughters, in a complete delirium, softly pressed in the +arms of men, bosom to bosom, should thus be hurried away by the sound +of intoxicating music. In this _whirligig_ dance, every one seems to +forget the rules of decorum; and though an innocent, young creature, +exposed in this manner, were to remain pure and spotless, can she, +without horror, reflect that she becomes, the sport of the +imagination of the licentious youths to whom she so abandons herself? +It were to be wished," adds he, "that our damsels (I mean those who +preserve any vestige of bashfulness), might, concealed in a private +corner, hear sometimes the conversation of those very men to whom +they yield themselves with so little reserve and caution." + +To the best of my recollection, these are the sentiments of M. +JACOBI, expressed twelve or fourteen years ago; yet I do not find +that the waltz is discontinued, or even less practised, in Germany, +than it was at the time when his work first appeared. This dance, +like every other French fashion, has now found its way into England, +and is introduced between the acts, by way of interlude I presume, at +some of our grand private balls and assemblies. But, however I may be +amused by the waltzing of the Parisian belles, I feel too much regard +for my fair country-women to wish to see them adopt a dance, which, +by throwing them off their guard, lays them completely open to the +shafts of ridicule and malice. + +Leaving this point to be settled by the worthy part of our British +matrons, let us return to the Parisian ball, from which I have been +led into a little digression. + +The dancing continued in this manner, that is, French country-dances +and waltzes alternately, till four o'clock, when soup was brought +round to all the company. This was dispatched _sans façon_, as fast +as it could be procured. It was a prelude to the cold supper, which +was presently served in another spacious apartment. No sooner were +the folding-doors of an adjoining room thrown open, than I observed +that, large as it was, it could not possibly afford accommodation to +more than half of the number present. I therefore remained in the +back-ground, naturally supposing that places would first be provided +for all the women. Not so, my friend; several men seated themselves, +and, in the twinkling of an eye, deranged the economy of the whole +table; while the female bystanders were necessitated to seek seats at +some temporary tables placed in the ballroom. Here too were they in +luck if they obtained a few fragments from the grand board; for, such +determined voracity was there exhibited, that so many vultures or +cormorants could not have been more expeditious in clearing the +dishes. + +For instance, an enormous salmon, which would have done honour to the +Tweed or the Severn, graced the middle of the principal table. In +less than five minutes after the company were seated, I turned round, +and missing the fish, inquired whether it had proved tainted. No: but +it is all devoured, was the reply of a young man, who, pointing to +the bone, offered me a pear and a piece of bread, which he shrewdly +observed was all that I might probably get to recruit my strength at +this entertainment. I took the hint, and, with the addition of a +glass of common wine, at once made my supper. + +In half an hour, the tables being removed, the ball was resumed, and +apparently with renewed spirit. The card-room had never been +deserted. _Mind the main chance_ is a wholesome maxim, which the good +lady of the house seemed not to have forgotten. Assisted by a sort of +_croupier_, she did the honours of the _bouillotte_ with that +admirable sang-froid which you and I have often witnessed in some of +our hostesses of fashion; and, had she not communicated to me the +secret, I should have been the last to suspect, while she appeared so +indifferent, that she, like those ladies, had so great an interest in +the card-party being continued till morning. + +As an old acquaintance, she took an opportunity of saying to, me, +with joy in her eyes: "_Le jeu va bien_;" but, at the same time, +expressed her regret that the supper was such a scramble. While we +were in conversation, I inquired the name and character of the most +striking women in the room, and found that, though a few of them +might be reckoned substantial in fortune, as well as in reputation, +the female part of the company was chiefly composed of ladies who, +like herself, had suffered by the revolution; several were divorced +from their husbands, but as incompatibility of temper was the general +plea for such a disunion, that alone could not operate as a blemish. + +To judge of the political predilection of these belles from their +exterior, a stranger would, nine times out of ten, be led into a +palpable error. He might naturally conclude them to be attached to a +republican system, since they have, in general, adopted the Athenian +form of attire as their model; though they have not, in the smallest +degree, adopted the simple manners of that people. Their arms are +bare almost to the very shoulder; their bosom is, in a great measure, +uncovered; their ankles are encircled by narrow ribbands in imitation +of the fastenings of sandals; and their hair, turned up close behind, +is confined on the crown of the head in a large knot, as we see it in +the antique busts of Grecian beauties. + +The rest of their dress is more calculated to display, than to veil +the contours of their person. It was thus explained to me by my +friend, the _ci-devant Comtesse_, who at the same time assured me +that young French women, clad in this airy manner, brave all the +rigour of winter. "A simple piece of linen, slightly laced before," +said she, "while it leaves the waist uncompressed, answers the +purpose of a corset. If they put on a robe, which is not open in +front, they dispense with petticoats altogether; their cambric +_chemise_ having the semblance of one, from its skirt being trimmed +with lace. When attired for a ball, those who dance, as you may +observe, commonly put on a tunic, and then a petticoat becomes a +matter of necessity, rather than of choice. Pockets being deemed an +incumbrance, they wear none: what money they carry, is contained in a +little morocco leather purse; this is concealed in the centre of the +bosom, whose form, in our well-shaped women, being that of the +Medicean Venus, the receptacle occasionally serves for a little gold +watch, or some other trinket, which is suspended to the neck by a +collar of hair, decorated with various ornaments. When they dance, +the fan is introduced within the zone or girdle; and the handkerchief +is kept in the pocket of some sedulous swain, to whom the fair one +has recourse when she has occasion for it. Some of the elderly +ladies, like myself," added she, "carry these appendages in a sort of +work-bag, denominated a _ridicule_. Not long since, this was the +universal fashion first adopted as a substitute for pockets; but, at +present, it is totally laid aside by the younger classes." + +The men at this ball, were, for the most part, of the military class, +thinly interspersed with returned emigrants. Some of the generals and +colonels were in their hussar dress-uniform, which is not only +exceedingly becoming to a well-formed man, but also extremely +splendid and costly. All the seams of the jacket and pantaloons of +the generals are covered with rich and tasteful embroidery, as well +as their sabre-tash, and those of the colonels with gold or silver +lace: a few even wore boots of red morocco leather. + +Most of the Gallic youths, having served in the armies, either a few +years ago under the requisition, or more recently under the +conscription, have acquired a martial air, which is very discernible, +in spite of their _habit bourgeois_. The brown coat cannot disguise +the soldier. I have met with several young merchants of the first +respectability in Paris, who had served, some two, others four years +in the ranks, and constantly refused every sort of advancement. Not +wishing to remain in the army, and relinquish the mercantile +profession in which they had been educated, they cheerfully passed +through their military servitude as privates, and, in that station, +like true soldiers, gallantly fought their country's battles. + +The hour of six being arrived, I was assailed, on all sides, by +applications to set down this or that lady, as the morning was very +rainy, and, independently of the long rank of hackney-coaches, which +had been drawn up at the door, every vehicle that could be procured, +had long been in requisition. The mistress of the house had informed +two of her particular female friends that I had a carriage in +waiting; and as I could accommodate only a certain number at a time, +after having consented to take those ladies home first; I conceived +myself at liberty, on my return, to select the rest of my convoy. To +relieve beauty in distress was one of the first laws of ancient +chivalry; and no knight ever accomplished that vow with greater +ardour than I did on this occasion. + + + +LETTER XII. + +_Paris, November 7, 1801._ + +My impatience is at length gratified. I have seen BONAPARTE. +Yesterday, the 6th, as I mentioned in a former letter, was the day of +the grand parade, which now takes place on the fifteenth only of +every month of the Republican Calendar. The spot where this military +spectacle is exhibited, is the court-yard of the palace of the +_Tuileries_, which, as I have before observed, is enclosed by a low +parapet wall, surmounted by a handsome iron railing. + +From the kind attention of friend, I had the option of being admitted +into the palace, or introduced into the hotel of Cn. MARET, the +Secretary of State, which adjoins to the palace, and standing at +right angles with it, commands a full view of the court where the +troops are assembled. In the former place, I was told, I should not, +on account of the crowd, have an opportunity to see the parade, +unless I took my station at a window two or three hours before it +began; while from the latter, I should enjoy the sight without any +annoyance or interruption. + +Considering that an interval of a month, by producing a material +change in the weather, might render the parade far less brilliant and +attractive, and also that such an offer might not occur a second +time, I made no hesitation in preferring Cn. MARET'S hotel. + +Accompanied by my introducer, I repaired thither about half past +eleven o'clock, and certainly I had every reason to congratulate +myself on my election. I was ushered into a handsome room on the +first-floor, where I found the windows partly occupied by some lovely +women. Having paid my devoirs to the ladies, I entered into +conversation with an officer of rank of my acquaintance, who had +introduced me to them; and from him I gathered the following +particulars respecting the + +GRAND MONTHLY PARADE. + +On the fifteenth of every month, the First Consul in person reviews +all the troops of the consular guard, as well as those quartered in +Paris, as a garrison, or those which may happen to be passing through +this city. + +The consular guard is composed of two battalions of foot-grenadiers, +two battalions of light infantry, a regiment of horse-grenadiers, a +regiment of mounted chasseurs or guides, and two companies of flying +artillery. All this force may comprise between six and seven thousand +men; but it is in contemplation to increase it by a squadron of +Mamalûks, intermixed with Greeks and Syrians, mounted on Arabian +horses. + +This guard exclusively does duty at the palace of the _Tuileries_, +and at _Malmaison_, BONAPARTE's country-seat: it also forms the +military escort of the Consuls. At present it is commanded by General +LASNES; but, according to rumour, another arrangement is on the point +of being made. The consular guard is soon to have no other chief than +the First Consul, and under him are to command, alternately, four +generals; namely, one of infantry, one of cavalry, one of artillery, +and one of engineers; the selection is said to have fallen on the +following officers, BESSIÈRES, DAVOUST, SOULT, and SONGIS. + +The garrison (as it is termed) of Paris is not constantly of the same +strength. At this moment it consists of three demi-brigades of the +line, a demi-brigade of light infantry, a regiment of dragoons, two +demi-brigades of veterans, the horse _gendarmerie_, and a new corps +of choice _gendarmerie_, comprising both horse and foot, and +commanded by the _Chef de brigade_ SAVABY, aide-de-camp to the First +Consul. This garrison may amount to about 15,000 effective men. + +The consular guard and all these different corps, equipped in their +best manner, repair to the parade, and, deducting the troops on duty, +the number of men assembled there may, in general be from twelve to +fifteen thousand. + +By a late regulation, no one, during the time of the parade, can +remain within the railing of the court, either on foot or horseback, +except the field and staff officers on duty; but persons enter the +apartments of the _Tuileries_, by means of tickets, which are +distributed to a certain number by the governor of the palace. + +While my obliging friend was communicating to me the above +information, the troops continued marching into the court below, till +it was so crowded that, at first sight, it appeared impracticable for +them to move, much less to manoeuvre. The morning was extremely fine; +the sun shone in full splendour, and the gold and silver lace and +embroidery on the uniforms of the officers and on the trappings of +their chargers, together with their naked sabres, glittered with +uncommon lustre. The concourse of people without the iron railing was +immense: in short, every spot or building, even to the walls and +rafters of houses under demolition, whence a transient view of the +parade could be obtained, was thronged with spectators. + +By twelve o'clock, all the troops were drawn up in excellent order, +and, as you may suppose, presented a grand _coup d'oeil._ I never +beheld a finer set of men than the grenadiers of the consular guard; +but owing, perhaps, to my being accustomed to see our troops with +short skirts, I thought that the extreme length of their coats +detracted from their military air. The horses mostly of Norman breed, +could not be compared to our English steeds, either for make or +figure; but, sorry and rough as is their general appearance, they +are, I am informed, capable of bearing much fatigue, and resisting +such privations as would soon render our more sleek cavalry unfit for +service. That they are active, and surefooted, I can vouch; for, in +all their sudden wheelings and evolutions in this confined space, not +one of them stumbled. They formed, indeed, a striking contrast to the +beautiful white charger that was led about in waiting for the Chief +Consul. + +The band of the consular guard, which is both numerous and select, +continued playing martial airs, till the colours having been brought +down from the palace, under the escort of an officer and a small +detachment, the drums beat _aux champs_, and the troops presented +arms, when they were carried to their respective stations. Shortly +after, the impatient steed, just mentioned, was conducted to the foot +of the steps of the grand vestibule of the palace. I kept my eye +stedfastly fixed on that spot; and such was the agility displayed by +BONAPARTE in mounting his horse, that, to borrow the words of +Shakspeare, he seemed to + + "Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury, + And vaulted with such ease into his seat, + As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds + To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, + And witch the world with noble horsemanship." + +Off he went at a hand canter, preceded by his aides-de-camp, and +attended, on his right, by General LASNES and followed by other +superior officers, particularly the general commanding the garrison +of Paris, and him at the head of the district. + +BONAPARTE was habited in the consular dress, scarlet velvet +embroidered with gold, and wore a plain cocked hat with the national +cockade. As I purpose to obtain a nearer view of him, by placing +myself in the apartments of the palace on the next parade day, I +shall say nothing of his person till that opportunity offers, but +confine myself to the military show in question. + +Having rid rapidly along the several lines of infantry and cavalry, +and saluted the colours as he passed, BONAPARTE (attended by all his +retinue, including a favourite Mamalûk whom he brought from Egypt), +took a central position, when the different corps successively filed +off before him with most extraordinary briskness; the corps composing +the consular guard preceded those of the garrison and all the others: +on inquiry, however, I find, that this order is not always observed. + + +It is no less extraordinary than true, that the news of the +establishment of this grand parade produced on the mind of the late +emperor of Russia the first impression in favour of the Chief Consul. +No sooner did Paul I. hear of the circumstance, than he exclaimed: +"BONAPARTE is, however, a great man." + +Although the day was so favourable, the parade was soon over, as +there was no distribution of arms of honour, such as muskets, +pistols, swords, battle-axes, &c. which the First Consul presents +with his own hand to those officers and soldiers who have +distinguished themselves by deeds of valour or other meritorious +service. + +The whole ceremony did not occupy more than half an hour, when +BONAPARTE alighted at the place where he had taken horse, and +returned to his audience-room in the palace, for the purpose of +holding his levee. I shall embrace a future opportunity to speak of +the interior etiquette observed on this occasion in the apartments, +and close this letter with an assurance that you shall have an early +account of the approaching _fête_. + + + +LETTER XIII. + +_Paris, November 8, 1801._ + +Great preparations for the _fête_ of to-morrow have, for several +days, employed considerable numbers of people: it therefore becomes +necessary that I should no longer delay to give you an idea of the +principal scene of action. For that purpose, we must direct our steps +to the + +JARDIN DES TUILERIES. + +This garden, which is the most magnificent in Paris, was laid out by +the celebrated LE NOTRE in the reign of Lewis XIV. It covers a space +of three hundred and sixty toises[1] long by one hundred and +sixty-eight broad. To the north and south, it is bordered, throughout +its length, by two terraces, one on each side, which, with admirable +art, conceal the irregularity of the ground, and join at the farther +end in the form of a horse-shoe. To the east, it is limited by the +palace of the _Tuileries_; and to the west, by the _Place de la +Concorde_. + +From the vestibule of the palace, the perspective produces a most +striking effect: the eye first wanders for a moment over the +extensive parterre, which is divided into compartments, planted with +shrubs and flowers, and decorated with basins, _jets-d'eau_, vases, +and statues in marble and bronze; it then penetrates through a +venerable grove which forms a beautiful vista; and, following the +same line, it afterwards discovers a fine road, bordered with trees, +leading by a gentle ascent to _Pont de Neuilly_, through the +_Barrière de Chaillot_, where the prospect closes. + +The portico of the palace has been recently decorated with several +statues. On each side of the principal door is a lion in marble. + +The following is the order in which the copies of antique statues, +lately placed in this garden, are at present disposed. + +On the terrace towards the river, are: 1. Venus _Anadyomene_. 2. An +Apollo of Belvedere. 3. The group of Laocoon. 4. Diana, called by +antiquaries, _Succincta_. 5. Hercules carrying Ajax. + +In front of the palace: 1. A dying gladiator. 2. A fighting +gladiator. 3. The flayer of Marsyas. 4. VENUS, styled _à la +coquille_, crouched and issuing from the bath. N. B. All these +figures are in bronze. + +In the alley in front of the parterre, in coming from the terrace +next the river: 1. Flora Farnese. 2. Castor and Pollux. 3. Bacchus +instructing young Hercules. 4. Diana. + +On the grass-plot, towards the _manège_ or riding-house, Hippomenes +and Atalanta. At the further end is an Apollo, in front of the +horse-shoe walk, decorated with a sphynx at each extremity. + +In the corresponding gras-plot towards the river, Apollo and Daphne; +and at the further end, a Venus _Callypyga_, or (according to the +French term) _aux belles fesses_. + +In the compartment by the horse-chesnut trees, towards the +riding-house, the Centaur. On the opposite side, the Wrestlers. +Farther on, though on the same side, an Antinoüs. + +In the niche, under the steps in the middle of the terrace towards +the river, a Cleopatra. + +In the alley of orange-trees, near the _Place de la Concorde_, +Meleager; and on the terrace, next to the riding-house, Hercules +Farnese. + +In the niche to the right, in front of the octagonal basin, a Faun +carrying a kid. In the one to the left, Mercury Farnese. + +Independently of these copies after the antique, the garden is +decorated with several other modern statues, by COYZEVOX, REGNAUDIN, +COSTOU, LE GROS, LE PAUTRE, &c. which attest the degree of perfection +that had been attained, in the course of the last century, by French +sculptors. For a historical account of them, I refer you to a work, +which I shall send you by the first opportunity, written by the +learned MILLIN. + +Here, in summer, the wide-spreading foliage of the lofty +horse-chesnut trees afford a most agreeable shade; the air is +cooled by the continual play of the _jets-d'eau_; while upwards of +two hundred orange-trees, which are then set out, impregnate it with +a delightful perfume. The garden is now kept in much better order +than it was under the monarchy. The flower-beds are carefully +cultivated; the walks are well gravelled, rolled, and occasionally +watered; in a word, proper attention is paid to the convenience +of the public. + +But, notwithstanding these attractions, as long as it was necessary +for every person entering this garden to exhibit to the sentinels the +national cockade, several fair royalists chose to relinquish its +charming walks, shaded by trees of a hundred years' growth, rather +than comply with the republican mandate. Those anti-revolutionary +_élégantes_ resorted to other promenades; but, since the accession of +the consular government, the wearing of this doubtful emblem of +patriotism has been dispensed with, and the garden of the _Tuileries_ +is said to be now as much frequented in the fine season as at any +period of the old _régime_. + +The most constant visiters are the _quidnuncs_, who, according to the +difference of the seasons, occupy alternately three walks; the +_Terrasse des Feuillans_ in winter; that which is immediately +underneath in spring; and the centre or grand alley during the summer +or autumn. + +Before the revolution, this garden was not open to the populace, +except on the festival of St. Lewis, and the eve preceding, when +there was always a public concert, given under a temporary +amphitheatre erected against the west façade of the palace: at +present no person whatever is refused admittance. + +There are six entrances, at each of which sentinels are regularly +mounted from the grenadiers of the consular guard; and, independently +of the grand guard-room over the vestibule of the palace, there is +one at the end of the garden which opens on the _Place de la +Concorde_, and another on the _Terrasse des Feuillans_. + +But what is infinitely more interesting, on this terrace, is a new +and elegant building, somewhat resembling a _casino_, which at once +unites every accommodation that can be wished for in a coffee-house, +a tavern, or a confectioner's. Here you may breakfast _à l'Anglaise_ +or _à la fourchette_, that is in the most substantial manner, in the +French fashion, read the papers, dine, or sup sumptuously in any +style you choose, or drink coffee and liqueurs, or merely eat ices. +While thus engaged, you enjoy a full view of the company passing and +repassing, and what adds beyond measure to the beauty of the scene, +is the presence of the ladies, who not unfrequently come hither with +their admirers to indulge in a _téte-à-téte_, or make larger parties +to dine or sup at these fashionable rendezvous of good cheer. + +According to the scandalous chronicle, Véry, the master of the house, +is indebted to the charms of his wife for the occupation of this +tasteful edifice, which had been erected by the government on a spot +of ground that was national property, and, of course, at its +disposal. Several candidates were desirous to be tenants of a +building at once so elegant and so centrical. Véry himself had been +unsuccessful, though he had offered a _pot de vin_ (that is the +Parisian term for _good-will_) of five hundred louis, and six +thousand francs a year rent. His handsome wife even began to +apprehend that her mission would be attended with no better fortune. +She presented herself, however, to the then Minister of the Interior, +who, unrelenting as he had hitherto been to all the competitors, did +not happen to be a Scipio. On the contrary, he is said to have been +so struck by the person of the fair supplicant, that he at once +declared his readiness to accede to her request, on condition that +she would favour him with her company to supper, and not forget to +put her night-cap in her pocket. _Relata refero_. + +Be this as it may, I assure you that Madame Véry, without being a +perfect beauty, is what the French call a _beau corps de femme_, or, +in plain English, a very desirable woman, and such as few ministers +of L'n. B--------te's years would choose to dismiss unsatisfied. This +is not the age of continence, and I am persuaded that any man who +sees and converses with the amiable Madame Véry, if he do not envy +the Minister the nocturnal sacrifice, will, on contemplating the +elegance of her arrangements, at least allow that this spot of ground +has not been disposed of to disadvantage. + +Every step we take, in this quarter of Paris, calls to mind some +remarkable circumstance of the history of the revolution. As the +classic reader, in visiting _Troas_, would endeavour to trace the +site of those interesting scenes described in the sublime numbers of +the prince of poets; so the calm observer, in perambulating this +garden, cannot but reflect on the great political events of which it +has been the theatre. In front of the west façade of the palace, the +unfortunate Lewis XVI, reviewed the Swiss, and some of the national +guards, very early in the morning of the 10th of August 1792. On the +right, close to the _Terrasse des Feuillans_, still stands the +_manège_ or riding-house, where the National Assembly at that time +held their sittings, and whither the king, with his family, was +conducted by ROEDERER, the deputy. That building, after having since +served for various purposes, is at present shut up, and will, +probably, be taken down, in consequence of projected improvements in +this quarter. + +In the centre of the west end of the garden, was the famous _Pont +tournant_, by which, on the 11th of July 1789, the Prince de Lambesc +entered it at the head of his regiment of cavalry, and, by +maltreating some peaceable saunterers, gave the Parisians a specimen +of what they were to expect from the disposition of the court. This +inconsiderate _galopade_, as the French term it, was the first signal +of the general insurrection. + +The _Pont tournant_ is destroyed, and the ditch filled up. Leaving +the garden of the _Tuileries_ by this issue, we enter the + +PLACE DE LA CONCORDE. + +This is the new name given to the _Place de Louis XV_. After the +abolition of royalty in France, it was called the _Place de la +Révolution_. When the reign of terror ceased, by the fall of +Robespierre, it obtained its present appellation, which forms a +strong contrast to the number of victims that have here been +sacrificed to the demon of faction. + +This square, which is seven hundred and eighty feet in length by six +hundred and thirty in breadth, was planned after the treaty of +Aix-la-Chapelle, and finished in 1763. It forms a parallelogram +with its angles cut off, which are surrounded by ditches, guarded by +balustrades, breast high. To repair from the _Tuileries_ to the +_Champs Elysées_, you cross it in a straight line from east to west, +and from north to south, to proceed from the _Rue de la Concorde +(ci-devant Rue Royale)_ to the _Pont de la Concorde (ci-devant +Pont de Louis XVI.)_ + +Near the intersection of these roads stood the equestrian statue in +bronze of Lewis XV, which caught the eye in a direct line with the +centre of the grand alley of the garden of the _Tuileries_. It has +since been replaced by a statue of Liberty. This colossal figure was +removed a few days ago, and, by all accounts, will not be re-erected. + +The north part of this square, the only one that is occupied by +buildings, presents, on each side of the _Rue de la Concorde_, two +edifices, each two hundred and forty-eight feet in front, decorated +with insulated columns of the Corinthian order, to the number of +twelve, and terminated by two pavilions, with six columns, crowned by +a pediment. On the ground-floor of these edifices, one of which, that +next the _Tuileries_, was formerly the _Garde-Meuble de la Couronne_, +are arcades that form a gallery, in like manner as the colonnade +above, the cornice of which is surmounted by a balustrade. I have +been thus particular in describing this façade, in order to enable +you to judge of the charming effect which it must produce, when +illuminated with thousands of lamps on the occasion of the grand +_fête_ in honour of peace, which takes place to-morrow. + +It was in the right hand corner of this square, as you come out of +the garden of the _Tuileries_ by the centre issue, that the terrible +guillotine was erected. From the window of a friend's room, where I +am now writing, I behold the very spot which has so often been +drenched with the mixed blood of princes, poets, legislators, +philosophers, and plebeians. On that spot too fell the head of one of +the most powerful monarchs in Europe. + +I have heard much regret expressed respecting this execution; I have +witnessed much lamentation excited by it both in England and France; +but I question whether any of those loyal subjects, who deserted +their king when they saw him in danger, will ever manifest the +sincere affection, the poignant sensibility of DOMINIQUE SARRÈDE. + +To follow Henry IV to the battle of Ivry in 1533, SARRÈDE had his +wounded leg cut off, in order that he might be enabled to sit on +horseback. This was not all. His attachment to his royal master was +so great, that, in passing through the _Rue de la Ferronnerie_ two +days after the assassination of that prince, and surveying the fatal +place where it had been committed, he was so overcome by grief, that +he fell almost dead on the spot, and actually expired the next +morning. I question, I say, whether any one of those emigrants, who +made so officious a display of their zeal, when they knew it to be +unavailing, will ever moisten with a single tear the small space of +earth stained with the blood of their unfortunate monarch. + +Since I have been in Paris, I have met with a person of great +respectability, totally unconnected with politics, who was present at +several of those executions: at first he attended them from +curiosity, which soon degenerated into habit, and at last became an +occupation. He successively beheld the death of Charlotte Corday, +Madame Roland, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Madame Elizabeth, +Philippe Egalité, Madame du Barry, Danton, Robespierre, Couthon, St. +Just, Henriot, Fouquier-Tinville, _cum mullis aliis_, too numerous to +mention. + +Among other particulars, this person informed me that Lewis XVI +struggled much, by which the fatal instrument cut through the back of +his head, and severed his jaw: the queen was more resigned; on the +scaffold, she even apologized to Samson, the executioner in chief, +for treading accidentally on his toe. Madame Roland met her fate with +the calm heroism of a Roman matron. Charlotte Corday died with a +serene and dignified countenance; one of the executioners having +seized her head when it fell, and given it several slaps, this base +act of cowardice raised a general murmur among the people. + +As to Robespierre, no sooner had he ascended the scaffold, amid the +vociferous acclamations of the joyful multitude, than the executioner +tore off the dirty bandage in which his wounded head was enveloped +and which partlv concealed his pale and ferocious visage. This made +the wretch roar like a wild beast. His under jaw then falling from +the upper, and streams of blood gushing from the wound, gave him the +most ghastly appearance that can be imagined. When the national +razor, as the guillotine was called by his partisans, severed +Robespierre's head from his body; and the executioner, taking it by +the hair, held it up to the view of the spectators, the plaudits +lasted for twenty minutes. Couthon, St. Just, and Henriot, his +heralds of murder, who were placed in the same cart with himself, +next paid the debt of their crimes. They were much disfigured, and +the last had lost an eye. Twenty-two persons were guillotined at the +same time with Robespierre, all of them his satellites. The next day, +seventy members of the commune, and the day following twelve others, +shared the fate of their atrocious leader, who, not many hours +before, was styled the virtuous and incorruptible patriot. + +You may, probably, imagine that, whatever dispatch might be employed, +the execution of seventy persons, would demand a rather considerable +portion of time, an hour and a half, or two hours, for instance. But, +how wide of the mark! Samson, the executioner of Paris, worked the +guillotine with such astonishing quickness, that, including the +preparatives of the punishment, he has been known to cut off no less +than forty-five heads, the one after the other, in the short space of +fifteen minutes; consequently, at this expeditious rate of three +heads in one minute it required no more than twenty-three minutes and +twenty seconds to decapitate seventy persons. + +Guillotin, the physician, who invented or rather improved this +machine, which is called after his name with a feminine termination, +is said to have been a man of humanity; and, on that principle alone, +he recommended the use of it, from the idea of saving from painful +sensations criminals condemned to die. Seeing the abuse made of it, +from the facility which it afforded of dispatching several persons in +a few minutes, he took the circumstance so much to heart that grief +speedily shortened his existence. + +According to Robespierre, however, the axe of the guillotine did not +do sufficient execution. One of his satellites announced to him the +invention of an instrument which struck off nine heads at once: the +discovery pleased him, and he caused several trials of this new +machine to be made at _Bicêtre_. It did not answer; but human nature +gained nothing by its failure. Instead of half a dozen victims a day, +Robespierre wished to have daily fifty or sixty, or more; and he was +but too well obeyed. Not only had he his own private lists of +proscription; but all his creatures, from the president of the +revolutionary tribunal down to the under-jailers, had similar lists; +and the _almanac royal_, or French court calendar, was converted into +one by himself. + +The inhabitants of the streets through which the unfortunate +sufferers were carried, wearied at length by the daily sight of so +melancholy a spectacle, ventured to utter complaints. Robespierre, no +less suspicious than cruel, was alarmed, and, dreading an +insurrection, removed the scene of slaughter. The scaffold was +erected on the _Place de la Bastille_: but the inhabitants of this +quarter also murmured, and the guillotine was transferred to the +_Barrière St. Antoine_. + +Had not this modern Nero been cut off in the midst of his cruelties, +it is impossible to say where he would have stopped. Being one day +asked the question, he coolly answered: "The generation which has +witnessed the old _règime_, will always regret it. Every individual +who was more than fifteen in 1789, must be put to death: this is the +only way to consolidate the revolution." + +It was the same in the departments as in Paris. Every where blood ran +in streams. In all the principal towns the guillotine was rendered +permanent, in order, as Robespierre expressed himself, to _regenerate +the nation_. If this sanguinary monster did not intend to "wade +through slaughter to a throne," it is certain at least that he "shut +the gates of mercy on mankind." + +But what cannot fail to excite your astonishment and that of every +thinking person, is, that, in the midst of these executions, in the +midst of these convulsions of the state, in the midst of these +struggles for power, in the midst of these outcries against the +despots of the day, in the midst of famine even, not artificial, but +real; in short, in the midst of an accumulation of horrors almost +unexampled, the fiddle and tambourin never ceased. Galas, concerts, +and balls were given daily in incredible numbers; and no less than +from fifteen to twenty theatres, besides several, other places of +public entertainment, were constantly open, and almost as constantly +filled. + +P. S. I am this moment informed of the arrival of Lord Cornwallis. + +[Footnote 1: The ratio between the English fathom and the French +toise, as determined between the first astronomers of both countries, +is as 72 to 76.734.] + + + +LETTER XIV. + +_Paris, November 10, 1801._ + +On the evening of the 8th, there was a representation _gratis_ at all +the theatres, it being the eve of the great day, of the occurrences +of which I shall now, agreeably to my promise, endeavour to give you +a narrative. I mean the + + NATIONAL FÉTE, + IN HONOUR OF PEACE, + _Celebrated on the 18th of Brumaire, year X_, + _the anniversary of_ BONAPARTE'S + _accession to the consulate_. + +Notwithstanding the prayers which the Parisians had addressed to the +sun for the preceding twenty-four hours, + + "----_Nocte pluit totà, redeunt spectacula mane_," + +it rained all night, and was still raining yesterday morning, when +the day was ushered in by discharges of artillery from the saluting +battery at the _Hôtel des Invalides_. This did not disturb me; I +slept soundly till, about eight o'clock, a tintamarre of trumpets, +kettle-drums, &c. almost directly under my window, roused me from my +peaceful slumber. For fear of losing the sight, I immediately +presented myself at the casement, just as I rose, in my shirt and +night-cap. The officers of the police, headed by the Prefect, and +escorted by a party of dragoons, came to the _Place des Victoires_, +as the third station, to give publicity, by word of mouth, to the +Proclamation of the Consuls, of which I inclose you a printed copy. +The civil officers were habited in their dresses of parade, and +decorated with tricoloured sashes; the heads of their steeds, which, +by the bye, were not of a fiery, mettlesome race, being adorned in +like manner. + +This ceremony being over, I returned not to bed, but sat down to a +substantial breakfast, which I considered necessary for preparing my +strength for the great fatigues of so busy a day. Presently the +streets were crowded with people moving towards the river-side, +though small, but heavy rain continued falling all the forenoon. I +therefore remained at home, knowing that there was nothing yet to be +seen for which it was worth while to expose myself to a good wetting. + +At two o'clock the sun appeared, as if to satisfy the eager desire of +the Parisians; the mist ceased, and the weather assumed a promising +aspect. In a moment the crowd in the streets was augmented by a +number of persons who had till now kept within doors, in readiness to +go out, like the Jews keeping Easter, _cincti renibus & comedentes +festinantur_. I also sallied forth, but alone, having previously +refused every invitation from my friends and acquaintance to place +myself at any window, or join any party, conceiving that the best +mode to follow the bent of my humour was to go unaccompanied, and, +not confining myself to any particular spot or person, stroll about +wherever the most interesting objects presented themselves. + +With this view, I directed my steps towards the _Tuileries_, which, +in spite of the immense crowd, I reached without the smallest +inconvenience. The appearance of carriages of every kind had been +strictly prohibited, with the exception of those belonging to the +British ambassador; a compliment well intended, no doubt, and very +gratifying when the streets were so extremely dirty. + +For some time I amused myself with surveying the different +countenances of the groups within immediate reach of my observation, +and which to me was by no means the least diverting part of the +scene; but on few of them could I discover any other impression than +that of curiosity: I then took my station in the garden of the +_Tuileries_, on the terrace next the river. Hence was a view of the +_Temple of Commerce_ rising above the water, on that part of the +Seine comprised between the _Pont National_ and the _Pont Neuf_. The +quays on each side were full of people; and the windows, as well as +the roofs of all the neighbouring houses, were crowded beyond +conception. In the newspapers, the sum of 500 francs, or £20 +sterling, was asked for the hire of a single window of a house in +that quarter. + +Previously to my arrival, a flotilla of boats, decked with streamers +and flags of different colours, had ascended the river from +_Chaillot_ to this temple, and were executing divers evolutions +around it, for the entertainment of the Parisians, who quite drowned +the music by their more noisy acclamations. + +About half after three, the First Consul appeared at one of the +windows of the apartments of the Third Consul, LEBRUN, which, being +situated in the _Pavillon de Flore_, as it is called, at the south +end of the palace of the _Tuileries_, command a complete view of the +river. He and LEBRUN were both dressed in their consular uniform. + +In a few minutes, a balloon, previously prepared at this floating +_Temple of Commerce_, and adorned with the flags of different +nations, ascended thence with majestic slowness, and presently took +an almost horizontal direction to the south-west. In the car attached +to it were Garnerin, the celebrated aëronaut, his wife, and two other +persons, who kept waving their tricoloured flags, but were soon under +the necessity of putting them away for a moment, and getting rid of +some of their ballast, in order to clear the steeples and other lofty +objects which appeared to lie in their route. The balloon, thus +lightened, rose above the grosser part of the atmosphere, but with +such little velocity as to afford the most gratifying spectacle to an +immense number of spectators. + +While following it with my eyes, I began to draw comparisons in my +mind, and reflect on the rapid improvement made in these machines, +since I had seen Blanchard and his friend, Dr. Jefferies, leave Dover +Cliff in January 1785. They landed safely within a short distance of +Calais, as every one knows: yet few persons then conceived it +possible, or at least probable, that balloons could ever be applied +to any useful purpose, still less to the art of war. We find, +however, that at the battle of Fleurus, where the Austrians were +defeated, Jourdan, the French General, was not a little indebted for +his victory to the intelligence given him of the enemy's dispositions +by his aëronautic reconnoitring-party. + +The sagacious Franklin seems to have had a presentiment of the future +utility of this invention. On the first experiments being made of it, +some one asked him: "Of what use are balloons?"--"Of what use is a +new-born child!" was the philosopher's answer. + +Garnerin and his fellow-travellers being now at such a distance as +not to interest an observer unprovided with a telespope, I thought it +most prudent to gratify that ever-returning desire, which, according +to Dr. Johnson, excites once a day a serious idea in the mind even of +the most thoughtless. I accordingly retired to my own apartments, +where I had taken care that dinner should be provided for myself and +a friend, who, assenting to the propriety of allowing every man the +indulgence of his own caprice, had, like me, been taking a stroll +alone among the innumerable multitude of Paris. + +After dinner, my friend and I sat chatting over our dessert, in order +that we might not arrive too soon at the scene of action. At six, +however, we rose from table, and separated. I immediately proceeded +to the _Tuileries_, which I entered by the centre gate of the _Place +du Carrousel_. The whole facade of the palace, from the base of the +lowest pillars up to the very turrets of the pavilions, comprising +the entablatures, &c. was decorated with thousands of _lampions_, +whence issued a steady, glaring light. By way of parenthesis, I must +inform you that these _lampions_ are nothing more than little +circular earthen pans, somewhat resembling those which are used in +England as receptacles for small flower-pots. They are not filled +with oil, but with a substance prepared from the offals of oxen and +in which a thick wick is previously placed. Although the body of +light proceeding from _lampions_ of this description braves the +weather, yet the smoke which they produce, is no inconsiderable +drawback on the effect of their splendour. + +Nothing could exceed the brilliancy of the _coup d'oeil_ from the +vestibule of the palace of the _Tuileries_. The grand alley, as well +as the end of the parterre on each side and the edges of the basins, +was illuminated in a style equally tasteful and splendid. The +frame-work on which the lamps were disposed by millions, represented +lofty arcades of elegant proportion, with their several pillars, +cornices, and other suitable ornaments. The eye, astonished, though +not dazzled, penetrated through the garden, and, directed by this +avenue of light, embraced a view of the temporary obelisk erected +on the ridge of the gradual ascent, where stands the _Barrière de +Chaillot_; the road on each side of the _Champs Elysées_ presenting +an illuminated perspective, whose vanishing point was the obelisk +before-mentioned. + +After loitering a short time to contemplate the west façade of the +palace, which, excelling that of the east in the richness of its +architecture, also excelled it in the splendour of its illuminations, +I advanced along the centre or grand alley to the _Place de la +Concorde_. Here, rose three _Temples_ of correct design and beautiful +symmetry, the most spacious of which, placed in the centre, was +dedicated to _Peace_, that on the right hand to the _Arts_, and that +on the left to _Industry_. + +In front of these temples, was erected an extensive platform, about +five feet above the level of the ground, on which was exhibited a +pantomime, representing, as I was informed, the horrors of war +succeeded by the blessings of peace. Though I arrived in time to have +seen at least a part of it, I saw nothing, except the back of the +spectators immediately before me, and others, mounted on chairs and +benches, some of whom seemed to consider themselves fortunate if they +recovered their legs, when they came now and then to the ground, by +losing their equilibrium. These little accidents diverted me for the +moment; but a misadventure of a truly-comic nature afforded me more +entertainment than any pantomime I ever beheld, and amply consoled me +for being thus confined to the back-ground. + +A lusty young Frenchman, who, from his head-dress _à la Titus_, I +shall distinguish by that name, escorting a lady whom, on account of +her beautiful hair, I shall style _Berenice_, stood on one of the +hindmost benches. The belle, habited in a tunic _à la Grecque_, with +a species of sandals which displayed the elegant form of her leg, was +unfortunately not of a stature sufficiently commanding to see over +the heads of the other spectators. It was to no purpose that the +gentleman called out "_à bas les chapeaux!_" When the hats were off, +the lady still saw no better. What will not gallantry suggest to a +man of fashionable education? Our considerate youth perceived, at no +great distance, some persons standing on a plank supported by a +couple of casks. Confiding the fair _Berenice_ to my care, he +vanished: but, almost in an, instant, he reappeared, followed by two +men, bearing an empty hogshead, which, it seems, he procured from the +tavern at the west entrance of the _Tuileries_. To place the cask +near the feet of the lady, pay for it, and fix her on it, was the +business of a moment. Here then she was, like a statue on its +pedestal, enjoying the double gratification of seeing and being seen. +But, for enjoyment to be complete, we must share it with those we +love. On examining the space where she stood, the lady saw there was +room for two, and accordingly invited the gentleman to place himself +beside her. In vain he resisted her entreaties; in vain he feared to +incommode her. She commanded; he could do no less than obey. Stepping +up on the bench, he thence nimbly sprang to the cask; but, O! fatal +catastrophe! while, by the light of the neighbouring clusters of +lamps, every one around was admiring the mutual attention of this +sympathizing pair, in went the head of the hogshead. + +Our till-then-envied couple fell suddenly up to the middle of the leg +in the wine-lees left in the cask, by which they were bespattered up +to their very eyes. Nor was this all: being too eager to extricate +themselves, they overset the cask, and came to the ground, rolling in +it and its offensive contents. It would be no easy matter to picture +the ludicrous situation of Citizen _Titus_ and Madame _Berenice_. +This being the only mischief resulting from their fall, a universal +burst of laughter seized the surrounding spectators, in which I took +so considerable a share, that I could not immediately afford my +assistance. + + + +LETTER XV. + +_Paris, November 11, 1801._ + +What fortunate people are the Parisians! Yesterday evening so thick a +fog came on, all at once, that it was almost impossible to discern +the lamps in the streets, even when they were directly over-head. Had +the fog occurred twenty-four hours earlier, the effect of the +illuminations would have been entirely lost; and the blind would have +had the advantage over the clear-sighted. This assertion experience +has proved: for, some years ago, when there was, for several +successive days, a duration of such fogs in Paris, it was found +necessary, by persons who had business to transact out of doors, to +hire the blind men belonging to the hospital of the _Quinze-Vingts_, +to lead them about the streets. These guides, who were well +acquainted with the topography of the capital, were paid by the hour, +and sometimes, in the course of the day, each of them cleared five +louis. + +Last night, persons in carriages, were compelled to alight, and grope +their way home as they could: in this manner, after first carefully +ascertaining where I was, and keeping quite close to the wall, I +reached my lodgings in safety, in spite of numberless interrogations +put to me by people who had, or pretended to have, lost themselves. + +When I was interrupted in my account of the _fète_, we were, if I +mistake not, on the _Place de la Concorde_. + +Notwithstanding the many loads of small gravel scattered here, with a +view of keeping the place clean, the quantity of mud collected in the +space of a few hours was really astonishing. _N'importe_ was the +word. No fine lady, by whatever motive she was attracted hither, +regretted at the moment being up to her ankles in dirt, or having the +skirt of her dress bemired. All was busy curiosity, governed by +peaceable order. + +For my part, I never experienced the smallest uncomfortable squeeze, +except, indeed, at the conclusion of the pantomime, when the +impatient crowd rushed forward, and, regardless of the fixed bayonets +of the guards in possession of the platform, carried it by storm. +Impelled by the torrent, I fortunately happened to be nearly in front +of the steps, and, in a few seconds, I found, myself safely landed on +the platform. + +The guard now receiving a seasonable reinforcement, order was +presently restored without bloodshed; and, though several persons +were under the necessity of making a retrograde movement, on my +declaring that I was an Englishman, I was suffered to retain my +elevated position, till the musicians composing the orchestras, +appropriated to each of the three temples, had taken their stations. +Admittance then became general, and the temples were presently so +crowded that the dancers had much difficulty to find room to perform +the figures. + +Good-humour and decorum, however, prevailed to such a degree that, +during the number, of hours I mixed in the crowd, I witnessed not the +smallest disturbance. + +Between nine and ten o'clock, I went to the _Pont de la Concorde_ to +view the fireworks played off from the _Temple of Commerce_ on the +river; but these were, as I understand, of a description far inferior +to those exhibited at the last National Fête of the 14th of July, the +anniversary of the taking of the Bastille. + +This inferiority is attributed to the precaution dictated, by the +higher authorities, to the authors of the fireworks to limit their +ingenuity; as, on the former occasion, some accidents occurred of a +rather serious nature. The spectators, in general, appeared to me to +be disappointed by the mediocrity of the present exhibition. + +I was compensated for the disappointment by the effect of the +illumination of the quays, which, being faced with stone, form a +lofty rampart on each embankment of the river. These were decorated +with several tiers of lamps from the top of the parapet to the +water's edge; the parapets and cornices of the bridges, together with +the circumference of the arches, were likewise illuminated, as well +as the gallery of the _Louvre_, and the stately buildings adjoining +the quays. + +The palace of the Legislative Body, which faces the south end of the +_Pont de la Concorde_, formed a striking object, being adorned, in a +magnificent style, with variegated lamps and transparencies. No less +splendid, and in some respects more so, from the extent that it +presented, was the façade of the _ci-devant Garde-Meuble_, and the +corresponding buildings, which form the north side of the _Place de +la Concorde_, whither I now returned. + +The effect of the latter was beautiful, as you may judge from the +description which I have already given you of this façade, in one of +my preceding letters. Let it suffice then to say, that, from the base +of the lower pillars to the upper cornice, it was covered with lamps +so arranged as to exhibit, in the most brilliant manner, the style +and richness of its architecture. + +The crowd, having now been attracted in various directions, became +more penetrable; and, in regaining the platform on the _Place de la +Concorde_, I had a full view of the turrets, battlements, &c. erected +behind the three temples, in which the skilful machinist had so +combined his plan, by introducing into it a sight of the famous +horses brought from _Marly_, and now occupying the entrance of the +_Champs Elysées_, that these beautiful marble representations of that +noble animal seemed placed here on purpose to embellish his scenery. + +Finding myself chilled by standing so many hours exposed to the +dampness of a November night, I returned to the warmer atmosphere of +the temples, in order to take a farewell view of the dancers. The +scene was truly picturesque, the male part of the groups being +chiefly composed of journeymen of various trades, and the females +consisting of a ludicrous medley of all classes; but it required no +extraordinary penetration to perceive, that, with the exception of a +few particular attachments, the military bore the bell, and, all +things considered, this was no more than justice. Independently of +being the best dancers, after gaining the laurels of victory in the +hard-fought field, who can deny that they deserved the prize of +beauty? + +The dancing was kept up with the never-flagging vivacity peculiar to +this nation, and, as I conclude, so continued till a very late hour +in the morning. At half past eleven I withdrew, with a friend whom I +chanced to meet, to Véry's, the famous _restaurateur's_ in the +_Tuileries_, where we supped. On comparing notes, I found that I had +been more fortunate than he, in beholding to advantage all the sights +of the day: though it was meant to be a day of jubilee, yet it was +far from being productive of that mirth or gaiety which I expected. +The excessive dearness of a few articles of the first necessity may, +probably, be one cause of this gloom among the people. Bread, the +staff of life, (as it may be justly termed in France, where a much +greater proportion is, in general, consumed than in any other +country,) is now at the enormous price of eighteen _sous_ (nine-pence +sterling) for the loaf of four pounds. Besides, the Parisians have +gone through so much during the revolution, that I apprehend they +are, to a certain degree, become callous to the spontaneous +sensations of joy and pleasure. Be the cause what it may, I am +positively assured that the people expressed not so much hilarity at +this fête as at the last, I mean that of the 14th of July. + +In my way home, I remarked that few houses were illuminated, except +those of the rich in the streets which are great thorough-fares. +People here, in general, I suppose, consider themselves dispensed +from lighting up their private residence from the consideration that +they collectively contribute to the public illumination, the expenses +of which are defrayed by the government out of the national coffers. + +Several songs have been composed and published in commemoration of +this joyful event. Among those that have fallen under my notice, I +have selected the following, of which our friend M---s, with his +usual facility and taste, will, I dare say, furnish you an imitation. + + CHANT D'ALLÉGRESSE, + + _Pour la paix._ + + Air: _de la Marche Triomphante_. + + _"Reviens pour consoler la terre, + Aimable Paix, descends des cieux, + Depuis assez long-tems la guerre + Afflige un peuple généreux, + Ah! quell' aurore pure & calme + S'offre à nos regards satisfaits! + Nous obtenons la double paline + De la victoire & de la paix._ bis. + + _"Disparaissez tristes images, + D'un tems malheureux qui n'est plus, + Nous réparerons nos dommages + Par la sagesse & les vertus. + Que la paix enfin nous rallie! + Plus d'ingrats ni de mécontens, + O triomphe de la patrie! + Plus de Français indifférens._ bis. + + _"Revenez phalanges guerrières, + Héros vengeurs de mon pays, + Au sein d'une épouse, d'un père, + De vos parens, de vos amis, + Revenez dans votre patrie + Après tant d'effrayans hazards, + Trouver ce qui charme la vie, + L'amitié, l'amour, et les arts._ bis. + + _"Oh! vous qui, sous des catacombes, + Etes couchés au champ d'honneur, + Nos yeux sont fixés sur vos tombes, + En chantant l'hymne du vainqueur, + Nous transmettrons votre mémoire + Jusqu' aux siécles à venir, + Avec le burin de l'histoire, + Et les larmes du souvenir."_ bis. + + + SONG OF JOY, + + _In honor of peace._ + Imitated from the French. + + To the same tune: _de la Marche Triomphante._ + + Come, lovely Peace, from heav'n descending, + Thy presence earth at length shall grace; + Those terrible afflictions ending, + That long have griev'd a gen'rous race: + We see Aurora rise refulgent; + Serene she comes to bless our sight; + While Fortune to our hopes indulgent, + Bids victory and peace unite. + + Be gone, ye dark imaginations, + Remembrances of horrors past: + Virtue's and Wisdom's reparations + Shall soon be made, and ever last. + Now peace to happiness invites us; + The bliss of peace is understood: + With love fraternal peace delights us, + Our private ease, and country's good. + + Re-enter, sons of war, your houses; + Heroic deeds for peace resign: + Embrace your parents and your spouses, + And all to whom your hearts incline: + Behold your countrymen invite you, + With open, arms, with open hearts; + Here find whatever can delight you; + Here friendship, love, and lib'ral arts. + + Departed heroes, crown'd with glory, + While you are laid in Honour's bed, + Sad o'er your tombs we'll sing the story, + How Gallia's warriors fought and bled: + And, proud to shew to future ages + The claims to patriot valour due, + We'll vaunt, in our historic pages, + The debt immense we owe to you. + + + +LETTER XVI. + +_Paris, November 13, 1801._ + +Enriched, as this capital now is, with the spoils of Greece and +Italy, it may literally be termed the repository of the greatest +curiosities existing. In the CENTRAL MUSEUM are collected all the +prodigies of the fine arts, and, day after day, you may enjoy the +sight of these wonders. + +I know not whether you are satisfied with the abridged account I gave +you of the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES; but, on the presumption that you did +not expect from me a description of every work of sculpture contained +in it, I called your attention to the most pre-eminent only; and I +shall now pursue the same plan, respecting the master-pieces of +painting exhibited in the great + +GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE + +This gallery, which is thirteen hundred and sixty-five feet in length +by thirty in breadth, runs north and south all along the quays of the +river Seine, and joins the _Louvre_ to the palace of the _Tuileries_. +It was begun by Charles IX, carried as far as the first wicket by +Henry IV, to the second by Lewis XIII, and terminated by Lewis XIV. +One half, beginning from a narrow strip of ground, called the _Jardin +de l'Infante_, is decorated externally with large pilasters of the +Composite order, which run from top to bottom, and with pediments +alternately triangular and elliptical, the tympanums of which, both +on the side of the _Louvre_, and towards the river, are charged with +emblems of the Arts and Sciences. The other part is ornamented with +coupled pilasters, charged with vermiculated rustics, and other +embellishments of highly-finished workmanship. + +In the inside of this gallery are disposed the _chefs d'oeuvre_ of +all the great masters of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools. +The pictures, particularly the historical ones, are hung according to +the chronological order of the painters' birth, in different +compartments, the number of which, at the present period, amounts to +fifty-seven; and the productions of each school and of each master +are as much as possible assembled; a method which affords the +advantage of easily comparing one school to another, one master to +another, and a master to himself. If the chronology of past ages be +considered as a book from which instruction is to be imbibed, the +propriety of such a classification requires no eulogium. From the +pictures being arranged chronologically, the GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE +becomes a sort of dictionary, in which may be traced every degree of +improvement or decline that the art of painting has successively +experienced. + +The entrance to the great GALLERY OF PAINTINGS is precisely the same +as that to the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. After ascending a noble stone +stair-case, and turning to the left, you reach the + +SALOON OF THE LOUVRE. + +This apartment, which serves as a sort of antichamber to the great +Gallery, is, at the present moment, appropriated to the annual +monthly exhibition of the productions of living painters, sculptors, +architects, engravers, and draughtsmen. Of these modern works, I +shall, perhaps, speak on a future occasion. But, in the course of a +few days, they will give place to several master-pieces of the +Italian School, some of which were under indispensable repair, when +the others were arranged in the great Gallery. + +It would be no easy task to express the various sentiments which take +possession of the mind of the lover of the arts, when, for the first +time, he enters this splendid repository. By frequent visits, +however, the imagination becomes somewhat less distracted, and the +judgment, by degrees, begins to collect itself. Although I am not, +like you, conversant in the Fine Arts, would you tax me with +arrogance, were I to presume to pass an opinion on some of the +pictures comprised in this matchless collection? + +Painting being a representation of nature, every spectator, according +to the justness of his ideas, may form an opinion how far the +representation is happily pourtrayed, and in beholding it, experience +a proportionate degree of pleasure: but how different the sensations +of him who, combining all the requisites of a connoisseur, +contemplates the composition of a masterly genius! In tracing the +merits of such a production, his admiration gradually becomes +inflamed, as his eye strays from beauty to beauty. + +In painting or sculpture, beauty, as you well know, is either +natural, or generally admitted: the latter depends on the perfection +of the performance, on certain rules established, and principles +settled. This is what is termed _ideal_ beauty, which is frequently +not within the reach of the vulgar; and the merit of which may be +lost on him who has not learned to know and appreciate it. Thus, one +of the finest pictures, ever conceived and executed by man, might +not, perhaps, make an impression on many spectators. Natural beauty, +on the contrary, is a true imitation of nature: its effect is +striking and general, so that it stands not in need of being pointed +out, but is felt and admired by all. + +Notwithstanding this truth, be assured that I should never, of my own +accord, have ventured to pronounce on the various degrees of merit of +so many _chefs d'oeuvre_, which all at once solicit attention. This +would require a depth of knowledge, a superiority of judgment, a +nicety of discrimination, a fund of taste, a maturity of experience, +to none of which have I any pretension. The greatest masters, who +have excelled in a particular branch, have sometimes given to the +world indifferent productions; while artists of moderate abilities +have sometimes produced master-pieces far above their general +standard. In a picture, which may, on the whole, merit the +appellation of a _chef d'oeuvre_, are sometimes to be found beauties +which render it superior, negligences which border on the +indifferent, and defects which constitute the bad. Genius has its +flights and deviations; talent, its successes, attempts, and faults; +and mediocrity even, its flashes and chances. + +Whatever some persons may affect, a true knowledge of the art of +painting is by no means an easy acquirement; it is not a natural +gift, but demands much reading and study. Many there are, no doubt, +who may be able to descant speciously enough, perhaps, on the +perfections and defects of a picture; but, on that account alone, +they are not to be regarded as real judges of its intrinsic merit. + +Know then, that, in selecting the most remarkable productions among +the vast number exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM, I have had the good +fortune to be directed by the same first-rate connoisseur who was so +obliging as to fix my choice in the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. I mean M. +VISCONTI. + +Not confining myself either to alphabetical or chronological order, I +shall proceed to point out to you such pictures of each school as +claim particular notice. + + +ITALIAN SCHOOL. + +N. B. _Those pictures to which no number is prefixed, are not yet +publicly exhibited_. + + +RAFFAELLO. + + N° 55. (Saloon.) _The Virgin and Child, &c._ commonly known by the +name of the _Madonna di Foligno_. + +This is one of the master-pieces of RAPHAEL for vigour of colouring, +and for the beauty of the heads and of the child. It is in his second +manner; although his third is more perfect, seldom are the pictures +of this last period entirely executed by himself. This picture was +originally painted on pannel, and was in such a lamentable state of +decay, that doubts arose whether it could safely be conveyed from +Italy. It has been recently transferred to canvass, and now appears +as fresh and as vivid, as if, instead of a lapse of three centuries, +three years only had passed since it was painted. Never was an +operation of the like nature performed in so masterly a manner. The +process was attended by a Committee of the National Institute, +appointed at the particular request of the Administration of the +Museum. The _Madonna di Foligno_ is to be engraved from a drawing +taken by that able draughtsman DU TERTRE. + + N° ( ) _The Holy Family_. + +This valuable picture of RAPHAEL'S third manner is one of the most +perfect that ever came from his pencil. It belonged to the old +collection of the crown, and is engraved by EDELINCK. Although +superior to the _Madonna di Foligno_ as to style and composition, it +is inferior in the representation of the child, and in vigour of +colouring. + + N° ( ) _The Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor._ + +This is the last production of RAPHAEL, and his most admirable _chef +d'oeuvre_ as to composition and grace of the contours in all its +figures. It is not yet exhibited, but will be shortly. This picture +is in perfect preservation, and requires only to be cleaned from a +coat of dust and smoke which has been accumulating on it for three +centuries, during which it graced the great altar of St. Peter's +church at Rome. + +Among the portraits by RAPHAEL, the most surprising are: + +N° 58. (Saloon.) _Baltazzare Castiglione_, a celebrated writer in +Italian and Latin. + + N° ( ) _Leo X._ + +Every thing that RAPHAEL'S pencil has produced is in the first order. +That master has something greatly superior in his manner: he really +appears as a god among painters. Addison seems to have been impressed +with the truth of this sentiment, when he thus expresses himself: + + "Fain would I RAPHAEL'S godlike art rehearse, + And shew th' immortal labours in my verse, + When from the mingled strength of shade and light, + A new creation rises, to my sight: + Such heav'nly figures from his pencil flow, + So warm with life his blended colours glow, + From theme to theme with secret pleasure lost, + Amidst the soft variety I'm lost." + + +LEONARDO DA VINCI. + +There are several pictures by this master in the present exhibition; +but you may look here in vain for the portrait of _La Gioconda_, +which he employed four years in painting, and in which he has +imitated nature so closely, that, as a well-known author has +observed, "the eyes have all the lustre of life, the hairs of the eye +brows and lids seem real, and even the pores of the skin are +perceptible." + +This celebrated picture is now removed to the palace of the +_Tuileries_; but the following one, which remains, is an admirable +performance. + + N° ( ) _Portrait of Charles VIII._ + + +FRA BARTOLOMEO. + + N° 28. (Saloon.) _St. Mark the Evangelist_. + + N° 29. (Saloon.) _The Saviour of the world_. + +These two pictures, which were in the _Pitti_ palace at Florence, +give the idea of the most noble simplicity, and of no common taste in +the distribution of the lights and shades. + + +GIULIO ROMANO. + + N° 35. (Saloon.) _The Circumcision_. + +This picture belonged to the old collection of the crown. The figures +in it are about a foot and a half in height. It is a real _chef +d'oeuvre_, and has all the grace of the antique bas-reliefs. + + +TIZIANO. + + N° 69. (Saloon.) _The Martyrdom of St. Peter_. + +This large picture, which presents a grand composition in colossal +figures, with a country of extraordinary beauty in the back-ground, +is considered as the _chef d'oeuvre_ of TITIAN. It was painted on +pannel; but, having undergone the same operation as the _Madonna di +Foligno_, is now placed on canvass, and is in such a state as to +claim the admiration of succeeding ages. + + N° 74. (Saloon.) _The Portraits of Titian and his mistress._ + + 70. (Saloon.) _Portrait of the Marquis del Guasto with some +ladies_. + +Both these pictures belonged to the old collection of the crown, and +are to be admired for grace and beauty. + + N° 940. (Gallery.) _Christ crowned with thorns_. + + 941. (Gallery.) _Christ carried to the grave_. + +There is a wonderful vigour of colouring in these two capital +pictures. + +The preceding are the most admirable of the productions which are at +present exhibited of this inimitable master, the first of painters +for truth of colouring. + + +CORREGGIO. + + N° 753. (Gallery.) _The Virgin, the infant Jesus, Mary Magdalen, +and St. Jerome._ + +This picture, commonly distinguished by the appellation of the _St. +Jerome_ of CORREGGIO, is undoubtedly his _chef d'oeuvre_. In the year +1749, the king of Portugal is said to have offered for it a sum equal +in value to £18,000 sterling. + + N° 756. (Gallery.) _The Marriage of St. Catherine_. + + 757. (Gallery.) _Christ taken down from the cross_. + +This last-mentioned picture has just been engraved in an excellent +manner by an Italian artist, M. ROSA-SPINA. + +The grace of his pencil and his _chiaro oscuro_ place CORREGGIO in +the first class of painters, where he ranks the third after RAPHAEL +and TITIAN. He is inferior to them in design and composition; however +the scarceness of his pictures frequently gives them a superior +value. Poor CORREGGIO! It grieves one to recollect that he lost his +life, in consequence of the fatigue of staggering home under a load +of _copper_ coin, which avaricious monks had given him for pictures +now become so valuable that they are not to be purchased for their +weight, even in _gold_. + +No collection is so rich in pictures of CORREGGIO as that of the +CENTRAL MUSEUM. + + +PAOLO VERONESE. + + N° 44. (Saloon.) _The Wedding at Cana_. + + 45. (Saloon.) _The Repast at the house of Levi_. + + 51. (Saloon.) _The Pilgrims of Emmaüs_. + +These are astonishing compositions for their vast extent, the number +and beauty of the figures and portraits, and the variety and truth of +the colouring. Nothing in painting can be richer. + + +ANDREA DEL SARTO. + + N° 4. (Saloon.) _Christ taken down from the cross_. + + +ANDREA SQUAZZELLI (his pupil.) + + N° ( ) _Christ laid in the tomb_. + +This capital picture is not in the catalogue. + + +GIORGIONE DEL CASTEL-FRANCO. + + N° 32. (Saloon.) _A Concert containing three portraits_. + +This master-piece is worthy of TITIAN. + + +GUERCINO. + + N° 33 (Saloon.) _St. Petronilla_. + +This large picture was executed for St. Peter's church in the +Vatican, where it was replaced by a copy in Mosaic, on being removed +to the pontificate palace of Monte Cavallo, at Rome. + +In the great Gallery are exhibited no less than twenty-three pictures +by GUERCINO: but to speak the truth, though, in looking at some of +his productions, he appears an extremely agreeable painter, as soon +as you see a number of them, you can no longer bear him. This is what +happens to _mannerists_. The dark shades at first astonish you, +afterwards they disgust you. + + +ANDREA SACCHI. + + N° 65. (Saloon.) _St. Remuald_. + +This picture was always one of the most esteemed of those in the +churches at Rome. It was the altar-piece of the church of St. Remuald +in that city. + + +ALBANO. + + N° 676. (Gallery.) _Fire._ + + 677. _Air._ + + 678. _Water._ + + 679. _Earth._ + +In the Gallery are twenty-nine pictures of this master, and all of +them graceful; but the preceding four, representing the elements, +which were taken from the royal Cabinet of Turin, are the most +remarkable. + + +BAROCCIO. + + N° 686. (Gallery.) _The Virgin, St Anthony, and St. Lucia._ + + 688. _St. Michaelina._ + +These are the best pictures of BAROCCIO already exhibited. His +colouring is enchanting. It is entirely transparent and seems as if +impregnated with light: however, his forms, and every thing else, +bespeak the _mannerist_. + + +ANNIBALE CARRACCI. + + N° 721. (Gallery.) _Christ dead on the knees of the Virgin._ + + 723. _The Resurrection of Christ._ + + 728. _The Nativity of Christ._ + + 730. _Christ laid in the tomb._ + +Of the CARRACCI, ANNIBALE is the most perfect. He is also remarkable +for the different manners which he has displayed in his works. They +appear to be by two or three different painters. Of more than twenty +in the Gallery, the above are the best of his productions. + + +MICHAEL ANGELO DA CARAVAGGIO. + + N° 744. (Gallery.) _Christ laid in the tomb._ + +This wonderful picture, which was brought from Rome, is, for vigour +of execution and truth of colouring, superior to all the others by +the same master. Every one of his works bears the stamp of a great +genius. + + +DOMENICHINO. + + N° 763. (Gallery.) _The Communion of St. Jerome._ + +This picture, the master-piece of DOMENICHICO, comes from the great +altar of the church of _San Geronimo della Carità_, at Rome. It will +appear incredible that for a work of such importance, which cost him +so much time, study, and labour, he received no more than the sum of +about £10 sterling. + + N° 769. (Gallery.) _St. Cecilia_. + +This capital performance is now removed to the drawing-room of the +First Consul, in the palace of the _Tuileries_. + +After RAPHAEL, DOMENICHINO is one of the most perfect masters; and +his _St. Jerome_, together with RAPHAEL'S Transfiguration, are +reckoned among the most famous _chefs d'oeuvre_ of the art of +painting. + + +GUIDO. + + N° 797. (Gallery.) _The Crucifixion of St. Peter_. + + 800. _Fortune_. + +These are the finest of the twenty pictures by that master, now +exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM. They both came from Rome; the +former, from the Vatican; the latter, from the Capitol. + +GUIDO is a noble and graceful painter; but, in general, he betrays a +certain negligence in the execution of several parts. + + +LUINI. + + N° 860. (Gallery.) _The Holy Family_. + + +In this picture, LUINI has fallen little short of his master, +LEONARDO DA VINCI. + + +ANDREA SOLARIO. + + N° 896. (Gallery.) _The Daughter of Herodias receiving the head of +St. John_. + +SOLARIO is another worthy pupil of LEONARDO. This very capital +picture belonged to the collection of the crown, and was purchased by +Lewis XIV. + + +PIERUNO DEL VAGA. + + N° 928. (Gallery.) _The Muses challenged by the Piërides_. + +An excellent picture from Versailles. + + +BALTASSARE PERUZZI. + + N° 929. (Gallery.) _The Virgin discovering the infant Jesus +asleep_. + +A remarkably fine production. + + +SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO. + + N° ( ) _Portrait of the young sculptor, Baccio Bomdinelli_. + +This picture is worthy of the pencil of RAPHAEL. It is not yet +exhibited. + + +PIETRO DA CORTONA. + + N° 52. (Saloon.) _The Birth of the Virgin_. + + 53. _Remus and Romulus_. + +These are the finest pictures in the collection by this master. + +We have now noticed the best productions of the Italian School: in +our next visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM, I shall point out the most +distinguished pictures of the French and Flemish Schools. + +P. S. Lord Cornwallis is sumptuously entertained here, all the +ministers giving him a grand dinner, each in rotation. After having +viewed the curiosities of Paris, he will, in about a fortnight, +proceed to the congress at Amiens. On his Lordship's arrival, I +thought it my duty to leave my name at his hotel, and was most +agreeably surprised to meet with a very old acquaintance in his +military Secretary, Lieut. Col. L--------s. For any of the +ambassador's further proceedings, I refer you to the English +newspapers, which seem to anticipate all his movements. + + + +LETTER XVII. + +_Paris, November 15, 1801._ + +The more frequently I visit the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, the more +am I inclined to think that such a vast number of pictures, suspended +together, lessen each other's effect. This is the first idea which +now presents itself to me, whenever I enter the + +GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE. + +Were this collection rendered apparently less numerous by being +subdivided into different apartments, the eye would certainly be less +dazzled than it is, at present, by an assemblage of so many various +objects, which, though arranged as judiciously as possible, somehow +convey to the mind an image of confusion. The consequence is that +attention flags, and no single picture is seen to advantage, because +so many are seen together. + +In proportion as the lover of the arts becomes more familiarized with +the choicest productions of the pencil, he perceives that there are +few pictures, if any, really faultless. In some, he finds beauties, +which are general, or forming, as it were, a whole, and producing a +general effect; in others, he meets with particular or detached +beauties, whose effect is partial: assembled, they constitute the +beautiful: insulated, they have a merit which the amateur +appreciates, and the artist ought to study. General or congregated +beauties always arise from genius and talent: particular or detached +beauties belong to study, to labour, that is, to the _nulla die sine +lineâ_ and sometimes solely to chance, as is exemplified in the old +story of Protogenes, the celebrated Rhodian painter. + + +To discover some of these beauties, requires no extraordinary +discernment; a person of common observation might decide whether the +froth at the mouth of an animal, panting for breath, was naturally +represented: but a spectator, possessing a cultivated and refined +taste, minutely surveys every part of a picture, examines the +grandeur of the composition, the elevation of the ideas, the +nobleness of the expression, the truth and correctness of the design, +the grace scattered over the different objects, the imitation of +nature in the colouring, and the masterly strokes of the pencil. + +Our last visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM terminated with the Italian +School; let us now continue our examination, beginning with the + +FRENCH SCHOOL. + + +LE BRUN. + + N° 17. _(Gallery) The Defeat of Porus._ + + 18. _The Family of Darius at the feet of Alexander._ + + 19. _The Entrance of Alexander into Babylon. + The Passage of the Granicus._ + + 14. _Jesus asleep, or Silence._ + + 16. _The Crucifix surrounded by angels._ + +The compositions of LE BRUN are grand and rich; his costume +well-chosen, and tolerably scientific; the tone of his pictures +well-suited to the subject. But, in this master, we must not look +for purity and correctness of drawing, in an eminent degree. He much +resembles PIETRO DA CORTONA. LE BRUN, however, has a taste more in +the style of RAPHAEL and the antique, though it is a distant +imitation. The colouring of PIETRO DA CORTONA is far more agreeable +and more captivating. + +Among the small pictures by LE BRUN, N°s. 14 and 16 deserve to be +distinguished; but his _chefs d'oeuvre_ are the achievements of +Alexander. When the plates from these historical paintings, engraved +by AUDRAN, reached Rome, it is related that the Italians, astonished, +exclaimed: "_Povero Raffaello! non sei più il primo_." But, when they +afterwards saw the originals, they restored, to RAPHAEL his former +pre-eminence. + + +CLAUDE LORRAIN. + + N° 43. (Gallery.) _View of a sea-port at sun-set_. + + 45. _A Sea-piece on a fine morning_. + + 46. _A Landscape enlivened by the setting sun_. + +The superior merit of CLAUDE in landscape-painting is too well known +to need any eulogium, The three preceding are the finest of his +pictures in this collection. However, at Rome, and in England, there +are some more perfect than those in the CENTRAL MUSEUM. One of his +_chefs d'oeuvre_, formerly at Rome, is now at Naples, in the Gallery +of Prince Colonna. + + +JOUVENET. + + N° 54. (Gallery.) _Christ taken down from the cross._ + +The above is the most remarkable picture here by this master. + + +MIGNARD. + + N° 57. (Gallery.) _The Virgin_, called _La Vièrge à + la grappe_, because she is taking from a basket of + fruit a bunch of grapes to present to her son. + + +NICOLAS POUSSIN. + + N° 70. (Gallery.) _The Fall of the manna in the desert._ + + 75. _Rebecca and Eleazar._ + + 77. _The Judgment of Solomon._ + + 78. _The blind Men of Jericho._ + + 82. _Winter or the Deluge._ + +In this collection, the above are the finest historical paintings of +POUSSIN; and of his landscapes, the following deserve to be admired. + + N° 76. (Gallery.) _Diogenes throwing away his porringer._ + + 83. _The Death of Eurydice._ + +POUSSIN is the greatest painter of the French school. His +compositions bear much resemblance to those of RAPHAEL, and to the +antique: though they have not the same _naïveté_ and truth. His +back-grounds are incomparable; his landscapes, in point of +composition, superior even to those of CLAUDE. His large altar-pieces +are the least beautiful of his productions. His feeble colouring +cannot support proportions of the natural size: in these pictures, +the charms of the background are also wanting. + + +LE SUEUR. + + N° 98. (Gallery.) _St. Paul preaching at Ephesus._ + +This is the _chef d'oeuvre_ of LE SUEUR, who is to be admired for the +simplicity of his pencil, as well as for the beauty of his +compositions. + + +VALENTINO. + + N° 111. (Gallery.) _The Martyrdom of St. Processa and St. +Martinian._ + + 112. _Cæsar's Tribute._ + +These are the finest productions of this master, who was a worthy +rival of CARAVAGGIO. + + +VERNET. + + N° 121. (Gallery.) _A Sea-port at sun-set_. + +This painter's style is generally correct and agreeable. In the above +picture he rivals CLAUDE. + + * * * * * + +We now come to the school which, of all others, is best known in +England. This exempts me from making any observations on the +comparative merits of the masters who compose it. I shall therefore +confine myself to a bare mention of the best of their performances, +at present exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM. + + +FLEMISH SCHOOL. + + +RUBENS. + + N° 485. (Gallery.) _St. Francis, dying, receives the sacrament._ + + 503. _Christ taken down from the cross_, a celebrated picture +from the cathedral of Antwerp. + + 507. _Nicholas Rochox, a burgomaster of the city of Antwerp, and +a friend of_ RUBENS. + + 509. _The Crucifixion of St. Peter_. + + 513. _St. Roch interceding for the people attacked by the +plague._ + + 526. _The Village-Festival_. + +In this repository, the above are the most remarkable productions of +RUBENS. + + +VANDYCK. + + N° 255. (Gallery.) _The Mother of pity._ + + 264. _The portraits of Charles I, elector palatine, and his +brother, prince Robert._ + + 265. _A full-length portrait of a man holding his daughter by +the hand._ + + 266. _A full-length portrait of a lady with her son._ + +These are superior to the other pictures by VANDYCK in this +collection. + + +CHAMPAGNE. + + N° 216. (Gallery.) _The Nuns._ + +The history of this piece is interesting. The eldest daughter of +CHAMPAGNE was a nun in the convent of _Port-Royal_ at Paris. Being +reduced to extremity by a fever of fourteen months' duration, and +given over by her physicians, she falls to prayers with another nun, +and recovers her health. + + +CRAYER. + + N° 227. (Gallery.) _The Triumph of St. Catherine._ + + +GERHARD DOUW. + + N° 234. (Gallery.) _The dropsical Woman._ + + +HANS HOLBEIN. + + N° 319. (Gallery.) _A young woman, dressed in a yellow veil, and +with her hands crossed on her knees._ + + +JORDAENS. + + N° 351. (Gallery.) _Twelfth-Day_. + + 352. _The Family-Concert_. + + +ADRIAN VAN OSTADE. + + N° 428. (Gallery.) _The family of Ostade, painted by himself._ + + 430. _A smoking Club_. + + 431. _The Schoolmaster, with the ferula in his hand, surrounded +by his scholars_. + + +PAUL POTTER. + + N° 446. (Gallery.) _An extensive pasture, with cattle._ + +This most remarkable picture represents, on the fore-ground, near an +oak, a bull, a ewe with its lamb, and a herdsman, all as large as +life. + + +REMBRANDT. + + N° 457. (Gallery.) _The head of a woman with ear-rings, and dressed +in a fur-cloak._ + + 458. _The good Samaritan_. + + 465. _The Cabinet-maker's family._ + + 466. _Tobias and his family kneeling before the angel Raphael, +who disappears from his sight, after having made himself known._ + + 469. _The Presentation of Jesus in the temple._ + +The pictures, exhibited in the _Saloon_ of the _Louvre_, have +infinitely the advantage of those in the _Great Gallery_; the former +apartment being lighted from the top; while in the latter, the light +is admitted through large windows, placed on both sides, those on the +one side facing the compartments between those on the other; so that, +in this respect, the master-pieces in the _Gallery_ are viewed under +very unfavourable circumstances. + +The _Gallery_ of the _Louvre_ is still capable of containing more +pictures, one eighth part of it (that next to the _Tuileries_), being +under repair for the purpose.[1] It has long been a question with the +French republican government, whether the palace of the _Tuileries_ +should not be connected to the _Louvre_, by a gallery parallel to +that which borders the Seine. Six years ago, I understand, the +subject was agitated, and dropped again, on consideration of the +state of the country in general, and particularly the finances. It is +now revived; and I was told the other day, that a plan of +construction had absolutely been adopted. This, no doubt, is more +easy than to find the sums of money necessary for carrying on so +expensive an undertaking. + +If the fact were true, it is of a nature to produce a great sensation +in modern art, since it is affirmed that the object of this work is +to give a vast display to every article appropriated to general +instruction; for, according to report, it is intended that these +united buildings, should, in addition to the National Library, +contain the collections of statues, pictures, &c. &c. still remaining +at the disposal of the government. I would not undertake to vouch for +the precise nature of the object proposed; but it cannot be denied +that, in this project, there is a boldness well calculated to flatter +the ambition of the Chief Consul. + +However, I think it more probable that nothing, in this respect, will +be positively determined in the present state of affairs. The +expedition to St. Domingo will cost an immense sum, not to speak of +the restoration of the French navy, which must occasion great and +immediate calls for money. Whence I conclude that the erection of the +new Gallery, like that of the National Column, will be much talked +of, but remain among other projects in embryo, and the discussion be +adjourned _sine die_. + +Leaving the _Great Gallery_, we return to the _Saloon_ of the +_Louvre_, which, being an intermediate apartment, serves as a point +of communication between it and the + +GALLERY OF APOLLO. + +The old gallery of this name, first called _La petite galérie du +Louvre_, was constructed under the reign of Henry IV, and, from its +origin, ornamented with paintings. This gallery having been consumed +by fire in 1661, owing to the negligence of a workman employed in +preparing a theatre for a grand ballet, in which the king was to +dance with all his court, Lewis XIV immediately ordered it to be +rebuilt and magnificently decorated. + +LE BRUN, who then directed works of this description in France, +furnished the designs of all the paintings, sculpture, and ornaments, +which are partly executed. He divided the vault of the roof into +eleven principal compartments; in that which is in the centre, he +intended to represent _Apollo_ in his car, with all the attributes +peculiar to the Sun, which was the king's device. The _Seasons_ were +to have occupied the four nearest compartments; in the others, were +to have been _Evening_ and _Morning_, _Night_ and _Day-break_, the +_Waking of the Waters_, and that of the _Earth at Sun-rise_. + +Unfortunately for his fame, this vast project of LE BRUN was never +completed. Lewis XIV, captivated by Versailles, soon turned all his +thoughts towards the embellishment of that palace. The works of the +GALLERY OF APOLLO were entirely abandoned, and, of all this grand +composition, LE BRUN was enabled to execute no more than the +following subjects: + +1. _Evening_, represented by Morpheus, lying on a bed of poppies, and +buried in a profound sleep. + +2. _Night_ succeeding to day, and lighted by the silvery disk of the +Moon, which, under the figure of Diana, appears in a car drawn by +hinds. + +3. _The Waking of the Waters_. Neptune and Amphitrite on a car drawn +by sea-horses, and accompanied by Tritons, Nereïds, and other +divinities of the waters, seem to be paying homage to the rising sun, +whose first rays dispel the Winds and Tempests, figured by a group to +the left; while, to the right, Polyphemus, seated on a rock, is +calling with his loud instrument to his Galatea. + +The other compartments, which LE BRUN could not paint, on account of +the cessation of the works, remained a long time vacant, and would +have been so at this day, had not the _ci-devant_ Academy of +Painting, to whom the king, in 1764, granted the use of the GALLERY +OF APOLLO, resolved that, in future, the historical painters who +might be admitted members, should be bound to paint for their +reception one of the subjects which were still wanting for the +completion of the ceiling. In this manner, five of the compartments, +which remained to be filled, were successively decorated, namely: + +1. _Summer_, by DURAMEAU. + +2. _Autumn_, by TARAVAL. + +3. _Spring_, by CALLET. + +4. _Winter_, by LAGRENÉE the younger, + +5. _Morning_, or day-break, by RENOU. + +The GALLERY OF APOLLO now making part of the CENTRAL MUSEUM, it would +be worthy of the government to cause its ceiling to be completed, by +having the three vacant compartments painted by skillful French +artists. + +Under the compartments, and immediately above the cornice, are twelve +medallions, which were to represent the _twelve months of the year_, +characterized by the different occupations peculiar to them: eight +only are executed, and these are the months of summer, autumn, and +winter. + +The rich borders in gilt stucco, which serve as frames to all these +paintings, the caryatides which support them, as well as the groups +of Muses, Rivers, and Children, that are distributed over the great +cornice, are worthy of remark. Not only were the most celebrated +sculptors then in France, GASPAR and BALTHAZAR MARSY, REGNAUDIN, and +GIRARDON, chosen to execute them; but their emulation was also +excited by a premium of three hundred louis, which was promised to +him who should excel. GIRARDON obtained it by the execution of the +following pieces of sculpture: + +1. The figure representing a river which is under the _Waking of the +Waters_; at the south extremity of the gallery. + +2. The two trophies of arms which are near that river. + +3. The caryatides that support one of the octagonal compartments +towards the quay, at the foot of which are seen two children; the one +armed with a sickle, the other leaning on a lion. + +4. The group of caryatides that supports the great compartment where +_Summer_ is represented, and below which is a child holding a +balance. + +5. The two grouped figures of Tragedy and Comedy, which rest on the +great cornice. + +In the GALLERY OF APOLLO will be exhibited in succession, about +twelve thousand original drawings of the Italian, Flemish, and French +schools, the greater part of which formerly belonged to the crown. +This valuable collection had been successively enriched by the choice +of those of JABAK, LANQUE, MONTARSIS, LE BRUN, CROZAT, MARIETTE, &c. +yet never rendered public. Private and partial admission to it had, +indeed, been granted; but artists and amateurs, in general, were +precluded from so rich a source of study. By inconceivable neglect, +it seemed almost to have escaped the attention of the old government, +having been for a hundred years shut up in a confined place, instead +of being exhibited to public view. + +The variety of the forms and dimensions of these drawings having +opposed the more preferable mode of arranging them by schools, and in +chronological order, the most capital drawings of each master have +been selected (for, in so extensive a collection, it could not be +supposed that they were all equally interesting); and these even are +sufficiently numerous to furnish several successive exhibitions. + +The present exhibition consists of upwards of two hundred drawings by +the most distinguished masters of the Italian school, about one +hundred by those of the Flemish, and as many, or rather more, by +those of the French. They are placed in glazed frames, so contrived +as to admit of the subjects being changed at pleasure. Among the +drawings by RAPHAEL, is the great cartoon of the Athenian School, a +valuable fragment which served for the execution of the grand +_fresco_ painting in the Vatican, the largest and finest of all his +productions. It was brought from the Ambrosian library at Milan, and +is one of the most instructive works extant for a study. + +Besides the drawings, is a frame containing a series of portraits of +illustrious personages who made a figure in the reign of Lewis XIV. +They are miniatures in enamel, painted chiefly by the celebrated +PETITOT of Geneva. + +Here are also to be seen some busts and antique vases. The most +remarkable of the latter is one of Parian marble, about twenty-one +inches in height by twelve in diameter. It is of an oval form; the +handles, cut out of the solid stone, are ornamented with four swans' +heads, and the neck with branches of ivy. On the swell is a +bas-relief, sculptured in the old Greek style, and in the centre +is an altar on which these words may be decyphered. + + [Greek: SOSIBIOS ATÆNAIOS EPOIEI.] + _Sosibios of Athens fecit._ + +This beautiful vase[2] is placed on a table of violet African +breccia, remarkable for its size, being twelve feet in length, three +feet ten inches in breadth, and upwards of three inches in thickness. + +It might, at first, be supposed that the indiscriminate admission of +persons of all ranks to a Museum, which presents so many attractive +objects, would create confusion, and occasion breaches of decorum. +But this is by no means the case. _Savoyards_, _poissardes_, and the +whole motley assemblage of the lower classes of both sexes in Paris, +behave themselves with as much propriety as the more refined +visiters; though their remarks, perhaps, may be expressed in language +less polished. In conspicuous places of the various apartments, +boards are affixed, on which is inscribed the following significant +appeal to the uncultivated mind, "_Citoyens, ne touchez à rien; mais +respectez la Propriété Nationale_." Proper persons are stationed here +and there to caution such as, through thoughtlessness or ignorance, +might not attend to the admonition. + +On the days appropriated to the accommodation of students, great +numbers are to be seen in different parts of the Museum, some mounted +on little stages, others standing or sitting, all sedulously employed +in copying the favourite object of their studies. Indeed, the epithet +CENTRAL has been applied to this establishment, in order to designate +a MUSEUM, which is to contain the choicest productions of art, and, +of course, become the _centre_ of study. Here, nothing has been +neglected that could render such an institution useful, either in a +political light, or in regard to public instruction. Its magnificence +and splendour speak to every eye, and are calculated to attract the +attention of foreigners from the four quarters of the globe; while, +as a source of improvement, it presents to students the finest models +that the arts and sciences could assemble. In a philosophical point +of view, such a Museum may be compared to a torch, whose light will +not only dispel the remnant of that bad taste which, for a century, +has predominated in the arts dependent on design, but also serve to +guide the future progress of the rising generation. + +[Footnote 1: In the great _Gallery_ of the _Louvre_ are suspended +about nine hundred and fifty pictures; which, with ninety in the +_Saloon_, extend the number of the present exhibition to one thousand +and forty.] + +[Footnote 2: Whatever may be the beauty of this vase, two others are +to be seen in Paris, which surpass it, according to the opinion of +one of the most celebrated antiquaries of the age, M. VISCONTI. They +are now in the possession of M. AUBRI, doctor of Physic, residing at +N°. 272, _Rue St. Thomas du Louvre_, but they formerly graced the +cabinet of the _Villa-Albani_ at Rome. In this apartment, Cardinal +Alessandro had assembled some of the most valuable ornaments of +antiquity. Here were to be seen the Apollo _Sauroctonos_ in bronze, +the Diana in alabaster, and the _unique_ bas-relief of the apothesis +of Hercules. By the side of such rare objects of art, these vases +attracted no less attention. To describe them as they deserve, would +lead me too far; they need only to be seen to be admired. Although +their form is antique, the execution of them is modern, and ascribed +to the celebrated sculptor, SILVIO DA VELETRI, who lived in the +beginning of the seventeenth century. Indeed, M. VISCONTI affirms +that antiquity affords not their equal; assigning as a reason that +porphyry was introduced into Rome at a period when the fine arts were +tending to their decline. Notwithstanding the hardness of the +substance, they are executed with such taste and perfection, that the +porphyry is reduced to the thinness of china.] + + + +LETTER XVIII. + +_Paris, November 17, 1801._ + +The _Louvre_, the _Tuileries_, together with the _National Fête_ in +honour of Peace, and a crowd of interesting objects, have so +engrossed our attention, that we seem to have overlooked the +_ci-devant Palais Royal_. Let us then examine that noted edifice, +which now bears the name of + +PALAIS DU TRIBUNAT. + +In 1629, Cardinal Richelieu began the construction of this palace. +When finished, in 1636, he called it the _Palais Cardinal_, a +denomination which was much criticized, as being unworthy of the +founder of the French Academy. + +Like the politic Wolsey, who gave Hampton-Court to Henry VIII, the +crafty Richelieu, in 1639, thought proper to make a present of this +palace to Lewis XIII. After the death of that king, Anne of Austria, +queen of France and regent of the kingdom, quitted the _Louvre_ to +inhabit the _Palais Cardinal_, with her sons Lewis XIV and the Duke +of Anjou. + +The first inscription was then removed, and this palace was called +_le Palais Royal_, a name which it preserved till the revolution, +when, after the new title assumed by its then owner, it was +denominated _la Maison Égalité_, till, under the consular government, +since the Tribunate have here established their sittings, it has +obtained its present appellation of _Palais du Tribunat_. + +In the sequel, Lewis XIV granted to Monsieur, his only brother, +married to Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I, the enjoyment of +the _Palais Royal_, and afterwards vested the property of it in his +grandson, the Duke of Chartres. + +That prince, become Duke of Orleans, and regent of France, during the +minority of Lewis XV, resided in this palace, and (to use Voltaire's +expression) hence gave the signal of voluptuousness to the whole +kingdom. Here too, he ruled it with principles the most daring; +holding men, in general, in great contempt, and conceiving them to be +all as insidious, as servile, and as covetous as those by whom he was +surrounded. With the superiority of his character, he made a sport of +governing this mass of individuals, as if the task was unworthy of +his genius. The fact is illustrated by the following anecdote. + +At the commencement of his regency, the debts of the State were +immense, and the finances exhausted: such great evils required +extraordinary remedies; he wished to persuade the people that +paper-money was better than specie. Thousands became the dupes +of their avarice, and too soon awoke from their dream only to curse +the authors of a project which ended in their total ruin. It is almost +needless to mention that I here allude to the Mississippi bubble. + +In circumstances so critical, the Parliament of Paris thought it +their duty to make remonstrances. They accordingly sent deputies to +the regent, who was persuaded that they wished to stir up the +Parisians against him. After having listened to their harangue with +much phelgm, he gave them his answer in four words: "Go and be +d----n'd." The deputy, who had addressed him, nothing disconcerted, +instantly replied: "Sir, it is the custom of the Parliament to enter +in their registers the answers which they receive from the throne: +shall they insert this?" + +The principles of the regent's administration, which succeeded those +of Lewis XIV, form in history, a very striking shade. The French +nation, which, plastic as wax, yields to every impression, was +new-modelled in a single instant. As a rotten speck, by spreading, +contaminates the finest fruit, so was the _Palais Royal_ the corrupt +spot, whence the contagion of debauchery was propagated, even to the +remotest parts of the kingdom. + +This period, infinitely curious and interesting, paved the way to the +present manners. If the basis of morality be at this day overthrown +in France, the regency of Philip of Orleans, by completing what the +dissolute court of Lewis XIV had begun, has occasioned that rapid +change, whose influence was felt long before the revolution, and +will, in all probability, last for ages. At least, I think that such +a conclusion is exemplified by what has occurred in England since the +profligate reign of Charles II, the effects of whose example have +never been done away. + +Different circumstances have produced considerable alterations in +this palace, so that, at the present day, its numerous buildings +preserve of the first architect, LE MERCIER, no more than a small +part of the second court. + +The principal entrance of the _Palais du Tribunat_ is from the _Rue +St. Honoré_. The façade, on this side, which was constructed in 1763, +consists of two pavilions, ornamented by Doric and Ionic pillars, and +connected by a lofty stone-wall, perforated with arches, to three +grand gates, by which you enter the first court. Here, two elegant +wings present themselves, decorated with pilasters, also of the Doric +and Ionic orders, which are likewise employed for the pillars of the +avant-corps in the centre. This avant-corps is pierced with three +arches, which serve as a passage into the second court, and +correspond with the three gates before-mentioned. + +Having reached the vestibule, between the two courts, where large +Doric pillars rise, though partly concealed by a number of little +shops and stalls, you see, on the right, the handsome elliptical +stair-case, which leads to the apartments. It branches off into two +divisions at the third step, and is lighted by a lofty dome. The +balustrade of polished iron is beautiful, and is said to have cost +thirty-two workmen two years' labour. Before the revolution, +strangers repaired hither to admire the cabinet of gems and engraved +stones, the cabinet of natural history, the collection of models of +arts, trades, and manufactures, and the famous collection of +pictures, belonging to the _last_ duke of Orleans, and chiefly +assembled, at a vast expense, by his grandfather, the regent. + +This second court is larger than the first; but it still remains in +an incomplete state. The right-hand wing only is finished, and is +merely a continuation of that which we have seen in the other court. +On the left hand, is the site of the new hall intended for the +sittings of the Tribunate. Workmen are now employed in its +construction; heaps of stones and mortar are lying about, and, the +building seems to proceed with tolerable expedition. Here, in the +back-ground, is a crowd of little stalls for the sale of various +articles, such as prints, plays, fruit, and pastry. In front stand +such carriages as remain in waiting for those who may have been set +down at this end of the palace. Proceeding onward, you pass through +two parallel wooden galleries, lined on each side with shops, and +enter the formerly-enchanting regions of the + +JARDIN DU PALAIS DU TRIBUNAT. + +The old garden of the _Palais Royal_, long famous for its shady +walks, and for being the most fashionable public promenade in Paris, +had, from its centrical situation, gradually attracted to its +vicinity a considerable number of speculators, who there opened +ready-furnished hotels, coffee-houses, and shops of various +descriptions. The success of these different establishments awakened +the cupidity of its wealthy proprietor, then Duke, of Chartres, who, +conceiving that the ground might be made to yield a capital +augmentation to his income, fixed on a plan for enclosing it by a +magnificent range of buildings. + +Notwithstanding the clamours of the Parisian public, who, from long +habit, considered that they had a sort of prescriptive right to this +favourite promenade, the axe was laid to the celebrated _arbre de +Cracovie_ and other venerable trees, and their stately heads were +soon levelled to the ground. Every one murmured as if these trees had +been his own private property, and cut down against his will and +pleasure. This will not appear extraordinary, when it is considered +that, under their wide-spreading branches, which afforded a shelter +impervious to the sun and rain, politicians by day, adjusted the +balance of power, and arbiters of taste discussed the fashions of the +moment; while, by night, they presented a canopy, beneath which were +often arranged the clandestine bargains of opera-girls and other +votaries of Venus. + +After venting their spleen in vague conjectures, witty epigrams, and +lampoons, the Parisians were silent. They presently found that they +were, in general, not likely to be losers by this devastation. In +1782, the execution of the new plan was begun: in less than three +years, the present inclosure was nearly completed, and the modern +garden thrown open to the public, uniting to the advantages of the +ancient one, a thousand others more refined and concentrated. + +The form of this garden is a parallelogram, whose length is seven +hundred and two feet by three hundred in breadth, taken at its +greatest dimensions. It is bordered, on three of its sides, by new, +uniform buildings, of light and elegant architecture. Rising to an +elevation of forty-two feet, these buildings present two regular +stories, exclusively of the _mansarde_, or attic story, decorated by +festoons, bas-reliefs, and large Composite fluted pillars, bearing an +entablature in whose frieze windows are pierced. Throughout its +extent, the whole edifice is crowned by a balustrade, on the +pedestals of which vases are placed at equal distances. + +In the middle of the garden stood a most singular building, partly +subterraneous, called a _Cirque_. This circus, which was first opened +in 1789, with concerts, balls, &c. was also appropriated to more +useful objects, and, in 1792, a _Lyceum of Arts_ was here +established; but in 1797, it was consumed by fire, and its site is +now occupied by a grass-plot. On the two long sides of the garden are +planted three rows of horse-chesnut trees, not yet of sufficient +growth to afford any shade; and what is new, is a few shrubs and +flowers in inclosed compartments. The walks are of gravel, and kept +in good order. + +On the ground-floor, a covered gallery runs entirely round the +garden. The shops, &c. on this floor, as well as the apartments of +the _entresol_ above them, receive light by one hundred and eighty +porticoes, which are open towards the garden, and used to have each a +glass lantern, with reflectors, suspended in the middle of their +arch. In lieu of these, some of a less brilliant description are now +distributed on a more economical plan under the piazzas; but, at the +close of day, the rivalship of the shopkeepers, in displaying their +various commodities, creates a blaze of light which would strike a +stranger as the effect of an illumination. + +The fourth side of the garden towards the _Rue St. Honoré_ is still +occupied by a double gallery, constructed, as I have already +mentioned, of wood, which has subsisted nearly in its present state +ever since I first visited Paris in 1784. It was to have been +replaced by a colonnade for the inclosure of the two courts. This +colonnade was to have consisted of six rows of Doric pillars, +supporting a spacious picture-gallery, (intended for the whole of the +Orleans collection), which was to have constituted the fourth façade +to the garden, and have formed a covered walk, communicating with the +galleries of the other three sides. + +These galleries, whose whole circumference measures upwards of a +third of a mile, afford to the public, even in bad weather, a walk +equally agreeable and convenient, embellished, on the one side, by +the aspect of the garden, and, on the other, by the studied display +of every thing that taste and fashion can invent to captivate the +attention of passengers. + +No place in Paris, however, exhibits such a contrast to its former +attractions as this once-fashionable rendezvous. The change of its +name from _Palais Royal_ to _Maison Égalité_ conveys not to the +imagination a dissimilitude more glaring than is observable between +the present frequenters of this favourite promenade, and those who +were in the habit of flocking hither before the revolution. + +At that period, the scene was enlivened by the most brilliant and +most captivating company in the capital, both in point of exterior +and manners. At this day, the medal is exactly reversed. In lieu of +well-dressed or well-behaved persons of both sexes, this garden, +including its purlieus, presents, morning and evening, nothing but +hordes of stock-jobbers, money-brokers, gamblers, and adventurers of +every description. The females who frequent it, correspond nearly to +the character of the men; they are, for the greater part, of the most +debauched and abandoned class: for a Laïs of _bon ton_ seldom +ventures to shew herself among this medley of miscreants. + +In the crowd, may be occasionally remarked a few strangers attracted +by curiosity, and other individuals of respectable appearance called +hither on business, as well as some inoffensive newsmongers, +resorting to the coffee-houses to read the papers. But, in general, +the great majority, of the company, now seen here, is of a cast so +extremely low, that no decent woman, whether married or single, +thinks of appearing in a place where she would run a risk of being +put out of countenance in passing alone, even in the daytime. In the +evening, the company is of a still worse complexion; and the +concourse becomes so great under the piazzas, particularly when the +inclemency of the weather drives people out of the garden, that it is +sometimes difficult to cross through the motley assemblage. At the +conclusion of the performances in the neighbouring theatres, there is +a vast accession of the inferior order of nymphs of the Cyprian +corps; and then, amorous conversation and dalliance reach the summit +of licentious freedom. + +The greater part of the political commotions which have, at different +times, convulsed Paris, took their rise in the _ci-devant Palais +Royal_, or it has, in some shape, been their theatre. In this palace +too originated the dreadful reverse of fortune which the queen +experienced; and, indeed, when the cart in which her majesty was +carried to the scaffold, passed before the gates of this edifice, she +was unable to repress a sign of indignation. + +All writers who have spoken of the inveterate hatred, which existed +between the queen and M. d'Orléans, have ascribed it to despised +love, whose pangs, as Shakspeare tells, us, are not patiently +endured. Some insist that the duke, enamoured of the charms of the +queen, hazarded a declaration, which her majesty not only received +with disdain, but threatened to inform the king of in case of a +renewal of his addresses. Others affirm that the queen, at one time, +shewed that the duke was not indifferent to her, and that, on a hint +being given to him to that effect, he replied: "Every one may be +ambitious to please the queen, except myself. Our interests are too +opposite for Love ever to unite them." On this foundation is built +the origin of the animosity which, in the end, brought both these +great personages to the scaffold. + +Whatever may have been the motive which gave rise to it, certain it +is that they never omitted any opportunity of persecuting each other. +The queen had no difficulty in pourtraying the duke as a man addicted +to the most profligate excesses, and in alienating from him the mind +of the king: he, on his side, found it as easy, by means of +surreptitious publications, to represent her as a woman given to +illicit enjoyments; so that, long before the revolution, the +character both of the queen and the duke were well known to the +public; and their example tended not a little to increase the general +dissoluteness of morals. The debaucheries of the one served as a +model to all the young rakes of fashion; while the levity of the +other, was imitated by what were termed the _amiable_ women of the +capital. + +After his exile in 1788, the hatred of M. d'Orléans towards the queen +roused that ambition which he inherited from his ancestors. In +watching her private conduct, in order to expose her criminal +weaknesses, he discovered a certain political project, which gave +birth to the idea of his forming a plan of a widely-different nature. +Hitherto he had given himself little trouble about State affairs; +but, in conjunction with his confidential friends, he now began to +calculate the means of profiting by the distress of his country. + +The first shocks of the revolution had so electrified the greater +part of the Parisians, that, in regard to the Duke of Orleans, they +imperceptibly passed from profound contempt to blind infatuation. His +palace became the rendezvous of all the malcontents of the court, and +his garden the place of assembly of all the demagogues. His exile +appeared a public calamity, and his recall was celebrated as a +triumph. Had he possessed a vigour of intellect, and a daring equal +to the situation of leader of a party, there is little doubt that he +might have succeeded in his plan, and been declared regent. His +immense income, amounting to upwards of three hundred thousand pounds +sterling, was employed to gain partisans, and secure the attachment +of the people. + +After the taking of the Bastille, it is admitted that his party was +sufficiently powerful to effect a revolution in his favour; but his +pusillanimity prevailed over his ambition. The active vigilance of +the queen thwarting his projects, he resolved to get rid of her; and +in that intention was the irruption of the populace directed to +Versailles. This fact seems proved: for, on some one complaining +before him in 1792, that the revolution proceeded too slowly. "It +would have been terminated long ago," replied he, "had the queen been +sacrificed on the 5th of October 1789." + +Two months before the fall of the throne, M. d'Orléans still reckoned +to be able to attain his wishes; but he soon found himself +egregiously mistaken. The factions, after mutually accusing each +other of having him for their chief, ended by deserting him; and, +after the death of the king, he became a stranger to repose, and, for +the second time, an object of contempt. The necessity of keeping up +the exaltation of the people, had exhausted his fortune, great as it +was; and want of money daily detached different agents from his +party. His plate, his pictures, his furniture, his books, his +trinkets, his gems, all went to purchase the favour, and at length +the protection, of the Maratists. Not having it in his power to +satisfy their cupidity, he opened loans on all sides, and granted +illusory mortgages. Having nothing more left to dispose of, he was +reduced, as a last resource, to sell his body-linen. In this very +bargain was he engaged, when he was apprehended and sent to +Marseilles. + +Although acquitted by the criminal tribunal, before which he was +tried in the south of France, he was still detained there in prison. +At first, he had shed tears, and given himself up to despair, but now +hope once more revived his spirits, and he availed himself of the +indulgence granted him, by giving way to his old habits of +debauchery. On being brought to Paris after six months' confinement, +he flattered himself that he should experience the same lenity in the +capital. The jailer of the _Conciergerie,_ not knowing whether M. +d'Orléans would leave that prison to ascend the throne or the +scaffold, treated him with particular respect; and he himself was +impressed with the idea that he would soon resume an ascendency in +public affairs. But, on his second trial, he was unanimously declared +guilty of conspiring against the unity and indivisibility of the +Republic, and condemned to die, though no proof whatever of his guilt +was produced to the jury. One interrogatory put to him is deserving +of notice. It was this: "Did you not one day say to a deputy: _What +will you ask of me when I am king?_ And did not the deputy reply: _I +will ask you for a pistol to blow out your brains?_" + +Every one who was present at the condemnation of M. d'Orléans, and +saw him led to the guillotine affirms that if he never shewed courage +before, he did at least on that day. On hearing the sentence, he +called out: "Let it be executed directly." From the revolutionary +tribunal he was conducted straight to the scaffold, where, +notwithstanding the reproaches and imprecations which accompanied him +all the way, he met his fate with unshaken firmness. + + + +LETTER XIX. + +_Paris, November 18, 1801._ + +But if the _ci-devant Palais Royal_ has been the mine of political +explosions, so it still continues to be the epitome of all the trades +in Paris. Under the arcades, on the ground-floor, here are, as +formerly, shops of jewellers, haberdashers, artificial florists, +milliners, perfumers, print-sellers, engravers, tailors, shoemakers, +hatters, furriers, glovers, confectioners, provision-merchants, +woollen-drapers, mercers, cutlers, toymen, money-changers, and +booksellers, together with several coffee-houses, and +lottery-offices, all in miscellaneous succession. + +Among this enumeration, the jewellers' shops are the most attractive +in point of splendour. The name of the proprietor is displayed in +large letters of artificial diamonds, in a conspicuous compartment +facing the door. This is a sort of signature, whose brilliancy +eclipses all other names, and really dazzles the eyes of the +spectators. But at the same time it draws the attention both of the +learned and the illiterate: I will venture to affirm that the name of +one of these jewellers is more frequently spelt and pronounced than +that of any great man recorded in history, either ancient or modern. + +With respect to the price of the commodities exposed for sale in the +_Palais du Tribunat_, it is much the same as in _Bond Street_, you +pay one third at least for the idea of fashion annexed to the name of +the place where you make the purchase, though the quality of the +article may be nowise superior to what you might procure elsewhere. +As in Bond Street too, the rents in this building are high, on which +account the shopkeepers are, in some measure, obliged to charge +higher than those in other parts of the town. Not but I must do them +the justice to acknowledge that they make no scruple to avail +themselves of every prejudice formerly entertained in favour of this +grand emporium, in regard to taste, novelty, &c. by a still further +increase of their prices. No small advantage to the shopkeepers +established here is the chance custom, arising from such a variety of +trades being collected together so conveniently, all within the same +inclosure. A person resorting hither to procure one thing, is sure to +be reminded of some other want, which, had not the article presented +itself to his eye, would probably have escaped his recollection; and, +indeed, such is the thirst of gain, that several tradesmen keep a +small shop under these piazzas, independently of a large warehouse in +another quarter of Paris. + +Pamphlets and other ephemeral productions usually make their first +appearance in the _Palais du Tribunat_; and strangers may rely on +being plagued by a set of fellows who here hawk about prohibited +publications, of the most immoral tendency, embellished with +correspondent engravings; such as _Justine, ou les malheurs de la +vertu, Les quarante manières, &c._ They seldom, I am told, carry the +publication about them, for fear of being unexpectedly apprehended, +but keep it at some secret repository hard by, whence they fetch it +in an instant. It is curious to see with what adroitness these +vagrants elude the vigilance of the police, I had scarcely set my +foot in this building before a Jew-looking fellow, coming close to +me, whispered in my ear: "_Monsieur veut-il la vie polissonne de +Madame--------?_" Madame who do you think? You will stare when I tell +you to fill up the blank with the name of her who is now become the +first female personage in France? I turned round with astonishment; +but the ambulating book-vender had vanished, in consequence, as I +conclude, of being observed by some _mouchard._ Thus, what little +virtue may remain in the mind of youth is contaminated by precept, as +well as example; and the rising generation is in a fair way of being +even more corrupted than that which has preceded it. + + "_Ætas parentum, pejor avis, tulit + Nos nequiores, mox daturos + Progeniem vitiosiorem._" + +Besides the shops, are some auction-rooms, where you may find any +article of wearing apparel or household furniture, from a lady's wig +_à la Caraculla_ to a bed _à la Grecque:_ here are as many puffers as +in a mock auction in London; and should you be tempted to bid, by the +apparent cheapness of the object put up for sale, it is fifty to one +that you soon repent of your bargain. Not so with the _magazins de +confiance à prix fixé_, where are displayed a variety of articles, +marked at a fixed price, from which there is no abatement. + +These establishments are extremely convenient, not only to ingenious +mechanics, who have invented or improved a particular production of +art, of which they wish to dispose, but also to purchasers. You walk +in, and if any article strikes your fancy, you examine it at your +ease; you consider the materials, the workmanship, and lastly the +price, without being hurried by a loquacious shopkeeper into a +purchase which you may shortly regret. A commission of from five to +one half per cent, in graduated proportions, according to the value +of the article, is charged to the seller, for warehouse-room and all +other expenses. + +Such is the arrangement of the ground-floor; the apartments on the +first floor are at present occupied by _restaurateurs_, exhibitions +of various kinds, billiard-tables, and _académies de jeu_, or public +gaming-tables, where all the passions are let loose, and all the +torments of hell assembled. + +The second story is let out in lodgings, furnished or unfurnished, to +persons of different descriptions, particularly to the priestesses of +Venus. The rooms above, termed _mansardes_, in the French +architectural dialect, are mostly inhabited by old batchelors, who +prefer economy to show; or by artists, who subsist by the employment +of their talents. These chambers are spacious, and though the +ceilings are low, they receive a more uninterrupted circulation of +fresh air, than the less exalted regions. + +Over the _mansardes_, in the very roof, are nests of little rooms, or +cock-lofts, resembling, I am told, the cells of a beehive. Journeymen +shopkeepers, domestics, and distressed females are said to be the +principal occupiers of these aërial abodes. + +I had nearly forgot to mention a species of apartment little known in +England: I mean the _entresol_, which is what we should denominate a +low story, (though here not so considered), immediately above the +ground-floor, and directly under the first-floor. In this building, +some of the _entresols_ are inhabited by the shopkeepers below; some, +by women of no equivocal calling, who throw out their lures to the +idle youths sauntering under the arcades; and others again are now +become _maisons de pret_, where pawnbrokers exercise their usurious +dealings. + +In the _Palais du Tribunat_, as you may remark, not an inch of space +is lost; every hole and corner being turned to account: here and +there, the cellars even: are converted into scenes of gaiety and +diversion, where the master of the house entertains his customers +with a succession of vocal and instrumental music, while they are +taking such refreshments as he furnishes. + +This speculation, which has, by all accounts, proved extremely +profitable, was introduced in the early part of the revolution. Since +that period, other speculations, engendered by the luxury of the +times, have been set on foot within the precincts of this palace. Of +two of these, now in full vigour and exercise, I must say a few +words, as they are of a nature somewhat curious. + +The one is a _cabinet de décrotteur_, where the art of blacking shoes +is carried to a pitch of perfection hitherto unknown in this country. + +Not many years ago, it was common, in Paris, to see counsellors, +abbés, and military officers, as well as _petits-maîtres_ of every +denomination, full dressed, that is, with their hat under their arm, +their sword by their side, and their hair in a bag, standing in the +open street, with one leg cocked up on a stool, while a rough +Savoyard or Auvergnat hastily cleaned their shoes with a coarse +mixture of lamp-black and rancid oil. At the present day, the +_décrotteurs_ or shoe-blacks still exercise their profession on the +_Pont Neuf_ and in other quarters; but, as a refinement of the art, +there is also opened, at each of the principal entrances of the +_Palais du Tribunat_, a _cabinet de décrotteur_, or small apartment, +where you are invited to take a chair, and presented with the daily +papers. + +The artist, with due care and expedition, first removes the dirt from +your shoes or boots with a sponge occasionally moistened in water, +and by means of several pencils, of different sizes, not unlike those +of a limner, he then covers them with a jetty varnish, rivaling even +japan in lustre. This operation he performs with a gravity and +consequence that can scarcely fail to excite laughter. Yet, according +to the trite proverb, it is not the customer who ought to indulge in +mirth, but the _artist_. Although his price is much dearer than that +demanded by the other professors of this art, his cabinet is seldom +empty from morning to night; and, by a simple calculation, his pencil +is found to produce more than that of some good painters of the +modern French school. + +At the first view of the matter, it should appear that the other +speculation might have been hit on by any man with a nose to his +face; but, on more mature consideration, one is induced to think that +its author was a person of some learning, and well read in ancient +history. He, no doubt, took the hint from VESPASIAN. As that emperor +blushed not to make the urine of the citizens of Rome a source of +revenue, so the learned projector in question rightly judged that, in +a place of such resort as the _Palais du Tribunat_, he might, without +shame or reproach, levy a small tax on the Parisians, by providing +for their convenience in a way somewhat analogous. His penetration is +not unhandsomely rewarded; for he derives an income of 12,000 francs, +or £500 sterling, from his _cabinets d'aisance_. + +Since political causes first occasioned the shuting up of the old +_Théâtre Français_ in the _Faubourg St. Germain_, now reduced to a +shell by fire, Melpomene and Thalia have taken up their abode in the +south-west angle of the _Palais du Tribunat_, and in its north-west +corner is another theatre, on a smaller scale, where Momus holds his +court; so that be you seriously, sentimentally, or humorously +disposed, you may, without quitting the shelter of the piazzas, +satisfy your inclination. Tragedy, Comedy, and Farce all lie before +you within the purlieus of this extraordinary edifice. + +To sum up all the conveniences of the _Palais du Tribunat_, suffice +it to say, that almost every want, natural or artificial, almost +every appetite, gross or refined, might be gratified without passing +its limits; for, while the extravagant voluptuary is indulging in all +the splendour of Asiatic luxury, the parsimonious sensualist need not +depart unsatisfied. + +Placed in the middle of Paris, the _Palais du Tribunat_ has been +aptly compared to a sink of vice, whose contagious effects would +threaten society with the greatest evils, were not the scandalous +scenes of the capital here concentrated into one focus. It has also +been mentioned, by the same writer, Mercier, as particularly worthy +of remark, that, since this building is become a grand theatre, where +cupidity, gluttony, and licentiousness shew themselves under every +form and excess, several other quarters of Paris are, in a manner, +purified by the accumulation of vices which flourish in its centre. + +Whether or not this assertion be strictly correct, I will not pretend +to determine: but, certain it is that the _Palais du Tribunat_ is a +vortex of dissipation where many a youth is ingulfed. The natural +manner in which this may happen I shall endeavour briefly to explain, +by way of conclusion to this letter. + +A young Frenchman, a perfect stranger in Paris, arrives there from +the country, and, wishing to equip himself in the fashion, hastens to +the _Palais du Tribunat_, where he finds wearing apparel of every +description on the _ground-floor_: prompted by a keen appetite, he +dines at a _restaurateur's_ on the _first-floor_: after dinner, urged +by mere curiosity, perhaps, if not decoyed by some sharper on the +look-out for novices, he visits a public gaming-table on the same +story. Fortune not smiling on him, he retires; but, at that very +moment, he meets, on the landing-place, a captivating damsel, who, +like Virgil's Galatea, flies to be pursued; and the inexperienced +youth, after ascending another flight of stairs, is, on the +_second-floor_, ushered into a brothel. Cloyed or disgusted there, +he is again induced to try the humour of the fickle goddess, and +repairs once more to the gaming-table, till, having lost all his +money, he is under the necessity of descending to the _entresol_ +to pawn his watch, before he can even procure a lodging in a +_garret_ above. + +What other city in Europe can boast of such an assemblage of +accommodation? Here, under the same roof, a man is, in the space of a +few minutes, as perfectly equipped from top to toe, as if he had all +the first tradesmen in London at his command; and shortly after, +without setting his foot into the street, he is as completely +stripped, as if he had fallen into the hands of a gang of robbers. + +To cleanse this Augæan stable, would, no doubt, be a Herculean +labour. For that purpose, Merlin (of Douay), when Minister of the +police, proposed to the Directory to convert the whole of the +buildings of the _ci-devant Palais Royal_ into barracks. This was +certainly striking at the root of the evil; but, probably, so bold a +project was rejected, lest its execution, in those critical times, +should excite the profligate Parisians to insurrection. + + + +LETTER XX. + +_Paris, November 20, 1801._ + +One of the private entertainments here in great vogue, and which is +understood to mark a certain pre-eminence in the _savoir-vivre_ of +the present day, is a nocturnal repast distinguished by the +insignificant denomination of a + +THÉ. + +A stranger might, in all probability, be led to suppose that he was +invited to a tea-drinking party, when he receives a note couched in +the following terms: + +_"Madame R------ prie Monsieur B--------- de lui faire l'honneur de +venir au thé quelle doit donner le 5 de ce mois."_ + +Considering in that light a similar invitation which I received, I +was just on the point of sending an apology, when I was informed that +a _thé_ was nothing more or less than a sort of rout, followed by +substantial refreshments, and generally commencing after the +evening's performance was ended at the principal theatres. + +On coming out of the opera-house then the other night, I repaired to +the lady's residence in question, and arriving there about twelve +o'clock, found that I had stumbled on the proper hour. As usual, +there were cards, but for those only disposed to play; for, as this +lady happened not to be under the necessity of recurring to the +_bouillotte_ as a financial resource, she gave herself little or no +concern about the card-tables. Being herself a very agreeable, +sprightly woman, she had invited a number of persons of both sexes of +her own character, so that the conversation was kept up with infinite +vivacity till past one o'clock, when tea and coffee were introduced. +These were immediately followed by jellies, sandwiches, pâtés, and a +variety of savoury viands, in the style of a cold supper, together +with different sorts of wines and liqueurs. In the opinion of some of +the Parisian sybarites, however, no _thé_ can be complete without the +addition of an article, which is here conceived to be a perfect +imitation of fashionable English cheer. This is hot punch. + +It was impossible for me to refuse the cheerful and engaging _dame du +logis_ to taste her _ponche_, and, in compliment to me as an +Englishman, she presented me with a glass containing at least a +treble allowance. Not being overfond of punch, I would willingly have +relinquished the honour of drinking her health in so large a portion, +apprehending that this beverage might, in quality, resemble that of +the same name which I had tasted here a few evenings ago in one of +the principal coffeehouses. The latter, in fact, was a composition of +new rum, which reminded me of the trash of that kind distilled in New +England, acidulated with rotten lemons, sweetened with capillaire, +and increased by a _quantum sufficit_ of warm water. My hostess's +punch, on the contrary, was made of the best ingredients, agreeably +to the true standard; in a word, it was proper lady's punch, that is, +hot, sweet, sour, and strong. It was distributed in tea-pots, of +beautiful porcelaine, which, independently of keeping it longer warm, +were extremely convenient for pouring it out without spilling. Thus +concluded the entertainment. + +About half past two o'clock the party broke up, and I returned home, +sincerely regretting the change in the mode of life of the Parisians. + +Before the revolution, the fashionable hour of dinner in Paris was +three o'clock, or at latest four: public places then began early; the +curtain at the grand French opera drew up at a quarter past five. At +the present day, the workman dines at two; the tradesman, at three; +the clerk in a public office, at four; the rich upstart, the +money-broker, the stock-jobber, the contractor, at five; the banker, +the legislator, the counsellor of state, at six; and the ministers, +in general, at seven, nay not unfrequently at eight. + +Formerly, when the performance at the opera, and the other principal +theatres, was ended at nine o'clock, or a quarter past, people of +fashion supped at ten or half after; and a man who went much into +public, and kept good company, might retire peaceably to rest by +midnight. In three-fourths of the houses in Paris, there is now no +such meal as supper, except on the occasion of a ball, when it is +generally a mere scramble. This, I presume, is one reason why +substantial breakfasts are so much in fashion. + +"_Déjeûners froids et chauds_," is an inscription which now generally +figures on the exterior of a Parisian coffeehouse, beside that of +"_Thé à l'Anglaise, Café à la crême, Limonade, &c_." Solids are here +the taste of the times. Two ladies, who very gallantly invited +themselves to breakfast at my apartments the other morning, were +ready to turn the house out of the window, when they found that I +presented to them nothing more than tea, coffee, and chocolate. I was +instantly obliged to provide cold fowl, ham, oysters, white wine, &c. +I marvel not at the strength and vigour of these French belles. In +appetite, they would cope with an English ploughman, who had just +turned up an acre of wholesome land on an empty stomach. + +Now, though a _thé_ may be considered as a substitute for a supper, +it cannot, in point of agreeableness, be compared to a _petit +souper_. If a man must sup, and I am no advocate for regular suppers, +these were the suppers to my fancy. A select number of persons, well +assorted, assembled at ten o'clock, after the opera was concluded, +and spent a couple of hours in a rational manner. Sometimes a _petit +souper_ consisted of a simple _tête-à-tête_, sometimes of a _partie +quarrée_, or the number was varied at pleasure. But still, in a +_petit souper_, not only much gaiety commonly prevailed, but also a +certain _épanchement de coeur_, which animated the conversation to +such a degree as to render a party of this description the _acme_ of +social intercourse, "the feast of reason and the flow of soul." + +Under the old _régime_, not a man was there in office, from the +_ministre d'état_ to the _commis_, who did not think of making +himself amends for the fatigues of the morning by a _petit souper_: +these _petits soupers_, however, were, in latter times, carried to an +excessive pitch of luxurious extravagance. But for refinements +attempted in luxury, though, I confess, of a somewhat dissolute +nature, our countryman eclipsed all the French _bons vivans_ in +originality of conception. + +Being in possession of an ample fortune, and willing to enjoy it +according to his fancy, he purchased in Paris a magnificent house, +but constructed on a small scale, where every thing that the most +refined luxury could suggest was assembled. The following is the +account given by one of his friends, who had been an eye-witness to +his manner of living. + +"Mr. B---- had made it a rule to gratify his five senses to the +highest degree of enjoyment of which they were susceptible. An +exquisite table, perfumed apartments, the charms of music and +painting; in a word, every thing most enchanting that nature, +assisted by art, could produce, successively flattered his sight, his +taste, his smell, his hearing, and his feeling. + +"In a superb saloon, whither he conducted me," says this gentleman, +"were six young beauties, dressed in an extraordinary manner, whose +persons, at first sight, did not appear unknown to me: it struck me +that I had seen their faces more than once, and I was accordingly +going to address them, when Mr. B----, smiling at my mistake, +explained to me the cause of it." "I have, in my amours," said he, "a +particular fancy. The choicest beauty of Circassia would have ho +merit in my eyes, did she not resemble the portrait of some woman, +celebrated in past ages: and while lovers set great value on a +miniature which faithfully exhibits the features of their mistress, I +esteem mine only in proportion to their resemblance to ancient +portraits. + +"Conformably to this idea," continued Mr. B----, "I have caused the +intendant of my pleasures to travel all over Europe, with select +portraits, or engravings, copied from the originals. He has succeeded +in his researches, as you see, since you have conceived that you +recognized these ladies on whom you have never before set your eyes; +but whose likenesses you may, undoubtedly, have met with. Their dress +must have contributed to your mistake: they all wear the attire of +the personage they represent; for I wish their whole person to be +picturesque. By these means, I have travelled back several centuries, +and am in possession of beauties whom time had placed at a great +distance." + +"Supper was served up. Mr. B---- seated himself between Mary, queen +of Scots, and Anne Bullein. I placed myself opposite to him," +concludes the gentleman, "having beside me Ninon de l'Enclos, and +Gabrielle d'Estrées. We also had the company of the fair Rosamond and +Nell Gwynn; but at the head of the table was a vacant elbow-chair, +surmounted by a canopy, and destined for Cleopatra, who was coming +from Egypt, and of whose arrival Mr. B---- was in hourly +expectation." + + + +LETTER XXI. + +_Paris, November 21, 1801._ + +Often as we have heard of the extraordinary number of places of +public entertainment in Paris, few, if any, persons in England have +an idea of its being so considerable as it is, even at the present +moment. But, in 1799, at the very time when we were told over and +over again in Parliament, that France was unable to raise the +necessary supplies for carrying on the war, and would, as a matter of +course, be compelled not only to relinquish her further projects of +aggrandisement, but to return to her ancient territorial limits; at +that critical period, there existed in Paris, and its environs, no +less than seventy + +PUBLIC PLACES OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS. + +Under the old _régime_, nothing like this number was ever known. Such +an almost incredible variety of amusements is really a phenomenon, in +the midst of a war, unexampled in its consumption of blood and +treasure, It proves that, whatever may have been the public distress, +there was at least a great _show_ of private opulence. Indeed I have +been informed that, at the period alluded to, a spirit of +indifference, prodigality, and dissipation, seemed to pervade every +class of society. Whether placed at the bottom or the top of +Fortune's wheel, a thirst of gain and want of economy were alike +conspicuous among all ranks of people. Those who strained every nerve +to obtain riches, squandered them with equal profusion. + +No human beings on earth can be more fond of diversion than the +Parisians. Like the Romans of old, they are content if they have but +_panem et circenses_, which a Frenchman would render by _spectacles +et de quoi manger_. However divided its inhabitants may be on +political subjects, on the score of amusement at least the Republic +is one and indivisible. In times of the greatest scarcity, many a +person went dinnerless to the theatre, eating whatever scrap he could +procure, and consoling himself by the idea of being amused for the +evening, and at the same time saving at home the expense of fire and +candle. + +The following list of public places, which I have transcribed for +your satisfaction, was communicated to me by a person of veracity; +and, as far as it goes, its correctness has been confirmed by my own +observation. Although it falls short of the number existing here two +years ago, it will enable you to judge of the ardour still prevalent +among the Parisians, for "running at the ring of pleasure." Few of +these places are shut up, except for the winter; and new ones succeed +almost daily to those which are finally closed. However, for the sake +of perspicuity, I shall annex the letter S to such as are intended +chiefly for summer amusement. + +1. _Théâtre des Arts, Rue de la Loi_. + +2. _------- Français, Rue de la Loi._ + +3. _------- Feydeau, Rue Feydeau._ + +4. _------- Louvois, Rue de Louvois._ + +5. _------- Favart,_ now _Opéra Buffa._ + +6. _------- de la Porte St. Martin._ + +7. _------- de la Société Olympique_ (late _Opéra Buffa.)_ + +8. _------- du Vaudeville, Rue de Chartres._ + +9. _------- Montansier, Palais du Tribunat._ + +10. _------- de l'Ambigu Comique, Boulevard du Temple._ + +11. _------- de la Gaiété, Boulevard du Temple._ + +12. _------- des Jeunes Artistes, Boulevard St. Martin._ + +13. _------- des Jeunes Elèves, Rue de Thionville._ + +14. _------- des Délassemens Comiques, Boulevard du Temple._ + +15. _------- sans Prétension, Boulevard du Temple._ + +16. _------- du Marais, Rue Culture Ste. Catherine._ + +17. _------- de la Cité, vis-à-vis le Palais de Justice._ + +18. _------- des Victoires, Rue du Bacq._ + +19. _------- de Molière, Rue St. Martin._ + +20. _------- de l'Estrapade._ + +21. _------- de Mareux, Rue St. Antoine._ + +22. _------- des Aveugles, Rue St. Denis._ + +23. _------- de la Rue St. Jean de Beauvais._ + +24. _Bal masqué de l'Opéra, Rue de la Loi._ + +25. _---------- de l'Opéra Buffa, Rue de la Victoire._ + +26. _Bal du Sallon des Étrangers, Rue Grange Batelière._ + +27. _--- de l'Hôtel de Salm, Rue de Lille, Faubourg St. Germain._ + +28. _--- de la Rue Michaudière._ + +29. _Soirées amusantes de l'Hôtel Longueville, Place du Carrousel._ + +30. _Veillées de la Cité, vis-à-vis le Palais de Justice._ + +31. _Phantasmagorie de Robertson, Cour des Capucines._ + +32. _Concert de Feydeau._ + +33. _Ranelagh au bois de Boulogne._ + +34. _Tivoli, Rue de Clichy_, S. + +35. _Frascati, Rue de la Loi_, S. + +36. _Idalie_, S. + +37. _Hameau de Chantilly, aux Champs Élysées._ + +38. _Paphos, Boulevard du Temple._ + +39. _Vauxhall d'hiver._ + +40. _-------- d'été_, S. + +41. _-------- à Mousseaux_, S. + +42. _-------- à St. Cloud_, S. + +43. _-------- au Petit Trianon_, S. + +44. _Jardin de l'hôtel Biron, Rue de Varenne_, S. + +45. _------ Thélusson, Chaussée d'Antin_, S. + +40. _------ Marboeuf, Grille de Chaillot_, S. + +47. _------ de l'hôtel d'Orsay_, S. + +48. _Fêtes champêtres de Bagatelle_, S. + +49. _La Muette, à l'entrée du Bois de Boulogne_, S. + +50. _Colisée, au Parc des Sablons_, S. + +51. _Amphithéâtre d'équitation de Franconi, aux Capucines._ + +52. _Panorama, même lieu._ + +53. _Exhibition de Curtius, Boulevard du Temple._ + +54. _Expériences Physiques, au Palais du Tribunat._ + +55. _La Chaumière, aux Nouveaux Boulevards._ + +56. _Cabinet de démonstration de Physiologie et de Pathologie, au +Palais du Tribunat, No. 38, au premier._ + +Although, previously to the revolution, the taste for dramatic +amusements had imperceptibly spread, Paris could then boast of no +more than three principal theatres, exclusively of _l'Opéra Buffa_ +introduced in 1788. These were _l'Opéra les Français_, and _les +Italiens_, which, with six inferior ones, called _petits spectacles_, +brought the whole of the theatres to ten in number. The subaltern +houses were incessantly checked in their career by the privileges +granted to the _Comédie Française_, which company alone enjoyed the +right to play first-rate productions: it also possessed that of +censorship, and sometimes exercised it in the most despotic manner. +Authors, ever in dispute with the comedians, who dictated the law to +them, solicited, but in vain, the opening of a second French theatre. +The revolution took place, and the unlimited number of theatres was +presently decreed. A great many new ones were opened; but the +attraction of novelty dispersing the amateurs, the number of +spectators did not always equal the expectation of the managers; and +the profits, divided among so many competitors, ceased to be +sufficiently productive for the support of every establishment of +this description. The consequence was, that several of them were soon +reduced to a state of bankruptcy. + +Three theatres of the first and second rank have been destroyed by +fire within these two years, yet upwards of twenty are at present +open, almost every night, exclusively of several associations of +self-denominated _artistes-amateurs._ + +Amidst this false glare of dramatic wealth, theatres of the first +rank have imperceptibly declined, and at last fallen. It comes not +within my province or intention to seek the causes of this in the +defects of their management; but the fact is notorious. The _Théâtres +Favart_ and _Feydeau_, at each of which French comic operas were +chiefly represented, have at length been obliged to unite the +strength of their talents, and the disgrace which they have +experienced, has not affected any of those inferior playhouses where +subaltern performers establish their success on an assemblage of +scenes more coarse, and language more unpolished. + +At the present moment, the government appear to have taken this +decline of the principal theatres into serious consideration. It is, +I understand, alike to be apprehended, that they may concern +themselves too little or too much in their welfare. Hitherto the +persons charged with the difficult task of upholding the falling +theatres of the first rank, have had the good sense to confine their +measures to conciliation; but, of late, it has been rumoured that the +stage is to be subjected to its former restrictions. The benefit +resulting to the art itself and to the public, from a rivalship of +theatres, is once more called in question: and some people even go so +far as to assert that, with the exception of a few abuses, the +direction of the _Gentils-hommes de la chambre_ was extremely good: +thence it should seem that the only difficulty is to find these lords +of the bed-chamber, if there be any still in being, in order to +restore to them their dramatic sceptre.[1] + +Doubtless, the liberty introduced by the revolution has been, in many +respects, abused, and in too many, perhaps, relative to places of +public amusement. But must it, on that account, be entirely lost to +the stage, and falling into a contrary excess, must recourse be had +to arbitrary measures, which might also be abused by those to whose +execution they were intrusted? The unlimited number of theatres may +be a proper subject for the interference of the government: but as to +the liberty of the theatres, included in the number that may be fixed +on to represent pieces of every description, such only excepted as +may be hurtful to morals, seems to be a salutary and incontestable +principle. This it is that, by disengaging the French comic opera +from the narrow sphere to which it was confined, has, in a great +measure, effected a musical revolution, at which all persons of taste +must rejoice, by introducing on that stage the harmonic riches of + +Italy. This too it is that has produced, on theatres of the second +and third rank, pieces which are neither deficient in regularity, +connexion, representation, nor decoration. The effect of such a +principle was long wanted here before the revolution, when the +independent spirit of dramatic authors was fettered by the +procrastinations of a set of privileged comedians, who discouraged +them by ungracious refusals, or disgusted them by unjust preferences. +Hence, the old adage in France that, when an author had composed a +good piece, he had performed but half his task; this was true, as the +more difficult half, namely, the getting it read and represented, +still remained to be accomplished. + +As for the multiplicity of playhouses, it certainly belongs to the +government to limit their number, not by privileges which might be +granted through favour, or obtained, perhaps, for money. The taste of +the public for theatrical diversions being known, the population +should first be considered, as it is that which furnishes both money +and spectators. It would be easy to ascertain the proportion between +the population of the capital and the number of theatres which it +ought to comprise. Public places should be free as to the species of +amusement, but limited in their number, so as not to exceed the +proportion which the population can bear. The houses would then be +constantly well attended, and the proprietors, actors, authors, and +all those concerned in their success, secure against the consequences +of failure, and the true interest of the art be likewise promoted. In +a word, neither absolute independence, nor exclusive privilege should +prevail; but a middle course be adopted, in order to fix the fate of +those great scenic establishments, which, by forming so essential a +part of public diversion, have a proportionate influence on the +morals of the nation. + +I have been led, by degrees, into these observations, not only from a +review of the decline of some of the principal playhouses here, but +also from a conviction that their general principle is applicable to +every other capital in Europe. What, for example, can be more absurd +than, in the dog-days, when room and air are particularly requisite, +that the lovers of dramatic amusement in the British metropolis are +to be crammed into a little theatre in the Haymarket, and stewed year +after year, as in a sweating-room at a bagnio, because half a century +ago an exclusive privilege was inconsiderately granted? + +The playhouses here, in general, have been well attended this winter, +particularly the principal ones; but, in Paris, every rank has not +exactly its theatre as at a ball. From the _spectacles_ on the +_Boulevards_ to those of the first and second rank, there is a +mixture of company. Formerly, the lower classes confined themselves +solely to the former; at present, they visit the latter. An increase +of wages has enabled the workman to gratify his inclination for the +indulgence of a species of luxury; and, by a sort of instinct, he now +and then takes a peep at those scenes of which he before entertained, +from hearsay, but an imperfect idea. + +If you wish to see a new or favourite piece, you must not neglect to +secure a seat in proper time; for, on such occasions, the house is +full long before the rising of the curtain. As to taking places in +the manner we do in England, there is no such arrangement to be made, +except, indeed, you choose to take a whole box, which is expensive. +In that case you pay for it at the time you engage it, and it is kept +locked the whole evening, or till you and your party, make your +appearance.[2] + +At all the _spectacles_ in Paris, you are literally kept on the +outside of the house till you have received a ticket, in exchange for +your money, through an aperture in the exterior wall. Within a few +paces of the door of the principal theatres are two receiver's +offices, which are no sooner open, than candidates for admission +begin to form long ranks, extending from the portico into the very +street, and advance to them two abreast in regular succession. A +steady sentinel, posted at the aperture, repeats your wishes to the +receiver, and in a mild, conciliating manner, facilitates their +accomplishment. Other sentinels are stationed for the preservation of +order, under the immediate eye of the officer, who sees that every +one takes his turn to obtain tickets: however, it is not uncommon, +for forestallers to procure a certain number of them, especially at +the representation of a new or favourite piece, and offer them +privately at a usurious price which many persons are glad to pay +rather than fall into the rear of the ranks. + +The method I always take to avoid this unpleasant necessity, I will +recommend to you as a very simple one, which may, perhaps, prevent +you from many a theatrical disappointment. Having previously informed +myself what _spectacle_ is best worth seeing, while I am at dinner I +send my _valet de place_, or if I cannot conveniently spare him, I +desire him to dispatch a _commissionnaire_ for the number of tickets +wanted, so that when I arrive at the theatre, I have only to walk in, +and place myself to the best advantage. + +It is very wisely imagined not to establish the receiver's offices in +the inside of the house, as in our theatres. By this plan, however +great may be the crowd, the entrance is always unobstructed, and +those violent struggles and pressures, which among us have cost the +lives of many, are effectually prevented. You will observe that no +half-price is taken at any theatre in Paris; but in different parts +of the house, there are offices, called _bureaux de supplément_, +where, if you want to pass from one part of it to another, you +exchange your counter-mark on paying the difference. + +Nothing can be better regulated than the present police, both +interior and exterior, of the theatres in Paris. The eye is not +shocked, as was formerly the case, by the presence of black-whiskered +grenadiers, occupying different parts of the house, and, by the +inflexible sternness of their countenance, awing the spectators into +a suppression of their feelings. No fusileer, with a fixed bayonet +and piece loaded with ball, now dictates to the auditors of the pit +that such a seat must hold so many persons, though several among them +might, probably, be as broad-bottomed as Dutchmen. If you find +yourself incommoded by heat or pressure, you are at liberty to +declare it without fear of giving offence. The criticism of a man of +taste is no longer silenced by the arbitrary control of a military +despot, who, for an exclamation or gesture, not exactly coinciding +with his own prepossessions, pointed him out to his myrmidons, and +transferred him at once to prison. You may now laugh with Molèire, or +weep with Racine, without having your mirth or sensibility thus +unseasonably checked in its expansion. + +The existence of this despotism has been denied; but facts are +stubborn things, and I will relate to you an instance in which I saw +it most wantonly exercised. Some years ago I was present at the +_Théâtre Français_, when, in one of Corneille's pieces, Mademoiselle +Raucourt, the tragic actress, was particularly negligent in the +delivery of a passage, which, to do justice to the author, required +the nicest discrimination. An amateur in the _parterre_ reproved her, +in a very gentle manner, for a wrong emphasis. Being at this time a +favourite of the queen, she was, it seems, superior to admonition, +and persisted in her misplaced shrieks, till it became evident that +she set the audience at defiance: other persons then joined the +former in expressing their disapprobation. Instantly the _major_ +singled out the leading critic: two grenadiers forced their way to +the place where he was seated, and conveyed him to prison for having +had the audacity to reprove an actress in favour at court. From such +improper exercise of authority, the following verse had become a +proverb: + + _"II est bien des sifflets, mais nous avons la garde."_ + +Many there are, I know, who approved of this manner of bridling the +fickle Parisians, on the ground that they were so used to the curb +that they could no longer dispense with it. A guard on the outside of +a theatre is unquestionably necessary, and proper for the +preservation of order; but that the public should not be at liberty +to approve or condemn such a passage, or such an actor, is at once to +stifle the expression of that general opinion which alone can produce +good performers. The interior police of the theatre being at present +almost entirely in the hands of the public themselves, it is, on that +account, more justly observed and duly respected. + +Considering the natural impetuosity of their character, one is +surprised at the patient tranquillity with which the French range +themselves in their places. Seldom do they interrupt the performance +by loud conversation, but exchange their thoughts in a whisper. When +one sees them applaud with rapture a tender scene, which breathes +sentiments of humanity or compassion, speaks home to every feeling +heart, and inspires the most agreeable sensations, one is tempted to +question whether the Parisians of the present day belong to the +identical race that could, at one time, display the ferocity of +tigers, and, at another, the tameness of lambs, while their nearest +relations and best friends were daily bleeding on the scaffold? + +By the existing regulations, many of which are worthy of being +adopted in London, no theatre can be opened in Paris without the +permission of the police, who depute proper persons to ascertain that +the house is solidly built, the passages and outlets unincumbered and +commodious, and that it is provided with reservoirs of water, and an +adequate number of fire-engines. + +Every public place that may be open, is to be shut up immediately, +if, for one single day, the proprietors neglect to keep the +reservoirs full of water, the engines in proper order, and the +firemen ready. + +No persons can be admitted behind the scenes, except those employed +in the service of the theatre. Nor is the number of tickets +distributed to exceed that of the persons the house can conveniently +hold. + +No coachman, under any pretext whatever, can quit the reins of his +horses, while the persons he has driven, are getting out of or into +their carriage. Indeed, the necessity of his doing so is obviated by +porters stationed at the door of the theatres, and appointed by the +police. They are distinguished by a brass plate, on which their +permission and the name of the theatre are engraved. + +At all the theatres in Paris, there is an exterior guard, which is at +the disposal of the _civil_ officer, stationed there for the +preservation of order. This guard cannot enter the inside of the +theatre but in case of the safety of the public being exposed, and at +the express requisition of the said officer, who can never introduce +the armed force into the house, till after he has, in a loud voice, +apprized the audience of his intention. + +Every citizen is bound to obey, _provisionally_, the officer of +police. In consequence, every person invited by the officer of +police, or summoned by him, to quit the house, is immediately to +repair to the police-office of the theatre, in order to give such +explanations as may be required of him. The said officer may either +transfer him to the competent tribunal, or set him at liberty, +according to circumstances. + +Proper places are appointed for carriages to wait at. When the play +is ended, no carriage in waiting can move till the first crowd coming +out of the house has disappeared. The commanding officer of the guard +on duty decides the moment when carriages may be called. + +No carriage can move quicker than a foot-pace, and but on a single +rank, till it has got clear of the streets in the vicinity of the +theatre. Nor can it arrive thither but by the streets appointed for +that purpose. + +Two hours before the rising of the curtain, sentinels are placed in +sufficient number to facilitate the execution of these orders, and to +prevent any obstruction in the different avenues of the theatre. + +Indeed, obstruction is now seldom seen; I have more than once had the +curiosity to count, and cause to be counted, all the _private_ +carriages in waiting at the grand French opera, on a night when the +boxes were filled with the most fashionable company. Neither I nor my +_valet de place_ could ever reckon more than from forty to fifty; +whereas, formerly, it was not uncommon to see here between two and +three hundred; and the noise of so many equipages rattling through +the streets, from each of the principal theatres, sufficiently +indicated that the performance was ended. + +By the number of advertisements in the _petites affiches_ or daily +advertiser of Paris, offering a reward for articles lost, no doubt +can exist of there being a vast number of pickpockets in this gay +capital; and a stranger must naturally draw such an inference from +observing where the pockets are placed in men's clothes: in the coat, +it is in the inside of the facing, parallel to the breast: in the +waistcoat, it is also in the inside, but lower down, so that when a +Frenchman wants to take out his money, he must go through the +ceremony of unbuttoning first his surtout, if he wears one in winter, +then his coat, and lastly his waistcoat. In this respect, the ladies +have the advantage; for, as I have already mentioned, they wear no +pockets. + +[Footnote 1: During the old _régime_, the theatres were under the +control of the _Gentils-hommes de la chambre_, but at the +establishment of the directorial government, they were placed in the +power of the Minister of the Interior, in whose department they have +since continued. Of late, however, it is asserted, that they are each +to be under the direction of a Prefect of the Palace.] + +[Footnote 2: Independently of the boxes reserved for the officers of +the staff of the city of Paris, and those at the head of the police, +who have individually free admission to all the _spectacles_ on +producing their ivory ticket, there is also a box at each theatre +appropriated to the Minister of Public Instruction.] + + + +LETTER XXII. + +_Paris, November 23, 1801._ + +Yesterday being the day appointed for the opening of the session of +the Legislative Body, I was invited by a member to accompany him +thither, in order to witness their proceedings. No one can be +admitted without a ticket; and by the last constitution it is +decreed, that not more than two hundred strangers are to be present +at the sittings. The gallery allotted for the accommodation of the +public, is small, even in proportion to that number, and, in general, +extremely crowded. My friend, aware of this circumstance, did me the +favour to introduce me into the body of the hall, where I was seated +very conveniently, both for seeing and hearing, near the _tribune_, +to the left of the President. + +This hall was built for the Council of Five Hundred, on the site of +the grand apartments of the _Palais Bourbon_. Since the accession of +the consular government, it has been appropriated to the sittings of +the Legislative Body, on which account the palace has taken their +name, and over the principal entrance is inscribed, in embossed +characters of gilt bronze: + +PALAIS DU CORPS LÉGISLATIF. + +The palace stands on the south bank of the Seine, facing the _Pont de +la Concorde_. It was begun, in 1722, for Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, +a legitimated daughter of Lewis XIV. GIRARDINI, an Italian architect, +planned the original building, the construction of which was +afterwards superintended by LASSURANCE and GABRIEL. The Prince de +Condé having acquired it by purchase, he caused it to be considerably +augmented and embellished, at different times, under the direction of +BARRAU, CARPENTIER and BÉLISARD. + +Had the _Pont de la Concorde_ subsisted previously to the erection of +the _Palais Bourbon_, the principal entrance would, probably, have +been placed towards the river; but it faces the north, and is +preceded by a paltry square, now called _Place du Corps Législatif_. + +In the centre of a peristyle, of the Corinthian order, is the grand +gateway, crowned by a sort of triumphal arch, which is connected, by +a double colonnade, to two handsome pavilions. The lateral buildings +of the outer court, which is two hundred and eighty feet in length, +are decorated with the same order, and a second court of two hundred +and forty feet, includes part of the original palace, which is +constructed in the Italian style. + +The principal entrances to the right and left lead to two halls; the +one dedicated to _Peace_; the other, to _Victory_. On the one side, +is a communication to the apartments of the old palace; on the other, +are two spacious rooms. The room to the left, inscribed to _Liberty_, +is intended for petitioners, &c.; that to the right, inscribed to +_Equality_, is appropriated to conferences. Between the halls of +Liberty and Equality, is the hall of the sittings of the Legislative +Body. + +The form of this hall is semicircular; the benches, rising gradually +one above the other, as in a Roman amphitheatre, are provided with +backs, and well adapted both for ease and convenience. They are +intersected by passages, which afford to the members the facility of +reaching or quitting their places, without disturbance or confusion. +Every seat is distinguished by a number, so that a deputy can never +be at a loss to find his place. In the centre, is an elevated +rostrum, with a seat for the President, directly under which is the +_tribune_, also elevated, for the orator addressing the assembly. The +tribune is decorated by a bas-relief, in white marble, representing +France writing her constitution, and Fame proclaiming it. The table +for the four secretaries is placed facing the tribune, beneath which +the _huissiers_ take their station. The desk and seat of the +President, formed of solid mahogany, are ornamented with _or moulu_. +The folding doors, which open into the hall, to the right and left of +the President's chair, are also of solid mahogany, embellished in the +same manner. Their frames are of white marble, richly sculptured. +Independently of these doors, there are others, serving as a +communication to the upper-seats, by means of two elegant stone +stair-cases. + +In six niches, three on each side of the tribune, are so many statues +of Greek and Roman legislators. On the right, are Lycurgus, Solon, +and Demosthenes: on the left, Brutus, Cato, and Cicero. The inside of +the hall is in stucco, and the upper part is decorated by a colonnade +of the Ionic order. The light proceeds from a cupola, glazed in the +centre, and the remainder of which is divided into small +compartments, each ornamented by an emblematical figure. The floor is +paved with marble, also in compartments, embellished with allegorical +attributes. + +Having made you acquainted with the hall of the sittings, I think it +may not be uninteresting to give you an account of the forms observed +in opening the session. + +When I arrived, with my friend, at the Palace of the Legislative +Body, most of the members were already assembled in the apartments of +their library. At noon, they thence repaired to the hall, preceded by +the _huissiers_, messengers of state, and secretaries. + +The opening of the session was announced by the report of artillery. + +The oldest member, in point of years, took the President's chair, +provisionally. + +The four youngest members of the assembly were called to the table to +discharge the office of secretaries, also provisionally. + +The provisional President then declared, that the members of the +Legislative Body were assembled by virtue of Article XXXIII of the +constitution, for the session of the year X; that, being +provisionally organized, the sitting was opened; and that their names +were going to be called over, for the purpose of ascertaining the +number of members present, and for forming definitive arrangements, +by the nomination of a president and four secretaries. + +The names were then called over alphabetically, and, after they were +all gone through, they were recalled. + +This ceremony being terminated, four committees, each composed of +four members, whose names were drawn by lot by the President, +proceeded, in presence of the assembly, to scrutinize the ballot. + +It thence resulted, that the number of members present was two +hundred and twenty-eight; + +That Citizen DUPUIS was elected President by a majority of votes; + +That Citizens DUBOSC, BORD, ESTAQUE, and CLAVIER were individually +elected, by a similar majority, to officiate as secretaries. + +In consequence. Citizen DUPUIS was proclaimed President, and took the +chair. He then moved the following resolution, which was agreed to: + +"The Legislative Body declares, that it is definitely constituted, +and decrees that the present declaration shall be carried to the +Conservative Senate, to the Tribunate, and to the Consuls of the +Republic, by a messenger of State." + +The President next addressed the assembly in these words: + +"Citizens Legislators, + +"After twelve years of a painful and glorious struggle against all +Europe, in order to insure the triumph of the liberty of man and that +of nations, the moment is at length arrived when Peace is on the +point of crowning the efforts of the French people, and securing the +Republic on a foundation never to be shaken. For this peace, which +will unite by the bonds of friendship two great nations, already +connected by esteem, we are indebted to the valour and wisdom of the +heroic pacificator, to the wise administration of the government, to +the bravery of our invincible armies, to the good understanding +subsisting between all the constituted authorities, and, above all, +to that spirit of moderation which has known how to fix limits to +victory itself. The name of peace, so dear to the friend of human +nature, ought to impose silence on all malignant passions, cordially +unite all the children of the same country, and be the signal of +happiness to the present generation, as well as to our posterity. + +"How gratifying is it to us, Citizens Legislators, after having +passed through the storms of a long revolution, to have at length +brought safely into port the sacred bark of the Republic, and to +begin this session by the proclamation of peace to the world, as +those who preceded us opened theirs by the proclamation of the Rights +of Man and that of the Republic! To crown this great work, nothing +more remains for us but to make those laws so long expected, which +are to complete social organization, and regulate the interests of +citizens. This code, already prepared by men of consummate prudence, +will, I hope, be soon submitted to your examination and sanction; and +the present session will be the most glorious epoch of our Republic: +for there is nothing more glorious to man than to insure the +happiness of his fellow-creatures, and scatter beforehand the first +seeds of the liberty of the world." + +"_L'impression! L'impression!_" was the cry that instantly proceeded +from bench to bench on the close of this speech, which was delivered +in a manner that did honour to the President's feelings. But, though +you have it, as it were, at second-hand, and cannot be struck by +Citizen DUPUIS' manner, I hope you will deem the matter sufficiently +interesting to justify its insertion in this letter. + +Three orators, deputed by the government, were next announced, and +introduced in form. They were habited in their dress of Counsellors +of State, that is, a scarlet coat, richly embroidered in shaded silks +of the same colour, over which they wore a tricoloured silk sash. + +One of them, having ascended the tribune, and obtained leave to +speak, read an extract from the registers of the Council of State, +dated the 24th of Brumaire, purporting that the First Consul had +nominated the Counsellors of State, REGNIER, BÉRENGER, and DUMAS to +repair to the present sitting. Citizen REGNIER then addressed the +assembly in the name of the government. He read his speech from a +paper which he held in his hand. It began by announcing the signature +of the preliminaries of peace with England, and informed the +Legislative Body that measures had been taken by the government for +regulating the various branches of the interior administration and of +its intention to submit to them the civil code. It was replete with +language of a conciliating nature, and concluded with a wish that the +most unalterable harmony might subsist between the first authorities +of the State, and strengthen in the mind of the people the confidence +which they already testified. + +From the tenour of this speech, I think it may be inferred that the +government is apprehensive of a difference of opinion respecting the +civil code; not so much in this place, for, by the constitution, the +lips of the deputies are sealed, but in the Tribunate, where a warm +discussion may be expected. + +The President made a short and apt reply to the orators of the +government, who then retired with the same ceremony with which they +had entered. Both these speeches were ordered to be printed. + +The Conservative Senate addressed to the Legislative Body, by a +message read by the President, the different acts emanated from its +authority since the last session. Ordered to be inserted in the +Journals. A few letters were also read by the President from +different members, excusing themselves for non-attendance on account +of indisposition. Several authors having addressed a copy of their +works to the Legislative Body, these presents were accepted, and +ordered to be placed in their library. + +The administrative commission of the Legislative Body announced that +the ambassador of the Cisalpine Republic had sent a present of three +hundred medals, struck on occasion of the peace and of the _forum +Bonaparte_, which medals were distributed to the members. + +The assembly the broke up, the next sitting being appointed for the +following day at noon. + +Lord Cornwallis and suite sat in the box allotted to Foreign +Ministers, facing the President, as did the Marquis de Lucchesini, +the Prussian ambassador, and some others. A small box is likewise +appropriated to reporters, who take down the proceedings. The members +were all habited in their appointed dress, which consists of a dark +blue coat embroidered with gold, blue pantaloons and white waistcoat, +also embroidered, a tricoloured silk sash, worn above the coat, and +ornamented with a rich gold fringe. They wore a plain cocked hat, +with the national cockade, and short boots. This meeting of +legislators, all in the same dress, undoubtedly presents a more +imposing spectacle than such a variegated assemblage as is sometimes +to be seen in our House of Commons. + +By the present constitution, you will see that no new law can be +promulgated, unless decreed by the Legislative Body. + +The votes in this assembly being taken by ballot, and the laws being +enacted without any discussion, on the part of its members, on the +plans debated before it by the orators of the Tribunate and of the +government, it necessarily follows that the sittings present far less +interest to strangers, than would result from an animated delivery of +the opinion of a few leading orators. + +Before I take leave of this palace, I must introduce you into the +suite of rooms formerly distinguished by the appellation of _petits +appartemens du Palais Bourbon_, and which, before the revolution, +constituted one of the curiosities of Paris. + +In the distribution of these, BÉLISARD assembled all the charms of +modern elegance. The vestibule, coloured in French gray, contains, in +the intervals between the doors, figures of Bacchantes, and, in the +ceiling, wreaths of roses and other ornaments painted in imitation of +relief. The eating-room, which comes next, is decorated so as to +represent a verdant bower, the paintings are under mirrors, and +tin-plate, cut out in the Chinese manner, seems to shew light +through the foliage. In two niches, made in the arbour-work, in the +form of porticoes, which Cupids are crowning with garlands, are +placed two statues from the antique, the one representing Venus +_pudica_, and the other, Venus _callypyga_, or _aux belles fesses_: +mirrors, placed in the niches, reflect beauties which the eye could +not discover. + +The drawing room, another enchanting place, is of a circular form, +surrounded with Ionic pillars. In the intercolumniations, are arches +lined with mirrors, and ornamented with the most tasteful hangings. +Under each arch is a sopha. The ceiling represents caryatides +supporting a circular gallery, between which are different subjects, +such as the Toilet of Venus, the Departure of Adonis, &c. Every thing +here is gallant and rich; but mark the secret wonder. You pull a +string; the ceiling rises like a cloud, and exhibits to view an +extensive sky, with which it becomes confounded. The music of an +invisible orchestra, placed above the ceiling, used to be heard +through the opening, and produced a charming effect, when +entertainments were given in these apartments. + +This is not all. You pull another string; and, by means of concealed +machinery, the aperture of the three casements suddenly becomes +occupied by pannels of mirrors, so that you may here instantly turn +day into night. The bed-chamber, the _boudoir_, the study, &c., are +all decorated in a style equally elegant and tasteful. + + + +LETTER XXIII. + +_Paris, November 25, 1801._ + +Of all the public edifices in this capital, I know of none whose +interior astonishes so much, at first sight, and so justly claims +admiration, especially from those who have a knowledge of +architecture or mechanics, as the + +HALLE AU BLÉ. + +This building is destined for the reception of corn and flour: it was +begun in 1762, on the site of the ancient _Hôtel de Soissons_, which +was purchased by the city of Paris. In the space of three years, the +hall and the circumjacent houses were finished, under the direction +of the architect, CAMUS DE MEZIÈRE. + +The circular form of this hall, the solidity of its construction, its +insulated position, together with the noble simplicity of its +decoration, perfectly accord with the intention and character of the +object proposed. Twenty-five arches, all of equal size, serve each as +an entrance. On the ground-floor are pillars of the Tuscan order, +supporting vast granaries, the communication to which is by two +stair-cases of well-executed design. + +The court is covered by a cupola of one hundred and twenty feet in +diameter, forming a perfect semicircle, whose centre, taken on a +level with the cornice, is forty-four feet from the ground. The dome +of the Pantheon at Rome, which is the largest known, exceeds that of +the _Halle au Blé_ by thirteen feet only. This cupola is entirely +composed of deal boards, a foot in breadth, an inch in thickness, and +about four feet in length. It is divided into twenty-five lateral +openings, which give as many rays of light diverging from the +centre-opening, whose diameter is twenty-four feet. These openings +are all glazed, and the wood-work of the dome is covered with sheets +of tinned copper. + +PHILIBERT DE L'ORME, architect to Henry II, was the original author +of this new method of covering domes, though he never carried it into +execution. As a homage for the discovery, MOLINOS and LEGRAND, the +architects of the cupola, have there placed a medallion with his +portrait. It is said that this experiment was deemed so hazardous, +that the builder could find no person bold enough to strike away the +shores, and was under the necessity of performing that task in +person. To him it was not a fearful one; but the workmen, +unacquainted with the principles of this manner of roofing buildings, +were astonished at the stability of the dome, when the shores were +removed. + +No place in Paris could well be more convenient for giving a banquet +than the _Halle au Blé_; twelve or fourteen hundred persons might +here be accommodated at table; and little expense would be required +for decoration, as nothing can be more elegant than the cupola +itself. + +Several periodical publications give a statement, more or less exact, +of the quantity of flour lodged in this spacious repository, which is +filled and emptied regularly every four or five days. But these +statements present not the real consumption of Paris, since several +bakers draw their supply directly from the farmers of the environs; +and, besides, a great quantity of loaves are brought into the capital +from some villages, famous for making bread, whose inhabitants come +and retail them to the Parisians. + +The annual consumption of bread-corn in this capital has, on an +average, been computed at twenty-four millions of bushels. But it is +not the consumption only that it is useful to know: the most material +point to be ascertained, is the method of providing effectually for +it; so that, from a succession of unfavourable harvests, or any other +cause, the regular supplies may not experience even a momentary +interruption. When it is considered that Paris contains eight or nine +hundred thousand of the human race, it is evident that this branch of +administration requires all the vigilance of the government. + +Bread is now reckoned enormously dear, nineteen _sous_ for the loaf +of four pounds; but, during the winter of 1794, the Parisians felt +all the horrors of a real famine. Among other articles of the first +necessity, bread was then so scarce, that long ranks of people were +formed at the doors of the bakers' shops, each waiting in turn to +receive a scanty portion of two ounces. + +The consumption of flour here is considerably increased by the +immense number of dogs, cats, monkies, parrots, and other birds, kept +by persons of every class, and fed chiefly on bread and biscuit. + +No poor devil that has not in his miserable lodging a dog to keep him +company: not being able to find a friend among his own species, he +seeks one in the brute creation. A pauper of this description, who +shared his daily bread with his faithful companion, being urged to +part with an animal that cost him so much to maintain: "Part with +him!" rejoined he; "who then shall I get to love me?" + +Near the _Halle au Blé_, stands a large fluted pillar of the Doric +order, which formerly belonged to the _Hôtel de Soissons_, and served +as an observatory to Catherine de Medicis. In the inside, is a +winding stair-case, leading to the top, whither that diabolical woman +used frequently to ascend, accompanied by astrologers, and there +perform several mysterious ceremonies, in order to discover futurity +in the stars. She wore on her stomach a skin of parchment, strewn +with figures, letters, and characters of different colours; which +skin she was persuaded had the virtue of insuring her from any +attempt against her person. + +Much about that period, 1572, there were reckoned, in Paris alone, no +less than thirty thousand astrologers. At the present day, the +ambulating magicians frequent the _Old Boulevards_, and there tell +fortunes for three or four _sous_; while those persons that value +science according to the price set on it, disdaining these two-penny +conjurers, repair to fortune-tellers of a superior class, who take +from three to six francs, and more, when the opportunity offers. The +TROPHONIUS of Paris is Citizen Martin, who lives at N° 1773 _Rue +d'Anjou_: the PHEMONOË is Madame Villeneuve, _Rue de l'Antechrist_. + +Formerly, none but courtesans here drew the cards; now, almost every +female, without exception, has recourse to them. Many a fine lady +even conceives herself to be sufficiently mistress of the art to tell +her own fortune; and some think they are so skilled in reading +futurity in the cards, that they dare not venture to draw them for +themselves, for fear of discovering some untoward event. + +This rage of astrology and fortune-telling is a disease which +peculiarly affects weak intellects, ruled by ignorance, or afflicted +by adversity. In the future, such persons seek a mitigation of the +present; and the illusive enjoyments of the mind make them almost +forget the real sufferings of the body. According to Pope, + + "Hope springs eternal in the human breast, + Man never _is_, but always _to be_ blest." + +At the foot of the above pillar, the only one of the sort in Paris, +is erected a handsome fountain, which furnishes water from the Seine. +At two-thirds of its height is a dial of a singular kind, which marks +the precise hour at every period of the day, and in all seasons. It +is the invention of Father Pingré, who was a regular canon of St. +Geneviève, and member of the _ci-devant_ Academy of Sciences. + +While we are in this quarter, let us avail ourselves of the moment; +and, proceeding from the _Halle au Blé_ along the _Rue Oblin_, +examine the + +CHURCH OF SAINT EUSTACHE. + +This church, which is one of the most spacious in Paris, is situated +at the north extremity of the _Rue des Prouvaires_, facing the _Rue +du Jour_. It was begun in 1532, but not finished till the year 1642. + +Notwithstanding the richness of its architecture, it presents not an +appearance uniformly handsome, on account of the ill-combined mixture +of the Greek and Gothic styles: besides, the pillars are so numerous +in it, that it is necessary to be placed in the nave to view it to +the best advantage. + +The new portal of _St. Eustache_, which was constructed in 1754, is +formed of two orders, the Doric and the Ionic, the one above the +other. At each extremity of this portal, rise two insulated towers, +receding from all the projection of the inferior order, and decorated +by Corinthian columns with pilasters, on an attic serving as a socle. +These two towers were to have been crowned by a balustrade; one alone +has been finished. + +Several celebrated personages have been interred in this church. +Among them, I shall particularize one only; but that one will long +live in the memory of every convivial British seaman. Who has not +heard the lay which records the defeat of Tourville? Yes-- + + He who "on the main triumphant rode + To meet the gallant Russel in combat o'er the deep;" + Who "led his noble troops of heroes bold + To sink the English admiral and his fleet." + +Though considered by his countrymen, as one of the most eminent +seamen that France ever produced, and enjoying at the time of his +death the dignity of Marshal, together with that of Vice-admiral of +the kingdom, Tourville never had an epitaph. He died on the 28th of +May 1701, aged 59. + +Some of the monuments which existed here have been transferred to the +Museum in the _Rue des Petits Augustins_, where may be seen the +sarcophagus of Colbert, Minister to Lewis XIV, and the medallion of +Cureau de la Chambre, physician to that king, and also his +physiognomist, whom he is said to have constantly consulted in the +selection of his ministers. Among the papers of that physician there +still exists, in an unpublished correspondence with Lewis XIV, this +curious memorandum: "Should I die before his majesty, he would run a +great risk of making, in future, many a bad choice." + +It is impossible to enter one of these sanctuaries without reflecting +on the rapid progress of irreligion among a people who, six months +before, were, on their knees, adoring the effigies which, at that +period, they were eager to mutilate and destroy. Iron crows and +sledge-hammers were almost in a state of requisition. In the +beginning, it was a contest who should first aim a blow at the nose +of the Virgin Mary, or break the leg of her son. In one day, +contracts were entered into with masons for defacing images which for +centuries, had been partly concealed under the dusty webs of +generations of spiders. + +As for the statues within reach of swords and pikes, it was a +continual scene of amusement to the licentious to knock off the ear +of one angel, and scratch the face of another. Not an epitaph was +left to retrace the patriotic deeds of an upright statesman, or the +more brilliant exploits of a heroic warrior; not a memento, to record +conjugal affection, filial piety, or grateful friendship. The +iconoclasts proceeded not with the impetuous fury of fanatics, but +with the extravagant foolery of atheistical buffoons. + +All the gold and silver ornaments disappeared: a great part of them +were dissolved in the crucibles of the mint, after having been +presented as a homage to the Convention, some of whose members danced +the _carmagnole_ with those who presented them at their bar, loaded +on the back of mules and asses, bedecked with all the emblems of +catholic worship; while several of the rubies, emeralds, &c. which +had formerly decorated the glory, beaming round the head of a Christ, +were afterwards seen glittering on the finger of the revolutionary +committee-men. + +Chaumette, an attorney, was the man who proclaimed atheism, and his +example had many imitators. It seemed the wish of that impious being +to exile God himself from nature. He it was who imagined those +orgies, termed the festivals of reason. One of the most remarkable of +these festivals was celebrated in this very church of _St. Eustache_. + +Although Mademoiselle Maillard, the singing heroine of the French +opera, figured more than once as the goddess of reason, that divinity +was generally personified by some shameless female, who, if not a +notorious prostitute, was frequently little better. Her throne +occupied the place of the altar; her supporters were chiefly drunken +soldiers, smoking their pipe; and before her, were a set of +half-naked vagabonds, singing and dancing the _carmagnole_. + +"In this church," says an eye-witness, "the interior of the choir +represented a landscape, decorated with cottages and clumps of trees. +In the distance were mysterious bowers, to which narrow paths led, +through declivities formed of masses of artificial rock. + +"The inside of the church presented the spectacle of a large +public-house. Round the choir were arranged tables, loaded with +bottles, sausages, pies, pâtés, and other viands. On the altars of +the lateral chapels, sacrifices were made to luxury and gluttony; +and the consecrated stones bore the disgusting marks of beastly +intemperance. + +"Guests crowded in at all doors: whoever came partook of this +festival: children thrust their hands into the dishes, and helped +themselves out of the bottles, as a sign of liberty; while the speedy +consequences of this freedom became a matter of amusement to grown +persons in a similar state of ebriety. What a deplorable picture of +the people, who blindly obeyed the will of a few factious leaders! + +"In other churches, balls were given; and, by way of shutting the +door in the face of modesty, these were continued during the night, +in order that, amidst the confusion of nocturnal revelry, those +desires which had been kindled during the day, might be freely +gratified under the veil of darkness. + +"The processions which accompanied these orgies, were no less +attended with every species of atheistical frenzy. After feasting +their eyes with the sacrifice of human victims, the Jacobin faction, +or their satellites, followed the car of their impure goddess: next +came, in another car, a moving orchestra, composed of blind +musicians, a too faithful image of that Reason which was the object +of their adoration." + +The state of France, at that period, proves that religion being +detached from social order, there remained a frightful void, Which +nothing could have filled up but its subsequent restoration. Without +religion, men become enemies to each other, criminals by principle, +and bold violators of the laws; force is the only curb that can +restrain them. The inevitable consequence is, that anarchy and rapine +desolate the face of the earth, and reduce it to a heap of misfortune +and ruin. + + + +LETTER XXIV. + +_Paris, November 27, 1801._ + +When we travel back in idea for the last ten years, and pass in +review the internal commotions which have distracted France during +that period, and the external struggle she has had to maintain for +the security of her independence, we cannot refuse our admiration to +the constancy which the French have manifested in forming +institutions for the diffusion of knowledge, and repositories of +objects tending to the advancement of the arts and sciences. In this +respect, if we except the blood-thirsty reign of Robespierre, no +clash of political interests, no change in the form or administration +of the government, has relaxed their ardour, or slackened their +perseverance. Whatever set of men have been in power, the arts and +sciences have experienced almost uninterrupted protection. + +In the opinion of the French themselves, the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES, in +the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, may claim pre-eminence over every +other repository of sculpture; but many persons may, probably, feel a +satisfaction more pure and unadulterated in viewing the + +MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS. + +Here, neither do insignia of triumph call to mind the afflicting +scenes of war, nor do emblems of conquest strike the eye of the +travelled visiter, and damp his enjoyment by blending with it bitter +recollections. Vandalism is the only enemy from whose attacks the +monuments, here assembled, have been rescued. + +This Museum, which has, in fact, been formed out of the wrecks of the +revolutionary storm, merits particular attention. Although it was not +open to the public, for the first time, till the 15th of Fructidor, +year III (2nd of September 1795), its origin may be dated from 1790, +when the Constituent Assembly, having decreed the possessions of the +Clergy to be national property, charged the _Committee of Alienation_ +to exert their vigilance for the preservation of all the monuments of +the arts, spread throughout the wide extent of the ecclesiastical +domains. + +The philanthropic LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, (the last Duke of the family), as +President of that committee, fixed on a number of artists and +literati to select such monuments as the committee were anxious to +preserve. The municipality of Paris, being specially entrusted, by +the National Assembly, with the execution of this decree, also +nominated several literati and artists of acknowledged merit to +co-operate with the former in their researches and labours. Of this +association was formed a commission, called _Commission des +Monumens_. From that epoch, proper places were sought for the +reception of the treasures which it was wished to save from +destruction. The _Committee of Alienation_ appointed the _ci-devant_ +monastery of the _Petits Augustins_ for the monuments of sculpture +and pictures, and those of the _Capucins, Grands Jesuites,_ and +_Cordeliers_, for the books and manuscripts. + +By these means, the monuments in the suppressed convents and churches +were, by degrees, collected in this monastery, which is situated in +the _Rue des Petits Augustins_, so named after that order of monks, +whose church here was founded, in 1613, by Marguerite de Valois, +first wife of Henry IV. + +At the same period, ALEXANDRE LENOIR was appointed, by the +Constituent Assembly, director of this establishment. As I shall have +frequent occasion to mention the name of that estimable artist, I +shall here content myself with observing, that the choice did honour +to their judgment. + +In the mean time, under pretext of destroying every emblem of +feudality, the most celebrated master-pieces were consigned to ruin; +but the commission before-mentioned opportunely published +instructions respecting the means of preserving the valuable articles +which they purposed to assemble. + +The National Convention also gave indisputable proof of its regard +for the arts, by issuing several decrees in their favour. Its +_Committee of Public Instruction_ created a commission, composed of +distinguished literati and artists of every class, for the purpose of +keeping a watchful eye over the preservation of the monuments of the +arts. The considerable number of memoirs, reports, and addresses, +diffused through the departments by this learned and scientific +association, enlightened the people, and arrested the arm of those +modern Vandals who took a pleasure in mutilating the most admired +statues, tearing or defacing the most valuable pictures, and melting +casts of bronze of the most exquisite beauty. + +Among the numerous reports to which these acts of blind ignorance +gave birth, three published by GRÉGOIRE, ex-bishop of Blois, claim +particular distinction no less on account of the taste and zeal which +they exhibit for the advancement of literature and the fine arts, +than for the invective with which they abound against the madness of +irreligious barbarism. This last stroke, aptly applied, was the means +of recovering many articles of value, and of preserving the monuments +still remaining in the provinces. + +In these eventful times, LENOIR, the Conservator of the rising +museum, collected, through his own indefatigable exertions, a +considerable number of mausolea, statues, bas-reliefs, and busts of +every age and description. No sooner did a moment of tranquillity +appear to be reestablished in this country, than he proposed to the +government to place all these monuments in historical and +chronological order, by classing them, according to the age in which +they had been executed, in particular halls or apartments, and giving +to each of these apartments the precise character peculiar to each +century. This plan which, in its aggregate, united the history of the +art and that of France, by means of her monuments, met with general +approbation, and was accordingly adopted by the members of the +government. + +Thus, throughout this Museum, the architectural decorations of the +different apartments are of the age to which the monuments of +Sculpture, contained in each, belongs; and the light penetrates +through windows of stained glass, from the designs of RAPHAEL, +PRIMATICCIO, ALBERT DURER, LE SUEUR, &c., the production of the +particular century corresponding to that of the sculpture. + +Come then, let us visit this Museum, and endeavour to discriminate +the objects which may be most interesting both to the artist and +historian. We first enter the + +ANTI-CHAMBER. + +This apartment presents itself to our inquisitive looks, as a Hall of +Introduction, which may not be unaptly compared to the preface of a +grand work. Here we behold a crowd of monuments, arranged +methodically, so as to prepare our eyes for tracing the different +ages through which we have to travel. + +We first remark those altars, worn by the hand of Time, on which the +trading Gauls of the ancient _Lutetia_, now Paris, sacrificed to the +gods in the time of Tiberius. Jupiter, Mars, Vulcan, Mercury, Venus, +Pan, Castor and Pollux, and the religious ceremonies here sculptured, +are sufficient to attest that the Parisians were then idolaters, and +followed the religion of the Romans, to whom they were become +tributary. The Inscriptions on each of these monuments, which are +five in number, leave no doubt as to their authenticity, and the +epoch of their erection. + +These altars, five in number, are charged with bas-reliefs, and the +first of them is inscribed with the following words in Latin. + + TIB. CAESARE. + AVG. IOVI OPTVMO + MAXSVMO (_aram_) M. + NAVTAE. PARISIACI + PUBLICE POSIERVNT. + +_Tiberius Cæsar, having accepted or taken the name of Augustus, the +navigators (Nautæ) belonging to the city of Paris, publicly +consecrated this altar to Jupiter the most great and most good._ + +In 1711, these monuments were dug up from the choir of the cathedral +of _Notre-Dame_, out of the foundations of the ancient church of +Paris, constructed by Childebert, on the ruins of a temple, formerly +dedicated to Isis, which he caused to be demolished. Near them we see +the great goddess of the Germans figure under the name of Nehalennia, +in honour of whom that people had erected a great number of +monuments, some of which were discovered in the year 1646, when the +sea retired from the island of Walcheren. + +Capitals, charged with bas-reliefs, taken from a subterraneous +basilic, built by Pepin, have likewise been collected, and follow +those which I have just mentioned. Next comes the tomb of CLOVIS, +which exhibits that prince lying at length; he is humbling himself +before the Almighty, and seems to be asking him forgiveness for his +crimes. We likewise see those of CHILDEBERT and of the cruel +CHILPERIC. The intaglio, relieved by inlaid pieces of Mosaic, of +queen FREDEGOND, has escaped the accidents of twelve centuries. Just +Heaven! what powers have disappeared from the face of the earth since +that period! And to what reflections does not this image, still +existing of that impious woman, give birth in the mind of the +philosopher! CHARLEMAGNE, who was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, seated +on a throne of gold, appears here, in a haughty attitude, with his +sword in his hand, still to be giving laws to the world! + +As might naturally be supposed, most of these figures have suffered +much by the rude attacks of Time; but in spite of his indelible +impression, the unpolished hand of the sculptor is still +distinguishable, and betrays the degraded state of the arts during +the darkness of the middle ages. Let us pass into the + +HALL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. + +Here we shall remark arches in the Gothic style, supported by thick +pillars, according to the architecture of that period. Ornaments, in +the form of _culs-de-lampe_, terminate the centre of the arches, +which are painted in azure-blue, and charged with stars. When temples +were begun to be sheltered or covered, nations painted the inside of +the roof in this manner, in order to keep in view the image of the +celestial canopy to which they directed all their affections, and to +preserve the memory of the ancient custom of offering up sacrifices +to the divinity in the open air. + +Here the statue of LEWIS IX, surnamed the Saint, is placed near that +of PHILIP, one of his sons, and of CHARLES, his brother, king of +Sicily, branded in history, by having, through his oppression, driven +his subjects into revolt, and caused the massacre of the French in +that island in 1277; a massacre well known by the name of the +_Sicilian vespers_. + +It seems that it was the fashion, in those days, for kings themselves +to be bearers at funerals. We are told by St. Foix, that the body of +LEWIS, another son of the Saint, who died in 1662, aged 26, and whose +cenotaph is here, was first carried to St. Denis, and thence to the +abbey of Royaumont, where it was interred. "The greatest lords of the +kingdom," says he, "alternately bore the coffin on their shoulders, +and Henry III; king of England, carried it himself for a considerable +time, as feudatory of the crown." + +PHILIP III, too, above-mentioned, having brought to Paris the remains +of his father from Tunis in Africa, carried them barefooted, on his +shoulders, to St. Denis. Wherever he rested by the way, towers were +erected in commemoration of this act of filial piety; but these have +been destroyed since the revolution. + +The casements of this hall, in the form of ogives, are ornamented +with stained glass of the first epoch of the invention of that art. +We now come to the + +HALL OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. + +This hall shews us the light, yet splendid architecture of the Arabs, +introduced into France in consequence of the Crusades. Here are the +statues of the kings that successively appeared in this age down to +king JOHN, who was taken prisoner by Edward, the black prince, at the +battle of Poietiers. They are clad after the manner of their time, +and lying at length on a stylobate, strewn with flower-de-luces. +Twenty-two knights, each mounted on lions, armed cap-à-pié, +represented of the natural size, and coloured, fill ogive niches +ornamented with Mosaic designs, relieved with gold, red, and blue. + +The tombs of CHARLES V, surnamed the _Wise_, and of the worthy +constable, DU GUESCLIN, together with that of SANCERRE, his faithful +friend, rise in the middle of this apartment; which presents to the +eye all the magnificence of a Turkish mosque. After having quitted +it, what a striking contrast do we not remark on entering the + +HALL OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY! + +Columns, arabesque ceilings charged with gilding, light pieces of +sculpture applied on blue and violet grounds, imitating cameo, china, +or enamel; every thing excites astonishment, and concurs in calling +to mind the first epoch of the regeneration of the arts in this +country. + +The ideas of the amateur are enlivened in this brilliant apartment: +they prepare him for the gratification which he is going to +experience at the sight of the beautiful monuments produced by the +age, so renowned of Francis I. There, architecture predominates over +sculpture; here, sculpture over architecture. + +The genius of RAPHAEL paved the way to this impulse of regeneration: +he had recently produced the decorations of the Vatican; and the +admirable effect of these master-pieces of art, kindled an enthusiasm +in the mind of the artists, who travelled. On their return to France, +they endeavoured to imitate them: in this attempt, JEAN JUSTE, a +sculptor sent to Rome, at the expense of the Cardinal D'AMBOISE, was +the most succcessful. + +First, we behold the mausoleum of LOUIS D'ORLÉANS, victim of the +faction of the Duke of Burgundy, and that of his brother CHARLES, the +poet. Near them is that of VALENTINE DE MILAN, the inconsolable wife +of the former, who died through grief the year after she lost her +husband. As an emblem of her affliction, she took for her device a +watering-pot stooped, whence drops kept trickling in the form of +tears. Let it not be imagined, however, that it was on account of his +constancy that this affectionate woman thus bewailed him till she +fell a victim to her sorrow. + +LOUIS D'ORLÉANS was a great seducer of ladies of the court, and of +the highest rank too, says Brantome. Indeed, historians concur in +stating that to a brilliant understanding, he joined the most +captivating person. We accordingly find that the Dutchess of Burgundy +and several others were by no means cruel to him; and he had been +supping tête-à-tête with Queen Isabeau de Bavière, when, in returning +home, he was assassinated on the twenty-third of November 1407. His +amorous intrigues at last proved fatal to the English, as you will +learn from the following story, related by the same author. + +One morning, M. d'Orléans having in bed with him a woman of quality, +whose husband came to pay him an early visit, he concealed the lady's +head, while he exhibited the rest of her person to the contemplation +of the unsuspecting intruder, at the same time forbidding him, as he +valued his life, to remove the sheet from her face. Now, the cream of +the jest was, that, on the following night, the good soul of a +husband, as he lay beside his dear, boasted to her that the Duke of +Orleans had shewn him the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen: +but that for her face he could not tell what to say of it, as it was +concealed under the sheet. "From this little intrigue," adds +Brantome, "sprang that brave and valiant bastard of Orleans, Count +Dunois, the pillar of France, and the scourge of the English." + +Here we see the statues of CHARLES VI, and of JANE of Burgundy. The +former being struck by a _coup de soleil_, became deranged in his +intellects and imbecile, after having displayed great genius; he is +represented with a pack of cards in his hand to denote that they were +first invented for that prince's diversion. The latter was Dutchess +of BEAUFORT, wife to the Duke, who commanded the English army against +Charles VII, and as brother to our Henry IV, was appointed regent of +France, during the minority of his nephew, Henry V. + +Next come those of RÉNÉE D'ORLÉANS, grand-daughter of the intrepid +Dunois; and of PHILIPPE DE COMMINES, celebrated by his memoirs of the +tyrant, LEWIS XI, whose statue faces that of CHARLES VII, his father. + +The image of JOAN OF ARC, whom that king had the baseness to suffer +to perish, after she had maintained him on the throne, also figures +in this hall with that of ISABEAU DE BAVIÈRE. The shameful death of +the Maid of Orleans, who, as every one knows, was, at the instigation +of the English, condemned as a witch, and burnt alive at Rouen on the +30th of May 1430, must inspire with indignation every honest +Englishman who reflects on this event, which will ever be a blot in +the page of our history. Isabeau affords a striking example of the +influence of a queen's morals on the affections of the people. On her +first arrival in Paris, she was crowned by angels, and received from +the burghers the most magnificent and costly presents. At her death, +she was so detested by the nation, that in order to convey her body +privately to St. Denis, it was embarked in a little skiff at +_Port-Landri_, with directions to the waterman to deliver it to the +abbot. + +The superb tomb of LEWIS XII, placed in the middle of this apartment, +displays great magnificence; and his statue, lying at length, which +represents him in a state of death, recalls to mind that moment so +grievous to the French people, who exclaimed, in following his +funeral procession to St. Denis, "Our good king Lewis XII is dead, +and we have lost our father." + +The historian delights to record a noble trait of that prince's +character. Lewis XII had been taken prisoner at the battle of St. +Aubin by Louis de la Trimouille, who, fearing the resentment of the +new king, and wishing to excuse himself for his conduct, received +this magnanimous reply: "It is not for the king of France to revenge +the quarrels of the duke of Orleans." + +The statue of PIERRE DE NAVARRE, son of Charles the _Bad_, seems +placed here to form in the mind of the spectator a contrast between +his father and Lewis XII. The tragical end of Charles is of a nature +to fix attention, and affords an excellent subject for a pencil like +that of Fuseli. + +Charles the _Bad_, having fallen into such a state of decay that he +could not make use of his limbs, consulted his physician, who ordered +him to be wrapped up from head to foot, in a linen cloth impregnated +with brandy, so that he might be inclosed in it to the very neck as +in a sack. It was night when this remedy was administered. One of the +female attendants of the palace, charged to sew up the cloth that +contained the patient, having come to the neck, the fixed point where +she was to finish her seam, made a knot according to custom; but as +there was still remaining an end of thread, instead of cutting it as +usual with scissars, she had recourse to the candle, which +immediately set fire to the whole cloth. Being terrified, she ran +away, and abandoned the king, who was thus burnt alive in his own +palace. + +What a picture for the moralist is this assemblage of persons, +celebrated either for their errors, crimes, talents, or virtues! + + + +LETTER XXV. + +_Paris, November 28, 1801_. + +Conceiving how interested you (who are not only a connoisseur, but an +F.A.S.) must feel in contemplating the only repository in the world, +I believe, which contains such a chronological history of the art of +sculpture, I lose no time in conducting you to complete our survey of +the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS in the _Rue des Petits Augustins_. + +Having examined those of the fifteenth century, during our former +visit, we are at length arrived at the age of the Fine Arts in +France, and now enter the + +HALL OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. + + "But see! each muse in LEO'S golden days, + Starts from her trance, and trims her wither'd bays; + Rome's ancient Genius, o'er its ruins spread, + Shakes off the dust, and rears his reverend head; + Then Sculpture and her sister arts revive, + Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live." + +These beautiful lines of Pope immediately occur to the mind, on +considering that, in Italy, the Great LEO, by the encouragement which +he gave to men of talents, had considerably increased the number of +master-pieces; when the taste for the Fine Arts, after their previous +revival by the Medici, having spread throughout that country, began +to dawn in France about the end of the fifteenth century. By +progressive steps, the efforts made by the French artists to emulate +their masters, attained, towards the middle of the sixteenth century, +a perfection which has since fixed the attention of Europe. + +On entering this hall, which is consecrated to that period, the +amateur finds his genius inflamed. What a deep impression does not +the perfection of the numerous monuments which it has produced make +on his imagination! First, he admires the beautiful tomb erected to +the memory of FRANCIS I, the restorer of literature and the arts; +who, by inviting to his court LEONARDO DA VINCI and PRIMATICCIO, and +establishing schools and manufactories, consolidated the great work +of their regeneration. + +"Curse the monks!" exclaimed I, on surveying this magnificent +monument, constructed in 1550, from the designs of the celebrated +PHILIBERT DE L'ORME. "Who cannot but regret," continued I to myself, +"that so gallant a knight as Francis I. should fall a victim to that +baneful disease which strikes at the very sources of generation? Who +cannot but feel indignant that so generous a prince, whose first +maxim was, that _true magnanimity consisted in the forgiveness of +injuries, and pusillanimity in the prosecution of revenge_, should +owe his death to the diabolical machinations of a filthy friar?" Yet, +so it was; the circumstances are as follows: + +Francis I. was smitten by the charms of the wife of one Lunel, a +dealer in iron. A Spanish chaplain, belonging to the army of the +Emperor Charles V, passing through Paris in order to repair to +Flayers, threw himself in this man's way, and worked on his mind till +he had made him a complete fanatic: "Your king," said the friar, +"protects Lutheranism in Germany, and will soon introduce it into +France. Be revenged on him and your wife, by serving religion. +Communicate to him that disease for which no certain remedy is yet +known."--"And how am I to give it to him?" replied Lunel; "neither I +nor my wife have it."--"But I have," rejoined the monk: "I hold up my +hand and swear it. Introduce me only for one half-hour by night, into +your place, by the side of your faithless fair, and I will answer for +the rest." + +The priest having prevailed on Lunel to consent to his scheme, went +to a place where he was sure to catch the infection, and, by means of +Lunel's wife, he communicated it to the king. Being previously in +possession of a secret remedy, the monk cured himself in a short +time; the poor woman died at the expiration of a month; and Francis +I, after having languished for three or four years, at length, in +1547, sunk under the weight of a disorder then generally considered +as incurable. + +The tomb of the VALOIS, erected in honour of that family, by +Catherine de Medicis, soon after the death of Henry II, is one of the +masterpieces of GERMAIN PILON. In the execution of this beautiful +monument, that famous artist has found means to combine the +correctness of style of Michael Angelo with the grace of Primaticcio. +To the countenance of HENRY and CATHERINE, who are represented in a +state of death, lying as on a bed, he has imparted an expression of +sensibility truly affecting. + +Next comes the tomb of DIANE DE POITIERS, that celebrated beauty, who +displayed equal judgment in the management of State affairs and in +the delicacy of her attachments; who at the age of 40, captivated +king Henry II, when only 18; and, who, though near 60 at the death of +that prince, had never ceased to preserve the same empire over his +heart. At the age of fourteen, she was married to Louis de Brézé, +grand seneschal of Normandy, and died in April 1506, aged 66. + +Brantome, who saw her not long before her death, when she had just +recovered from the confinement of a broken leg, and had experienced +troubles sufficient to lessen her charms, thus expresses himself: +"Six months ago, when I met her, she was still so beautiful that I +know not any heart of adamant which would not have been moved at the +sight of her."--To give you a perfect idea of her person, take this +laconic description, which is not one of fancy, but collected from +the best historians. + +Her jet black hair formed a striking contrast to her lily complexion. +On her cheeks faintly blushed the budding rose. Her teeth vied with +ivory itself in whiteness: in a word, her form was as elegant as her +deportment was graceful. + +By way of lesson to the belles of the present day, let them be told +that DIANE DE POITIERS was never ill, nor affected indisposition. In +the severity of the winter, she daily washed her face with +spring-water, and never had recourse to cosmetics.----"What pity," +says Brantome, "that earth should cover so beautiful a woman!" + +No man, indeed, who sympathizes with the foibles of human nature, can +contemplate the tomb of DIANE DE POITIERS, and reflect on her +numerous virtues and attractions, without adopting the sentiments of +Brantome, and feeling his breast glow with admiration. + +This extraordinary woman afforded the most signal protection to +literati and men of genius, and was, in fact, no less distinguished +for the qualities of her heart than for the beauty of her person. +"She was extremely good-humoured, charitable, and humane," continues +Brantome "The people of France ought to pray to God that the female +favourite of every chief magistrate of their country may resemble +this amiable frail one." + +As a proof of the elevation of her sentiments, I shall conclude by +quoting to you the spirited reply DIANE made to Henry II, who, by +dint of royal authority, wished to legitimate a daughter he had by +her: "I am of a birth," said she, "to have had lawful children by +you. I have been your mistress, because I loved you. I will never +suffer a decree to declare me your concubine." + +The beautiful group of the modest Graces, and that representing +Diana, accompanied by her dogs Procion and Syrius, sculptured by Jean +Gougeon, to serve as the decoration of a fountain in the park of +DIANE DE POITIERS at Anet, attracts the attention of the connoisseur. + +The tomb of GOUGEON, composed of his own works, and erected to the +memory of that great artist, through gratitude, is, undoubtedly, a +homage which he justly deserved. This French Phidias was a Calvinist, +and one of the numerous victims of St. Bartholomew's day, being shot +on his scaffold, as he was at work on the _Louvre_, the 24th of +August 1572. Here too we behold the statues of BIRAGUE and of the +GONDI, those atrocious wretches who, together with Catherine de +Medicis, plotted that infamous massacre; while CHARLES IX, no less +criminal, here exhibits on his features the stings of a guilty +conscience. + +The man that has a taste for learning, gladly turns his eye from this +horde of miscreants, to fix it on the statue of CLAUDE-CATHERINE DE +CLERMONT-TONNERRE, who was so conversant in the dead languages as to +bear away the palm from Birague and Chiveray, in a speech which she +composed and spoke in Latin, at twenty-four hours' notice, in answer +to the ambassadors who tendered the crown of Poland to Charles IX. + +If the friend of the arts examine the beautiful portico erected by +Philibert de l'Orme, on the banks of the Eure, for Diane de Poitiers, +composed of the three orders of architecture, placed the one above +the other, and forming altogether an elevation of sixty feet, he will +be amazed to learn that this superb monument constructed at Anet, +twenty leagues distant from Paris, was removed thence, and +re-established in this Museum, by the indefatigable conservator, +LENOIR. + +On leaving the apartment containing the master-pieces brought to +light by Francis I, the next we reach is the + +HALL OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. + +What a crowd of celebrated men contained in the temple consecrated to +virtue, courage, and talents! + +There, I behold TURENNE, CONDÉ, MONTAUSIER, COLBERT, MOLIÈRE, +CORNEILLE, LA FONTAINE, RACINE, FÉNÉLON, and BOILEAU. The great LEWIS +XIV, placed in the middle of this hall, seems to become still greater +near those immortal geniuses. + +Farther on, we see the statue of the implacable RICHELIEU, +represented expiring in the arms of Religion, while Science is +weeping at his feet. Ye Gods! what a prostitution of talent! This is +the master-piece of GIRARDON; but, in point of execution, many +connoisseurs prefer the mausoleum of the crafty MAZARIN, whom +COYZEVOX has pourtrayed in a supplicating posture. + +LEWIS XIII, surnamed the _Just_, less great than his illustrious +subject, DE THOU, casts down his eyes in the presence of his +ministers. + +The mausolea of LE BRUN, LULLI, and JÉROME BIGNON, the honour, the +love, and the example of his age, terminate the series of monuments +of that epoch, still more remarkable for its literati than its +artists. We at last come to the + +HALL OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. + +Here we admire the statues of MONTESQUIEU, FONTENELLE, VOLTAIRE, +ROUSSEAU, HELVÉTIUS, CRÉBILLON, PIRON, &c. &c. The tombs of the +learned MAUPERTUIS and CAYLUS, and also that of Marshal D'HARCOURT, +give a perfect idea of the state of degradation into which the art of +design had fallen at the beginning of this century; but the new +productions which decorate the extremity of this spacious hall are +sufficient to prove to what degree the absolute will of a great +genius can influence the progress of the arts, as well as of the +sciences. VIEN and DAVID appeared, and the art was regenerated. + +Here, too, we find a statue, as large as life, representing Christ +leaning on a pillar, executed by MICHAEL ANGELO STODTZ. I notice +this statue merely to observe, that the original, from which it is +taken, is to be seen at Rome, in the _Chiesa della Minerva_ where it +is held in such extraordinary veneration, that the great toe-nail of +the right foot having been entirely worn away by the repeated kisses +of the faithful, one of silver had been substituted. At length this +second nail having been likewise worn away, a third was placed, of +copper, which is already somewhat worn. It was sculptured by MICHAEL +ANGELO BUONAROTI. + +We experience an emotion of regret at the aspect of the handsome +monument by MICHALLON, on learning that it was erected to the memory +of young DROUAIS, a skilful and amiable artist, stopped by death, in +1788, during his brilliant career, at the early age of 24. He has +left behind him three historical pictures, which are so many +master-pieces. + +The beautiful statue of the youthful Cyparissus, by CHAUDET, the most +eminent French sculptor, reminds us of the full and elegant form of +the fine Greek Bacchus, which decorates the peristyle of the +antichamber or Hall of Introduction. + +Thus the amateur and the student will find, in this Museum, an +uninterrupted chronology of monuments, both antique and modern, +beginning by those of ancient Greece, whose date goes back to two +thousand five hundred years before our era, to examine those of the +Romans, of the Lower Empire, of the Gauls, and thence pass to the +first epoch of the French monarchy, and at length follow all the +gradations through which the art has passed from its cradle to its +decrepitude. The whole of this grand establishment is terminated by a +spacious garden, which is converted into an + +ELYSIUM. + +There, on a verdant lawn, amid firs, cypresses, poplars, and weeping +willows, repose the ashes of the illustrious poets, MOLIÈRE, LA +FONTAINE, BOILEAU, &c.; of the learned DESCARTES, MABILLON, +MONTFAUCON, &c., inclosed in sarcophagi; there, they still receive +the homage which mankind owe to talents and virtue. + +But hold! mark the sepulchre of the learned and tender HÉLOÏSE. Her +remains, though formerly conjoined to those of her lover, were +subsequently separated, and after a lapse of three hundred years, +they are now reassembled. + + Here one kind grave unites their hapless name, + And grafts her love immortal on his fame. + +With a smile seated on her lips, HÉLOÏSE seems to be sighing for the +object of her glowing affection: while the unfortunate ABÉLARD, +coldly reclined, is still commenting on the Trinity. The _Paraclete_, +having been sold and demolished, LENOIR, with all the sensibility of +an admirer of genius, withdrew the bones of ABÉLARD and HÉLOÏSE from +that monastery, and placed them here in a sepulchral chapel, partly +constructed from the remains of their ancient habitation. + +Such is the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS. When completed, for some +valuable specimens of the arts slill remain to be added, it will be +one of the most interesting establishments in Paris, and perhaps in +Europe, especially if considered in regard to the improvement of +modern sculpture, and, I may add, architecture. No building can be +better adapted than a monastery for an establishment of this nature. +The solemn gloom of cloisters suits the temper of the mind, when we +reflect on the mortality incident to a succession of ages, and the +melancholy which it inspires, is in perfect unison with our feelings, +when we contemplate the sepulchral monuments that recall to our +memory the actions of the illustrious departed. + +This Museum is very extensive, the three courts and large garden, +which at present compose the whole of its premises, occupying a space +of three thousand seven hundred and sixty-two toises. LENOIR, +however, has recently presented to the First Consul a plan for +enlarging it, without any additional expense of building, by adding +to it the neighbouring _Hôtel de Bouillon_. He proposes that there +should be a new entrance by the quay, exhibiting a spacious court, +decorated with statues, erected in regular order; and that the +apartments on the ground-floor should be appropriated as follows: + +1. To a collection of portraits of all the celebrated men of France. + +2. To a chronological series of armour of all ages. + +3. To a complete collection of French medals. + +4. To a library, solely formed of the books necessary for obtaining a +knowledge of the monuments contained in this Museum. + +When I consider the mutilated state in which most of these monuments +were found at the first formation of this interesting establishment, +and view the perfection in which they now appear; when I remark the +taste and judgment displayed in the distribution and interior +arrangement of the different apartments of this rich museum; when I +learn, from the printed documents on the subject, the strict economy +which has been observed in the acquisition or restoration of a great +number of monuments, the more valuable as they illustrate the history +of the arts; I confess that I find myself at a loss which most to +admire in the Conservator, his courage, zeal, perseverance, or +discrimination. Indeed, nothing but an assemblage of those qualities +could have overcome the difficulties and obstacles which he has +surmounted. + +I shall add that LENOIR'S obliging disposition and amenity of manners +equally entitle him to the gratitude and esteem of the connoisseur, +the student, or the inquisitive stranger. + + + +LETTER XXVI. + +_Paris, December 1, 1801_. + +I was highly gratified the other day on finding myself in company +with some of those men whom (to borrow Lord Thurlow's expression, in +speaking of Warren Hastings,) I have known only as I know Alexander, +by the greatness of their exploits; men whose names will be +transmitted to posterity, and shine with distinguished lustre in the +military annals of France. + +General A----y had already invited me to dine with him, in order to +meet General B----r; but, on the day fixed, the latter, as minister +for the war department, being under the necessity of entertaining +Lord Cornwallis, the party was postponed till the 8th of Frimaire, +(20th of November), when, in addition to General B----r, General +A----y had assembled at his table several men of note. Among others, +were General M----rd, who commanded the right wing of the army of +Naples under Macdonald, in which he distinguished himself as a brave +soldier; and D----ttes, physician in chief to the army of the East. +This officer of health, as medical men are here denominated, is +lately returned from Egypt, where his skill and attention to his +professional duties gained him universal admiration. + +In society so agreeable, time passed away rapidly till General B----r +arrived. It was late, that is about seven o'clock, though the +invitation expressed five precisely, as the hour of dinner. But, in +Paris, a minister is always supposed to be detained on official +business of a nature paramount to every other consideraton. On my +being introduced to General B----r, he immediately entered into +conversation with me concerning Lord Cornwallis, whom he had known in +the American war, having served in the staff of Rochambeau at the +siege of Yorktown. As far back as that period B----r signalized +himself by his skill in military science. It was impossible to +contemplate these distinguished officers without calling to mind how +greatly their country was indebted to the exertion of their talents +on various important occasions. These recollections led me to admire +that wisdom which had placed them in stations for which they had +proved themselves so eminently qualified. In England, places are +generally sought for men; in France, men are sought for places. + +At seven, dinner was announced, and an excellent one it was, both in +quality and quantity. _Presto_ was the word, and all the guests +seemed habituated to expedition. The difference between the duration +of such a repast at this day, and what it was before the revolution, +shews how constantly men become the slaves of fashion. Had BONAPARTE +resembled Lucullus in being addicted to the pleasures of the festive +board, I make no doubt that it would have been the height of _ton_ to +sit quietly two or three hours after dinner. But the Chief Consul is +said to be temperate, almost to abstemiousness; he rises from table +in less than half an hour; and that mode is now almost universal in +Paris, especially among the great men in office. Two elegant courses +and a desert were presently dispatched; the whole time employed in +eating I know not how many good dishes, and drinking a variety of +choice wines, not exceeding thirty-five minutes. At the end of the +repast, coffee was presented to the company in an adjoining room, +after which the opera of _Tarare_ was the attraction of the evening. + +I have already mentioned to you that General A----y had put into my +hand _L'Histoire du Canal du Midi_, written by himself. From a +perusal of this interesting work, it appears that one of his +ancestors[1] was the first who conceived the idea of that canal, +which was not only planned by him, but entirely completed under his +immediate direction. Having communicated his plan to Riquet, the +latter submited it to Colbert, and, on its being approved by Lewis +XIV, became _contractor_ for all the works of that celebrated +undertaking, which he did not live to see finished. Riquet, however, +not content with having derived from the undertaking every advantage +of honour and emolument, greedily snatched from the original +projector the meed of fame, so dearly earned by the unremitting +labour of thirty successive years. These facts are set forth in the +clearest light in the above-mentioned work, in which I was carefully +examining General A----y's plans for the improvement of this famous +canal, when I was most agreeably interrupted. + +I had expressed to the General a wish to know the nature of the +establishment of which he is the director, at the same time apprizing +him that this wish did not extend to any thing that could not with +propriety be made public. He obligingly promised that I should be +gratified, and this morning I received ftom him a very friendly +letter, accompanied by the following account of the + +DÉPÔT DE LA GUERRE. + +The general _Dépôt_ or repository of maps and plans of war, &c, &c, +was established by LOUVOIS, in 1688. This was the celebrated period +when France, having attained the highest degree of splendour, secured +her glory by the results of an administration enlightened in all its +branches. + +At the beginning of its institution, the _Dépôt de la guerre_ was no +more than archives, where were collected, and preserved with order, +the memoirs of the generals, their correspondence, the accounts yet +imperfect, and the traces of anterior military operations. + +The numerous resources afforded by this collection alone, the +assistance and advantages derived from it on every occasion, when it +was necessary to investigate a military system, or determine an +important operation, suggested the idea of assembling it under a form +and classification more methodical. Greater attention and exactness +were exerted in enriching the _Dépôt_ with every thing that might +complete the theoretical works and practical elucidations of all the +branches of the military art, + +Marshal DE MAILLEBOIS, who was appointed director of this +establishment in 1730, was one of the first authors of the present +existing order. The classification at first consisted only in forming +registers of the correspondence of the generals, according to date, +distinguishing it by _different wars_. It was divided into two parts, +the former containing the letters of the generals; and the latter, +the minutes or originals of the answers of the king and his +ministers. To each volume was added a summary of the contents, and, +in regular succession, the journal of the military operations of the +year. These volumes, to the number of upwards of two thousand seven +hundred, contain documents from the eleventh century to the close of +the last American war; but the series is perfect only from the year +1631. This was a valuable mine for a historiographer to explore; and, +indeed, it is well known that the _Memoirs of Turenne and of Condé_, +the _History of the war of 1741_, and part of the fragments of the +_Essay on the Manners and History of Nations_, by Voltaire, were +compiled and digested from the original letters and memoirs preserved +in the _Dépôt de la guerre_. + +Geographical engineers did not then exist as a corps. Topography was +practised by insulated officers, impelled thereto by the rather +superficial study of the mathematics and a taste for drawing; because +it was for them a mean of obtaining more advantageous employments in +the staffs of the armies: but the want of a central point, the +difference of systems and methods, not admitting of directing the +operations to one same principle, as well as to one same object, +topography, little encouraged, was making but a slow progress, when +M. DE CHOISEUIL established, as a particular corps, the officers who +had applied themselves to the practice of that science. The _Dépôt_ +was charged to direct and assemble the labours of the new corps. This +authority doubled the utility of the _Dépôt_: its results had the +most powerful influence during the war from 1757 to 1763. + +Lieutenant-General De VAULT, who had succeeded Marshal De MAILLEBOIS +as director of the _Dépôt de la guerre_, conceived, and executed a +plan, destined to render still more familiar and secure the numerous +documents collected in this establishment. He first retrenched from +the _Military Correspondences and Memoirs_ all tedious repetitions +and unnecessary details; he then classed the remainder under the head +of a different army or operation, without subjecting himself to any +other order than a simple chronology; but he caused each volume to be +preceded by a very succinct, historical summary, in order to enable +the reader to seize the essence of the original memoirs and +documents, the text of which was faithfully copied in the body of +each volume, In this manner did he arrange all the military events +from the German war in 1677 to the peace of 1763. This analysis forms +one hundred and twenty five volumes. + +It is easy to conceive how much more interesting these historical +volumes became by the addition, which took place about the same +epoch, of the labours of the geographical engineers employed in the +armies. The military men having it at the same time in his power to +follow the combinations of the generals with the execution of their +plans, imbibes, without difficulty, the principles followed by great +captains, or improves himself from the exact account of the errors +and faults which it is so natural to commit on critical occasions. + +When all the establishments of the old _régime_ were tottering, or +threatened by the revolutionary storm, measures were suggested for +preserving the _Dépôt de la guerre_, and, towards the end of 1791, it +was transferred from Versailles to Paris. Presently the new system of +government, the war declared against the emperor, and the foreseen +conflagration of Europe, concurred to give a new importance to this +establishment. Alone, amidst the general overthrow, it had preserved +a valuable collection of the military and topographical labours of +the monarchy, of manuscripts of the greatest importance, and a body +of information of every kind respecting the resources, and the +country, of the powers already hostile, or on the point of becoming +so. All the utility which might result from the _Dépôt_ was then +felt, and it was thought necessary to give it a new organization.[2] + +The _Dépôt de la guerre_, however, would have attained but +imperfectly the object of its institution, had there not been added +to its topographical treasure, the richest, as well as the finest, +collection in Europe of every geographical work held in any +estimation. The first epochs of the revolution greatly facilitated +the increase of its riches of that description. The general impulse, +imprinted on the mind of the French nation, prompted every will +towards useful sacrifices. Private cabinets in possession of the +scarcest maps, gave them up to the government, The suppression of the +monasteries and abbeys caused to flow to the centre the geographical +riches which they preserved in an obscurity hurtful to the progress +of that important science: and thus the _Dépôt de la guerre_ obtained +one of the richest collections in Europe.[3] The government, besides, +completed it by the delivery of the great map of France by CASSINI, +begun in 1750, together with all the materials forming the elements +of that grand work. It is painful to add that not long before that +period (in 1791) the corps of geographical engineers, which alone +could give utility to such valuable materials had been suppressed.[4] + +In the mean time, the sudden changes in the administrative system had +dispersed the learned societies employed in astronomy, or the +mathematical sciences. The _National Observatory_ was disused. The +celebrated astronomers attached to it had no rallying point: they +could not devote themselves to their labours but amidst the greatest +difficulties; the salary allowed to them was not paid; the numerous +observations, continued for two centuries, were on the point of being +interrupted. + +The _Dépôt de la guerre_ then became the asylum of those estimable +men. This establishment excited and obtained the reverification of +the measure of an arc of the meridian, in order to serve as a basis +for the uniformity of the weights and measures which the government +wished to establish. + +MÉCHAIN, DELAMBRE, NOUET, TRANCHOT, and PERNY were dispatched to +different places from Barcelona to Dunkirk. After having established +at each extremity of this line a base, measured with the greatest +exactness, they were afterwards to advance their triangles, in order +to ascend to the middle point of the line. This operation, which has +served for rectifying a few errors that the want of perfection in the +instruments had occasioned to be introduced into the measure of the +meridian of CASSINI, may be reckoned one of the most celebrated works +which have distinguished the close of the eighteenth century. + +The establishment of the system of administration conformably to the +constitution of the year III (1795) separated the various elements +which the _Dépôt de la guerre_ had found means to preserve. The +_Board of Longitude_ was established; the _National Institute_ was +formed to supply the place of the _Academy of Sciences_, &c. The +_Dépôt de la guerre_ was restored solely to its ancient prerogatives. +Two years before, it had been under the necessity of forming new +geographical engineers and it succeeded in carrying the number +sufficiently high to suffice for the wants of the fourteen armies +which France had afterwards on foot.[5] These officers being employed +in the service of the staffs, no important work was undertaken. But, +since the 18th of Brumaire, year VIII, (9th of November, 1799) the +Consuls of the Republic have bestowed particular attention on +geographical and topographical operations. The new limits of the +French territory require that the map of it should be continued; and +the new political system, resulting from the general pacification, +renders necessary the exact knowledge of the states of the allies of +the Republic. + +The _Dépôt de la guerre_ forms various sections of geographers, who +are at present employed in constructing accurate maps of the four +united departments. Piedmont, Savoy, Helvetia, and the part of Italy +comprised between the Adige and the Adda. One section, in conjunction +with the Bavarian engineers, is constructing a topographical map of +Bavaria: another section is carrying into execution the military +surveys, and other topographical labours, ordered by General MOREAU +for the purpose of forming a map of Suabia. + +The _Dépôt_ has just published an excellent map of the Tyrol, reduced +from that of PAYSAN, and to which have been added the observations +made by Chevaliers DUPAY and LA LUCERNE. It has caused to be resumed +the continuation of the superb map of the environs of Versailles, +called _La carte des chasses_, a master-piece of topography and +execution in all the arts relating to that science. Since the year V +(1795), it has also formed a library composed of upwards of eight +thousand volumes or manuscripts, the most rare, as well as the most +esteemed, respecting every branch of the military art in general. + +Although, in the preceding account, General A----y, with that modesty +which is the characteristic of a superior mind, has been totally +silent respecting his own indefatigable exertions, I have learned +from the best authority, that France is soon likely to derive very +considerable advantages from the activity and talent introduced by +him, as director, into every branch of the _Dépôt de la guerre_, and +of which he has afforded in his own person an illustrious example. + +In giving an impulse to the interior labours of the _Dépôt_, the sole +object of General A----y is to make this establishment lose its +_paralyzing_ destination of archives, in which, from time to time, +literati might come to collect information concerning some periods of +national or foreign history. He is of opinion that these materials +ought to be drawn from oblivion, and brought into action by those +very persons who, having the experience of war, are better enabled +than any others to arrange its elements. Instruction and method being +the foundations of a good administration, of the application of an +art and of a science, as well as of their improvement, he has +conceived the idea of uniting in a classical work the exposition of +the knowledge necessary for the direction of the _Dépôt_, for +geographical engineers, staff-officers, military men in general, and +historians. This, then, is the object of the _Mémomorial du Dépôt de +la guerre_, a periodical work, now in hand, which will become the +guide of every establishment of this nature[6], by directing with +method the various labours used in the application of mathematical +and physical sciences to topography, and to that art which, of all +others, has the greatest influence on the destiny of empires: I mean +the art military. The improvements of which it is still susceptible +will be pointed out in the _Mémorial_, and every new idea proposed on +the subject will there be critically investigated. + +In transcribing General A----y's sketch of this extremely-interesting +establishment, I cannot but reflect on the striking contrast that it +presents, in point of geographical riches, even half a century ago, +to the disgraceful poverty, in that line, which, about the same +period, prevailed in England, and was severely felt in the planning +of our military expeditions. + +I remember to have been told by the late Lord Howe, that, when he was +captain of the Magnanime at Plymouth, and was sent for express to +London, in the year 1757, in order to command the naval part of an +expedition to the coast of France, George II, and the whole cabinet +council, seemed very much astonished at his requiring the production +of a map of that part of the enemy's coast against which the +expedition was intended. Neither in the apartment where the council +sat, nor in any adjoining one, was any such document; even in the +Admiralty-office no other than an indifferent map of the coast could +be found: as for the adjacent country, it was so little known in +England, that, when the British troops landed, their commander was +ignorant of the distance of the neighbouring villages. + +Of late years, indeed, we have ordered these matters better; but, to +judge from circumstances, it should seem that we are still extremely +deficient in geographical and topographical knowledge; though we are +not quite so ill informed as in the time of a certain duke, who, when +First Lord of the Treasury, asked in what part of Germany was the +Ohio? + +P.S. In order to give you, at one view, a complete idea of the +collections of the _Dépôt de la guerre_, and of what they have +furnished during the war for the service of the government and of the +armies, I shall end my letter by stating that, independently of eight +thousand chosen volumes, among which is a valuable collection of +atlases, of two thousand seven hundred volumes of old archives, and +of upwards of nine hundred _cartons_ or pasteboard boxes of modern +original documents, the _Dépôt_ possesses one hundred and thirty-one +volumes and seventy-eight _cartons_ of descriptive memoirs, composed +at least of fifty memoirs each, four thousand seven hundred engraved +maps, of each of which there are from two to twenty-five copies, +exclusively of those printed at the _Dépôt_, and upwards of seven +thousand four hundred valuable manuscript maps, plans, or drawings of +marches, battles, sieges, &c. + +By order of the government, it has furnished, in the course of the +war, seven thousand two hundred and seventy-eight engraved maps, two +hundred and seven manuscript maps or plans, sixty-one atlases of +various parts of the globe, and upwards of six hundred descriptive +memoirs. + +[Footnote 1: FRANÇOIS ANDREOSSY; who was the great great grandfather +of the present French ambassador at our court.] + +[Footnote 2: On the 25th of April, 1792, was published a regulation, +decreed by the king, respecting the general direction of the _Dépôt +de la guerre_. The annual expense of the establishment, at that time +amounted to 68,000 francs, but the geographical and historical +departments were not filled. _Note of the Author._] + +[Footnote 3: An _Agence des cartes_ was appointed, by the National +Assembly, to class these materials, and arrange them in useful +order.] + +[Footnote 4: At the juncture alluded to (1793), the want of +geographical engineers having been felt as soon as the armies took +the field, three brigades were formed, each consisting of twelve +persons. The composition of the _Dépôt de la guerre_, was increased +in proportion to its importance: intelligent officers were placed +there; and no less than thirty-eight persons were employed in the +interior labour, that is, in drawing plans of campaigns, sieges, &c. +_Note of the Author_.] + +[Footnote 5: That tempestuous period having dispersed the then +director and his assistants, the _Dépôt de la guerre_ remained, for +some time, without officers capable of conducting it in a manner +useful to the country. In the mean while, wants were increasing, and +military operations daily becoming more important, when, in 1793, +CARNOT, then a member of the Committee of Public Welfare, formed a +private cabinet of topography, the elements of which he drew from the +_Dépôt de la guerre_. This was a first impulse given to these +valuable collections. _Note of the Author_.] + +[Footnote 6: Prince Charles is employed at Vienna in forming a +collection of books, maps, and military memoirs for the purpose of +establishing a _Dépôt_ for the instruction of the staff-officers of +the Austrian army. Spain has also begun to organize a system of +military topography in imitation of that of France. Portugal follows +the example. What are we doing in England?] + + + +LETTER XXVII + +_Paris, December 3, 1801_. + +In this season, when the blasts of November have entirely stripped +the trees of their few remaining leaves, and Winter has assumed his +hoary reign, the garden of the _Tuileries_, loses much of the gaiety +of its attractions. Besides, to frequent that walk, at present, is +like visiting daily one of our theatres, you meet the same faces so +often, that the scene soon becomes monotonous. As well for the sake +of variety as exercise, I therefore now and then direct my steps +along the + +BOULEVARDS. + +This is the name given to the promenades with which Paris is, in +part, surrounded for an extent of six thousand and eighty-four +toises. + +They are distinguished by the names of the _Old_ and the _New_. The +_Old_, or _North Boulevards_, commonly called the _Grands +Boulevards_, were begun in 1536, and, when faced with ditches, which +were to have been dug, they were intended to serve as fortifications +against the English who were ravaging Picardy, and threatening the +capital. Thence, probably, the etymology of their name; _Boulevard_ +signifying, as every one knows, a bulwark. + +However this may be, the extent of these _Old_ Boulevards is two +thousand four hundred toises from the _Rue de la Concorde_ to the +_Place de la Liberté_, formerly the site of the Bastille. They were +first planted in 1660, and are formed into three alleys by four rows +of trees: the middle alley is appropriated to carriages and persons +on horseback, and the two lateral ones are for foot-passengers. + +Here, on each side, is assembled every thing that ingenuity can +imagine for the diversion of the idle stroller, or the recreation of +the man of business. Places of public entertainment, ambulating +musicians, exhibitions of different kinds, temples consecrated to +love or pleasure, Vauxhalls, ball-rooms, magnificent hotels, and +other tasteful buildings, &c. Even the coffee-houses and taverns here +have their shady bowers, and an agreeable orchestra. Thus, you may +always dine in Paris with a band of music to entertain you, without +additional expense. + +The _New_ Boulevards, situated to the south, were finished in 1761. +They are three thousand six hundred and eighty-three toises in extent +from the _Observatoire_ to the _Hôtel des Invalides_. Although laid +out much in the same manner as the _Old_, there is little resemblance +between them; each having a very distinct appearance. + +On the _New Boulevards_, the alleys are both longer and wider, and +the trees are likewise of better growth. There, the prospect is +rural; and the air pure; while cultivated fields, with growing corn, +present themselves to the eye. Towards the town, however, stand +several pretty houses; little theatres even were built, but did not +succeed. This was not their latitude. But some skittle-grounds and +tea-gardens, lately opened, and provided with swings, &c. have +attracted much company of a certain class in the summer. + +In this quarter, you seldom meet with a carriage, scarcely ever with +persons sprucely dressed, but frequently with honest citizens, +accompanied by their whole family, as plain in their garb as in their +manners. Lovers too with their mistresses, who seek solitude, visit +this retired walk; and now and then a poor poet comes hither, not to +sharpen his appetite, but to arrange his numbers. + +Before, the revolution, the _Old_ Boulevards, from the _Porte St. +Martin_ to the _Théâtre Favart_, was the rendezvous of the +_élegantes_, who, on Sundays and Thursdays, used to parade there +slowly, backward and forward, in their carriages, as our belles do in +Hyde Park; with this difference, that, if their admirers did not +accompany them, they generally followed them to interchange +significant glances, or indulge in amorous parley. I understand that +the summer lounge of the modern _élegantes_ has, of late years, been +from the corner of the _Rue Grange Batelière_ to that of the _Rue +Mont-Blanc_, where the ladies took their seats. This attracting the +_muscadins_ in great numbers, not long since obtained for that part +of the Boulevard the appellation of _Petit Coblentz_. + +Nearly about the middle of the North Boulevard stand two edifices, +which owe their erection to the vanity of Lewis XIV. In the +gratification of that passion did the _Grand Monarque_ console +himself for his numerous defeats and disappointments; and the age in +which he lived being fertile in great men, owing, undoubtedly, to the +encouragement he afforded them, his display of it was well seconded +by their superior talents. Previously to his reign, Paris had several +gates, but some of these being taken down, arcs of triumph, in +imitation of those of the Romans, were erected in their stead by +_Louis le Grand_, in commemoration of his exploits. And this too, at +a time when the allies might, in good earnest, have marched to Paris, +had they not, by delay, given Marshal Villars an opportunity of +turning the tide of their victories on the plain of Denain. Such was +the origin of the + +PORTE SAINT DENIS. + +The magnificence of its architecture classes it among the first +public monuments in Paris. It consists of a triumphal arch, insulated +in the manner of those of the ancients: it is seventy-two feet in +diameter as well as in elevation, and was executed in 1672, by BULLET +from the designs of BLONDEL. + +On each side of the principal entrance rise two sculptured pyramids, +charged with trophies of arms, both towards the faubourg, and towards +the city. Underneath each of these pyramids is a small collateral +passage for persons on foot. The arch is ornamented with two +bas-reliefs: the one facing the city represents the passage of +the Rhine; and the other, the capture of Maestricht. + +On the frieze on both sides LUDOVICO MAGNO was formerly to be read, +in large characters of gilt bronze. This inscription is removed, and +to it are substituted the word _Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité_. + +On arriving from Calais, you enter Paris by the _Porte St. Denis_. It +was also by the _Porte St. Denis_ that kings and queens made their +public entry. On these occasions, the houses in all the streets +through which they passed, were decorated with silk hangings and +tapestry, as far as the cathedral of _Notre-Dame_. Scented waters +perfumed the air in the form of _jets d'eau_; while wine and milk +flowed from the different public fountains. + +Froissard relates that, on the entrance of Isabeau de Bavière, there +was in the _Rue St. Denis_ a representation of a clouded heaven, +thickly sown with stars, whence descended two angels who gently +placed on her head a very rich crown of gold, set with precious +stones, at the same time singing verses in her praise. + +It was on this occasion that Charles VI, anxious for a sight of his +intended bride, took a fancy to mix in the crowd, mounted on +horseback behind Savoisi, his favourite. Pushing forward in order to +approach her, he received from the serjeants posted to keep off the +populace several sharp blows on the shoulders, which occasioned great +mirth in the evening, when the circumstance was related before the +queen and her ladies. + +Proceeding along the Boulevard towards the east, at a short distance +from the _Porte St. Denis_, you arrive at the + +PORTE SAINT MARTIN. + +Although this triumphal arch cannot be compared to the preceding in +magnificence, it was nevertheless executed by the same artists, +having been erected in 1674. It is pierced with three openings, the +centre one of which is eighteen feet wide, and the two others nine. +The whole structure, which is fifty-four feet both in height and +breadth, is rusticated, and in the spandles of the arch are four +bas-reliefs; the two towards the city represent the capture of +Besançon, and the rupture of the triple alliance; and those towards +the faubourg, the capture of Lomberg, and the defeat of the Germans +under the emblem of an eagle repulsed by the god of war. These +bas-reliefs are crowned by an entablature of the Doric order, +surmounted by an attic. The _Porte St. Martin_ is the grand +entrance into Paris from all parts of Flanders. + +At the west extremity of this _North_ Boulevard, facing the _Rue de +la Concorde_, stands an unfinished church, called _La Magdeleine_, +whose cemetery received not only the bodies of Lewis XVI, his +consort, and his sister, but of the greater part of the victims that +perished by guillotine. + +In the space comprised between _La Magdeleine_ and the _Vieille Rue +du Temple_, I speak within compass when I say that there are +sometimes to be seen fifty ambulating conjurers of both sexes. They +all vary the form of their art. Some have tables, surmounted by +flags, bearing mysterious devices; some have wheels, with +compartments adapted to every age and profession--One has a robe +charged with hieroglyphics, and tells you your fortune through a long +tube which conveys the sound to your ear; the other makes you choose +in a parcel, a square piece of white paper, which becomes covered +with characters at the moment when it is thrown into a jug that +appears empty. The secret of this is as follows: + +The jug contains a little sulphuret of potash, and the words are +written with acetite of lead. The action of the exterior air, on, the +sulphuret of potash, disengages from it sulphurated hydrogen gas, +which, acting on the oxyd of lead, brings to view the characters that +before were invislble. + +Here, the philosophic Parisians stop before the movable stall of an +astrologer, who has surmounted it with an owl, as an emblem of his +magic wisdom. Many of them take this animal for a curiosity imported +from foreign countries; for they are seldom able to distinguish a bat +from a swallow. + +"Does that bird come from China, my dear?" says a lusty dame to her +elderly husband, a shopkeeper of the _Rue St. Denis_.--"I don't know, +my love," replies the other.--"What eyes it has got," continues she; +"it must see a great deal better than we." "No;" cries a countryman +standing by; "though its eyes are so big, it can't, in broad day, +tell a cow from a calf." + +The lady continues her survey of the scientific repository; and the +conjurer, with an air of importance, proposes to her to draw, for two +_sous_, a motto from Merlin's wheel. "Take one, my dear," says the +husband; "I wish to know whether you love me." The wife blushes and +hesitates; the husband insists; she refuses, and is desirous of +continuing her walk, saying that it is all foolishness.--"What if it +is?" rejoins the husband, "I've paid, so take a motto to please me." +For this once, the lady is quite at a nonplus; she at last consents, +and, with a trembling hand, draws a card from the magic wheel: the +husband unrolls it with eagerness and confidence, and reads these +words: "_My young lover is and will be constant_."--"What the devil +does this mean?" exclaims the old husband; quite disconcerted. +--"'Tis a mistake," says the conjurer; "the lady put her hand into +the wrong box; she drew the motto from the wheel for _young girls_, +instead of that for _married women_. Let _Madame_ draw again, she +shall pay nothing more."--"No, Mr. Conjurer," replies the shopkeeper, +"that's enough. I've no faith in such nonsense; but another time, +madam, take care that you don't put your hand into the wrong box." +The fat lady, with her face as red as fire, follows her husband, who +walks off grumbling, and it is easy to see, by their gestures, that +the fatal motto has sown discord in the family, and confirmed the +shopkeeper's suspicions. + +Independently of these divers into futurity, the corners of streets +and walls of public squares, are covered with hand-bills announcing +books containing secrets, sympathetic calculations of numbers in the +lottery, the explanation of dreams in regard to those numbers, +together with the different manners of telling fortunes, and +interpreting prognostics. + +At all times, the marvellous has prevailed over simple truth, and the +Cumæan Sibyl attracted the inquisitive in greater crowds than +Socrates, Plato, or any philosopher, had pupils in the whole course +of their existence. + +In Paris, the sciences are really making a rapid progress, +notwithstanding the fooleries of the pseudo-philosophers, who parade +the streets, and here, on the _Boulevards_, as well as in other parts +of the town, exhibit lessons of physics. + +One has an electrifying machine, and phials filled with phosphorus: +for two _sous_, he gives you a slight shock, and makes you a present +of a small phial. + +Farther on, you meet with a _camera obscura_, whose effect surprises +the spectators the more, as the objects represented within it have +the motion which they do not find in common optics. + +There, you see a double refracting telescope: for two _sous_, you +enjoy its effect. At either end, you place any object whatever, and +though a hat, a board, or a child be introduced between the two +glasses, the object placed appears not, on that account, the less +clear and distinct to the eye of the person looking through the +opposite glass. _Pierre_ has seen, and cannot believe his eyes: +_Jacques_ wishes to see, and, on seeing, is in ecstacy: next comes +_Fanchon_, who remains stupified. Enthusiasm becomes general, and the +witnesses of their delirium are ready to go mad at not having two +_sous_ in their pocket. + +Another fellow, in short, has a microscope, of which he extols the +beauty, and, above all, the effects: he will not describe the causes +which produce them, because he is unacquainted with them; but, +provided he adapts his lessons to the understanding of those who +listen to him, this is all he wants. Sometimes he may be heard to say +to the people about him: "Gentlemen, give me a creeping insect, and +for one _sou_, I will shew it to you as big as my fist." Sometimes +too, unfortunately for him, the insect which he requires is more +easily found among part of his auditors, than the money. + +P.S. For the preceding account of the Parisian conjurers I am +indebted to M. Pujoulx. + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + +_Paris, December 4, 1802_. + +In one of your former letters you questioned me on a subject, which, +though it had not escaped my notice, I was desirous to avoid, till I +should be able to obtain on it some precise information. This I have +done; and I hasten to present you with the following sketch, which +will afford you a tolerably-correct idea of the + +FRENCH FUNDS, AND NATIONAL DEBT. + +The booked or consolidated debt is called + +TIERS CONSOLIDÉ, + +from its being the consolidated third of the national debt, of which +the remaining two-thirds were reimbursed in _Bons de deux Tiers_ in +1797 and 98. It bears interest at five per Cent. payable half yearly +at the _Banque de France_. The payment of the interest is at present +six months in arrear. But the intention of the government is, by +paying off in specie the interest of one whole year, to pay in future +as soon as due. + +The days of payment are the 1st of Germinal (23d of March) and the +1st of Vendémiaire (23d of September). + +This stock purchased at the present price of from 55 to 60 would +produce from eight to nine per cent. The general opinion is, that it +will rise to 80; and as it is the chief stock, and the standard of +the national credit, it is the interest, and must be the constant +object of the government to keep up its price. + +There is a _Caisse d'amortissement_ or Sinking Fund, for the special +purpose of paying off this stock, the effect of which, though not +exactly known, must shortly be very considerable. The _Tiers +Consolidé_ is saleable and transferable at a moment's warning, and at +a trifling expense. It is not subject to taxation, nor open to +attachments, either on the principal or interest. + +For purchasing, no sort of formality is required; but for receiving +interest, or selling, it is necessary to produce a power of attorney. +An established rule is, that the seller always retains his right to +half a year's interest at the succeeding stated period of payment, so +that he who purchases in the interval between March and September, is +entitled to the interest commencing from the 23d of the latter month +only; and he who buys between September and March, receives not his +first dividend till the 23d of the following September. + +TIERS PROVISOIRE. + +This is the debt, yet unbooked, which is composed of the provisional +claims of the creditors of the emigrants, the contractors, and +various other holders of claims on the government. + +The _Tiers Provisoire_ is to be booked before the 1st of Vendémiaire, +year XII of the Republic (23d of September, 1803), and will from that +day bear interest of five per cent; so that, setting aside the danger +of any retrospect in the interval, and that of any other change, it +is at the present price, of from 15 to 50, cheaper than the _Tiers +Consolidé_ to which, in about eighteen months, it will, in every +respect, be assimilated. + +BONS DE DEUX TIERS, + +Is paper issued for the purpose of reimbursing the reduced two-thirds +of the National Debt, and in the origin rendered applicable to the +purchase of national houses and estates in the French Colonies, since +ordered to be funded at five per cent; so that the price of this +species of paper is entirely subordinate to that of the _Tiers +Consolidé_ and supposing that to be 60 francs per cent, the _Bon de +deux Tiers_ would be worth 3 francs. There are no hopes, however +distant, that the government will ever restore the _Bons de deux +Tiers_ to their original value. + +BONS DE TROIS QUARTS, + +So called from having been issued for the purpose of reimbursing the +three-fourths of the interest of the fifth and sixth years of the +Republic (1797 to 1798). They are, in all respects, assimilated to +the preceding stock. + +COUPONS D'EMPRUNT FORCÉ. + +These are the receipts given by the government to the persons who +contributed to the various forced loans. This paper is likewise +assimilated to the two last-mentioned species, with this difference, +that it is generally considered as a less sacred claim, and is +therefore liquidated with greater difficulty. The holders of these +three claims are hastening the liquidation and consolidation of them, +and they are evidently right in so doing. + +QUARTS AU NOM ET QUART NUMÉRAIRE. + + +This paper is thus denominated from its having been issued for the +purpose of reimbursing the fourth of the dividend of the fifth and +sixth years of the Republic (1797 to 1798). It is generally thought +that this very sacred claim on the government will be funded _in +toto_. + +RACHATS DE RENTE, + +Is the name given to the redemption of perpetual annuities due by +individuals to the government, on a privileged mortgage on landed +estates; the said annuities having been issued by the government in +times of great distress, for the purpose of supplying immediate and +urgent events. + +This paper is not only a mere government security, but is also +specially mortgaged on the estates of the person who owes the annuity +to the government, and who is, at any time, at liberty to redeem it +at from twenty to twenty-five years purchase. Claims of this +description, mortgaged on most desirable estates near the metropolis, +might be obtained for less than 60 per cent; which, at the interest +of five per cent, and with the additional advantage, in some +instances, of the arrears of one or two years, would produce between +eight and nine per cent. + +Next to the _Tiers Consolidé_, _Rachats de Rente_ are particularly +worthy of attention; indeed, this debt is of so secure and sacred a +nature, that the government has appropriated a considerable part of +it to the special purpose and service of the hospitals and schools; +two species of institutions which ought ever to be sheltered from all +vicissitudes, and which, whatever may be the form or character of the +government, must be supported and respected. + +ACTIONS DE LA BANQUE DE FRANCE. + +These are shares in the National Bank of France, which are limited to +the number of thirty thousand, and were originally worth one thousand +francs each; they therefore form a capital of 30,000,000 francs, or +£1,250,000 sterling, and afford as follows: + +1. A dividend which at present, and since the foundation, has +averaged from eight to ten per cent, arising from the profits on +discount. + +2. A profit of from four to five per cent more on the discount of +paper, which every holder of an _action_ or share effects at the +Bank, at the rate of one-half per cent per month, or six per cent for +the whole year. + +The present price of an _action_ is about twelve hundred francs, +which may be considered as producing: + +80 francs; dividend paid by the Bank on each share. + +30 francs; certain profits according to the present discount of +bills. + +110 francs; per share 10-10/11 per cent. + +_Actions de la Banque de France_, though subject, in common with all +stocks, to the influence of the government, are, however, far more +independent of it than any other, and are the more secure, as the +National Bank is not only composed of all the first bankers, but also +supported by the principal merchants in the country. This investment +is at present very beneficial, and certainly promises great eventual +advantages. The dividends are paid in two half-yearly instalments. + +ACTIONS DE LA CAISSE DE COMMERCE, +ET +ACTIONS DU COMPTOIR COMMERCIAL. + +The _Caisse de Commerce_ and the _Comptoir Commercial_ are two +establishments on the same plan, and affording, as nearly as +possible, the same advantages as the _Banque de France_: the +only difference is as follows: + +1. These last two are, as far as any commercial establishment can be, +independent of the government, and are more so than the _Banque de +France_, as the _actions_ or shares are not considered as being a +public fund. + +2. The _Actions de la Caisse de Commerce_ limited in number to two +thousand four hundred, originally cost 5000 francs, and are now worth +6000. The holder of each _action_ moreover, signs circulating notes +to the amount of five thousand francs, which form the paper currency +of the Bank, and for the payment of which the said holder would be +responsible, were the Bank to stop payment. + +3. The _Actions du Comptoir Commercial_ are still issued by the +administrators of the establishment. The number of _actions_ is not +as yet limited: the price of each _action_ is fifteen hundred francs +(_circa_ £60 sterling), and the plan and advantages are almost +entirely similar to those of the two last-mentioned institutions. + +The _Banque de France_ the _Caisse de Commerce_, and the _Comptoir +Commercial_, discount three times a week. The first, the paper of the +banking-houses and the principal commercial houses holding +bank-stock; the second, the paper of the wholesale merchants of every +class; and the third, the paper of retailers of all descriptions; and +in a circulation which amounts to 100 millions of francs (_circa_ 4 +millions sterling) per month, there have not, it is said, been seen, +in the course of the last month, protests to the amount of 20,000 +francs. + +BONS DE L'AN VII ET DE L'AN VIII. + +Is a denomination applied to paper, issued for the purpose of paying +the dividend of the debt during the seventh and eighth years of the +Republic. + +These _Bons_ are no further deserving of notice than as they still +form a part of the floating debt, and are an article of the supposed +liquidation at the conclusion of the present summary. It is therefore +unnecessary to say more of them. + +ARRÉRAGES DES ANNÉES V ET VI. + +These are the arrears due to such holders of stock as, during the +fifth and sixth years of the Republic, had not their dividend paid in +_Bons de trois Quarts_ and _Quart Numéraire_, mentioned in Art. IV +and VI of this sketch. I also notice them as forming an essential +part of the above-mentioned supposed liquidation, at the end of the +sketch, and shall only add that it is the general opinion that they +will be funded. + +To the preceding principal investments and claims on the government, +might be added the following: + + _Coupes de Bois. + Cédules Hypothécaires. + Rescriptions de Domaines Nationaux. + Actions de la Caisse des Rentiers. + Actions des Indes. + Bons de Moines et Réligieuses. + Obligations de Reçeveur._ + +However, they are almost entirely unworthy of attention, and afford +but occasionally openings for speculation. Of the last, (_Obligations +de Reçeveur_) it may be necessary to observe that they are monthy +acceptances issued by the Receivers-General of all the departments, +which the government has given to the five bankers, charged with +supplying money for the current service, as security for their +advances, and which are commonly discounted at from 7/8 to one per +cent per month. + +I shall terminate this concise, though accurate sketch of the French +funds by a general statement of the National Debt, and by an account +of an annuity supposed to be held by a foreigner before the +revolution, and which, to become _Tiers Consolidé_, must undergo the +regular process of reduction and liquidation. + + +_National Debt_. + + _Francs._ + + Consolidated Stock (_Tiers Consolidé_) 38,750,000 + Floating Debt, to be consolidated, about 23,000,000 + Life Annuities 20,000,000 + Ecclesiastical, Military, and other Pensions 19,000,000 + ----------- + 100,750,000 + + The value of a _franc_ is something more + than 10_d_. English money: according to + which calculation, the National Debt of + France is in round numbers no more than £4,000,000 + +Supposed liquidation of an annuity of £100. sterling, or 2,400 +_livres tournois_ held by a foreigner before the war and yet +unliquidated. + + _Francs._ + Original Annuity 2,400 + _Tiers Consolidé + Bons de deux Tiers_ 2,400 + +The actual value of the whole, including the arreared dividends up to +the present day is as follows: + + _Francs._ + _Tiers Consolidé_ as above, + 800 francs sold at 60 francs 9,600 + _Bons de deux Tiers_, ditto + 1600 francs sold at 3 francs 48 + + +Arrears from the first year of the Republic to the fifth ditto (23d +of September, 1792 to the 23d of September, 1797) are to be paid in +Assignats, and are of no value. + + Arrears of the fifth and sixth years supposed to + be liquidated so as to afford 25 per cent of + their nominal value, about 600 + Arrears in _Bons_ for the year VII, valued at 50 + per cent loss 400 + Arrears of the year VIII, due in _Bons_, valued + at 25 per cent loss 600 + Arrears of the year IX, due in specie 600 + Arrears of the year X, of which three months + are nearly elapsed 200 + ----- + Total of the principal and interest of an original + annuity of 2,400 livres, reduced (according + to law) to 800 12,248 + Or in sterling, _circa_ £500 + ------ + +I had almost forgot that you have asked me more than once for an +explanation of the exact value of a modern franc. The following you +may depend on as correct. + +The _unité monétaire_ is a piece of silver of the weight of five +_grammes_, containing a tenth of alloy and nine tenths of pure +silver. It is called _Franc_, and is subdivided into _Décimes_, and +_Centimes_: its value is to that of the old _livre tournois_ in the +proportion of 81 to 80. + + _Value in livres tournois._ + liv. sous. deniers. + Franc 1 0 3 + Décime 2 0.3 + Centime 2.43 + + + +LETTER XXIX. + +_Paris, December 7, 1801_. + +At the grand monthly parade of the 15th of last Brumaire, I had seen +the First Consul chiefly on horseback: on which account, I determined +to avail myself of that of the 15th of the present month of Frimaire, +in order to obtain a nearer view of his person. On these occasions, +none but officers in complete uniform are admitted into the palace of +the _Tuileries_, unless provided with tickets, which are distributed +to a certain number at the discretion of the governor. General A----y +sent me tickets by ten o'clock this morning, and about half after +eleven, I repaired to the palace. + +On reaching the vestibule from the garden of the _Tuileries_, you +ascend the grand stair-case to the left, which conducts you to the +guard-room above it in the centre pavilion. Hence you enter the +apartments of the Chief Consul. + +On the days of the grand parade, the first room is destined for +officers as low as the rank of captain, and persons admitted with +tickets; the second, for field-officers; the third, for generals; and +the fourth, for councellors of state, and the diplomatic corps. To +the east, the windows of these apartments command the court-yard +where the troops are assembled; while to the west, they afford a fine +view of the garden of the _Tuileries_ and the avenue leading to the +_Barrière de Chaillot_. In the first-room, those windows which +overlook the parade were occupied by persons standing five or six in +depth, some of whom, as I was informed, had been patient enough to +retain their places for the space of two or three hours, and among +them were a few ladies. Here, a sort of lane was formed from door to +door by some grenadiers of the consular guard. I found both sides of +this lane so much crowded, that I readily accepted the invitation of +a _chef de brigade_ of my acquaintance to accompany him into the +second room; this, he observed, was no more than a privilege to which +I was entitled. This room was also crowded; but it exhibited a most +brilliant _coup d'oeil_ from the great variety and richness of the +uniforms of the field-officers here assembled, by which mine was +entirely eclipsed. The lace or embroidery is not merely confined to +the coats, jackets, and pantaloons, but extends to the sword belts, +and even to the boots, which are universally worn by the military. +Indeed, all the foreign ambassadors admit that none of the levees of +the European courts can vie in splendour with those of the Chief +Consul. + +My first care on entering this room, was to place myself in a +situation which might afford me an uninterrupted view of BONAPARTE. +About twenty-five minutes past twelve, his sortie was announced by a +_huissier_. Immediately after, he came out of the inner apartment, +attended by several officers of rank, and, traversing all the other +rooms with a quick step, proceeded, uncovered, to the parade, the +order of which I have described to you in a former letter. On the +present occasion, however, it lasted longer on account of the +distribution of arms of honour, which the First Consul presents with +his own hand to those heroes who have signalized themselves in +fighting their country's battles. + +This part of the ceremony, which was all that I saw of the parade +yesterday, naturally revived in my mind the following question, so +often agitated: "Are the military successes of the French the +consequences of a new system of operations and new tactics, or merely +the effect of the blind courage of a mass of men, led on by chiefs +whose resolutions were decided by presence of mind alone and +circumstances?" + +The latter method of explaining their victories has been frequently +adopted, and the French generals have been reproached with lavishing +the lives of thousands for the sake of gaining unimportant +advantages, or repairing inconsiderable faults. + +Sometimes, indeed, it should seem that a murderous obstinacy has +obtained them successes to which prudence had not paved the way; but, +certainly, the French can boast, too, of memorable days when talent +had traced the road to courage, when vast plans combined with +judgment, have been followed with perseverance, when resources have +been found in those awful moments in which Victory, hovering over a +field of carnage, leaves the issue of the conflict doubtful, till a +sudden thought, a ray of genius, inclines her in favour of the +general, thus inspired, and then art may be said to triumph over art, +and valour over valour. + +And whence came most of these generals who have shewn this +inspiration, if I may so term it? Some, as is well known, emerged +from the schools of jurisprudence; some, from the studies of the +arts; and others, from the counting-houses of commerce, as well as +from the lowest ranks of the army. Previously to the revolution it +was not admitted, in this country at least, that such sources could +furnish men fit to be one day the arbiters of battles and of the fate +of empires. Till that period, all those Frenchmen who had +distinguished themselves in the field, had devoted themselves from +their infancy to the profession of arms, were born near the throne of +which they constituted the lustre, or in that cast who arrogated to +themselves the exclusive right of defending their country. The glory +of the soldier was not considered; and a private must have been more +than a hero to be as much remarked as a second lieutenant. + +Men of reflection, seeing the old tactics fail against successful +essays, against enthusiasm whose effects are incalculable, studied +whether new ideas did not direct some new means; for it would have +been no less absurd to grant all to valour than to attribute all to +art. But to return to the main subject of my letter. + +In about three quarters of an hour, BONAPARTE came back from the +parade, with the same suite as before, that is, preceded by his +aides-de-camp, and followed by the generals and field-officers of the +consular guard, the governor of the palace, the general commanding +the first military division, and him at the head of the garrison of +Paris. For my part, I scarcely saw any one but himself; BONAPARTE +alone absorbed my whole attention. + +A circumstance occurred which gave me an opportunity of observing the +Chief Consul with critical minuteness. I had left the second room, +and taken my station in front of the row of gazers, close to the +folding-doors which opened into the first room, in order to see him +receive petitions and memorials. There was no occasion for BONAPARTE +to cast his eyes from side to side, like the _Grand Monarque_ coming +from mass, by way of inviting petitioners to approach him. They +presented themselves in such numbers that, after he put his hat under +his arm, both his hands were full in a moment. To enable him to +receive other petitions, he was under the necessity of delivering the +first two handfuls to his aides-de-camp. I should like to learn what +becomes of all these papers, and whether he locks them up in a little +desk of which he alone has the key, as was the practice of Lewis XIV. + +When BONAPARTE approached the door of the second room, he was +effectually impeded in his progress by a lady, dressed in white, who, +throwing herself at his feet, gracefully presented to him a memorial, +which he received with much apparent courtesy; but still seemed, by +his manner, desirous to pass forward. However, the crowd was so +considerable and so intent on viewing this scene, that the +grenadiers, posted near the spot where it took place, were obliged to +use some degree of violence before they could succeed in clearing a +passage. + +Of all the portraits which you and I have seen of BONAPARTE in +England, that painted by Masquerier, and exhibited in Piccadilly, +presents the greatest resemblance. But for his side-face, you may, +for twelve _sous_, here procure a perfect likeness of it at almost +every stall in the street. In short, his features are such as may, in +my opinion, be easily copied by any artist of moderate abilities. +However incompetent I may be to the task, I shall, as you desire it, +attempt to _sketch_ his person; though I doubt not that any French +_commis_, in the habit of describing people by words, might do it +greater justice. + +BONAPARTE is rather below the middle size, somewhat inclined to +stoop, and thin in person; but, though of a slight make, he appears +to be muscular, and capable of fatigue; his forehead is broad, and +shaded by dark brown hair, which is cut short behind; his eyes, of +the same colour, are full, quick, and prominent; his nose is +aquiline; his chin, protuberant and pointed; his complexion, of a +yellow hue; and his cheeks, hollow. His countenance, which is of a +melancholy cast, expresses much sagacity and reflection: his manner +is grave and deliberate, but at the same time open. On the whole, his +aspect announces him to be of a temperate and phlegmatic disposition; +but warm and tenacious in the pursuit of his object, and impatient of +contradiction. Such, at least, is the judgment which I should form of +BONAPARTE from his external appearance. + +While I was surveying this man of universal talent, my fancy was not +idle. First, I beheld him, flushed with ardour, directing the assault +of the _téte-de-pont_ at _Lodi_; next dictating a proclamation to the +Beys at _Cairo_, and styling himself the friend of the faithful; then +combating the ebullition of his rage on being foiled in the storming +of _Acre_ I afterwards imagined I saw him like another CROMWELL, +expelling the Council of Five Hundred at _St. Cloud_, and seizing on +the reins of government: when established in power, I viewed him, +like HANNIBAL, crossing the _Alps_, and forcing victory to yield to +him the hard-contested palm at _Marengo_; lastly, he appeared to my +imagination in the act of giving the fraternal embrace to Caprara, +the Pope's legate, and at the same time holding out to the see of +Rome the re-establishment of catholicism in France. + +Voltaire says that "no man ever was a hero in the eyes of his +_valet-de-chambre_." I am curious to know whether the valet of the +First Consul be an exception to this maxim. As to BONAPARTE'S public +character, numerous, indeed, are the constructions put on it by the +voice of rumour: some ascribe to him one great man of antiquity as a +model; some, another; but many compare him, in certain respects, to +JULIUS CÆSAR, as imitators generally succeed better in copying the +failings than the good qualities of their archetypes, let us hope, +supposing this comparison to be a just one, that the Chief Consul +will, in one particular, never lose sight of the generous clemency of +that illustrious Roman--who, if any spoke bitterly against him, +deemed it sufficient to complain of the circumstance publicly, in +order to prevent them from persevering in the use of such language. +"_Acerbè loquentibus satis habuit pro concione denunciare, ne +perseverarent._" + +"The character of a great man," says a French political writer, who +denies the justness of this comparison, "like the celebrated picture +of Zeuxis, can be formed only of a multitude of imitations, and it is +as little possible for the observer to find for him a single model in +history, as it was for the painter of Heraclea to discover in nature +that of the ideal beauty he was desirous of representing[1]."--"The +French revolution," observes the same author, a little farther on, +"has, perhaps, produced more than one CÆSAR, or one CROMWELL; but +they have disappeared before they have had it in their power to give +full scope to their ambition[2]." Time will decide on the truth and +impartiality of these observations of M. HAUTERIVE. + +As at the last monthly parade, BONAPARTE was habited in the consular +dress, that is, a coat of scarlet velvet, embroidered with gold: he +wore jockey boots, carelessly drawn over white cotton pantaloons, and +held in his hand a cocked hat, with the national cockade only. I say +only, because all the generals wear hats trimmed with a splendid +lace, and decorated with a large, branching, tricoloured feather. + +After the parade, the following, I understand, is the _étiquette_ +usually observed in the palace. The Chief Consul first gives audience +to the general-officers, next to the field-officers, to those +belonging to the garrison, and to a few petitioners. He then returns +to the fourth apartment, where the counsellors of state assemble. +Being arrived there, notice is sent to the diplomatic corps, who meet +in a room on the ground-floor of the palace, called _La Salle des +Ambassadeurs_. They immediately repair to the levee-room, and, after +paying their personal respects to the First Consul, they each +introduce to him such persons, belonging to their respective nations, +as they may think proper. Several were this day presented by the +Imperial, Russian, and Danish ambassadors: the British minister, Mr. +Jackson, has not yet presented any of his countrymen nor will he, in +all probability, as he is merely a _locum tenens_. After the levee, +the Chief Consul generally gives a dinner of from one hundred and +fifty to two hundred covers, to which all those who have received +arms of honour, are invited. + +Before I left the palace, I observed the lady above-mentioned, who +had presented the memorial, seated in one corner of the room, all in +tears, and betraying every mark of anxious grief: she was pale, and +with her hair dishevelled; but, though by no means handsome, her +distressed situation excited a lively interest in her favour. On +inquiry, I was informed that it was Madame Bourmont, the wife of a +Vendean chief, condemned to perpetual imprisonment for a breach of +the convention into which he had jointly entered with the agents of +the French government. + +Having now accomplished my object, when the crowd was somewhat +dispersed, I retired to enjoy the fine weather by a walk in the + +CHAMPS ELYSÉES. + +After traversing the garden of the _Tuileries_ and the _Place de la +Concorde_, from east to west, you arrive at this fashionable summer +promenade. It is planted with trees in quincunx; and although, in +particular points of view, this gives it a symmetrical air; yet, in +others, the hand of art is sufficiently concealed to deceive the eye +by a representation of the irregular beauties of nature. The French, +in general, admire the plan of the garden of the _Tuileries_, and +think the distribution tasteful; but, when the trees are in leaf, all +prefer the _Champs Elysées_, as being more rural and more inviting. +This spot, which is very extensive, as you may see by the Plan of +Paris, has frequently been chosen for the scene of national fêtes, +for which it is, in many respects, better calculated than the _Champ +de Mars_. However, from its proximity to the great road, the foliage +is imbrowned by the dust, and an idea of aridity intrudes itself on +the imagination from the total absence of water. The sight of that +refreshing element recreates the mind, and communicates a powerful +attraction even to a wilderness. + +In fact, at this season of the year, the _Champs Elysées_ resemble a +desert; but, in summer, they present one of the most agreeable scenes +that can be imagined. In temporary buildings, of a tasteful +construction, you then find here _restaurateurs_, &c, where all sorts +of refreshments may be procured, and rooms where "the merry dance" is +kept up with no common spirit. Swings and roundabouts are also +erected, as well as different machines for exercising the address of +those who are fond of running at a ring, and other sports. Between +the road leading to _l'Étoile_, the _Bois de Boulogne_, &c, and that +which skirts the Seine, formerly called the _Cours de la Reine_, is a +large piece of turf, where, in fine weather, and especially on +Sundays, the Parisian youths amuse themselves at foot-ball, +prison-bars, and long tennis. Here, too, boys and girls assemble, +and improve their growth and vigour by dancing, and a variety of +healthful diversions; while their relations and friends, seated on +the grass, enjoy this interesting sight, and form around each group a +circle which is presently increased by numbers of admiring +spectators. + +Under the shade of the trees, on the right hand, as you face the +west, an immense concourse of both sexes and all ages is at the same +time collected. Those who prefer sitting to walking occupy three long +rows of chairs, set out for hire, three deep on each side, and +forming a lane through which the great body of walkers parade. This +promenade may then be said to deserve the appellation of _Elysian +Fields_, from the number of handsome women who resort hither. The +variety of their dresses and figures, the satisfaction which they +express in seeing and being seen, their anxious desire to please, +which constitutes their happiness and that of our sex, the triumph +which animates the countenance of those who eclipse their rivals; all +this forms a diversified and amusing picture, which fixes attention, +and gives birth to a thousand ideas respecting the art and coquetry +of women, as well as what beauty loses or gains by adopting the +ever-varying caprices of fashion. Here, on a fine summer's evening, +are now to be seen, I am told, females displaying almost as much +luxury of dress as used to be exhibited in the days of the monarchy. +The essential difference is that the road in the centre is not now, +as in those times, covered with brilliant equipages; though every day +seems to produce an augmentation of the number of private carriages. +At the entrance of the _Champs Elysées_ are placed the famous groups +of Numidian horses, held in by their vigorous and masterly conductors, +two _chefs d'oeuvre_ of modern art, copied from the group of +_Monte-Cavallo_ at Rome. By order of the Directory, these statues were +brought from _Marly_, where they ornamented the terrace. They are +each of them cut out of a block of the most faultless Carrara marble. +On the pedestal on which they stood at that once-royal residence, was +engraved the name of COSTOU, 1745, without any Christian name: but, +as there were two brothers of that name, Nicolas and Guillaume, +natives of Lyons, and both excellent sculptors, it is become a matter +of doubt by which of them these master-pieces were executed; though +the one died in 1733, and the other in 1746. It is conjectured, +however, that fraternal friendship induced them to share the fame +arising from these capital productions, and that they worked at them +in common till death left the survivor the task of finishing their +joint labour. + +To whichever of the two the merit of the execution may be due, it is +certain that the fiery, ungovernable spirit of the horses, as well as +the exertion of vigour, and the triumph of strength in their +conductors, is very happily expressed. The subject has frequently +afforded a comparison to politicians. "These statues," say some +observers, "appear to be the emblem of the French people, over whom +it is necessary to keep a tight hand."--"It is to be apprehended," +add others, "that the reins, which the conductors hold with so +powerful an arm, are too weak to check these ungovernable animals." + +[Footnote 1: _De l'Etat de la France, à la fin de l'an VIII._ page +270.] + +[Footnote 2: Ibid. page 274.] + + + +LETTER XXX. + +_Paris, Dccemler 8, 1801_. + +You desire that I will favour you with a particular account of the +means employed to transfer from pannel to canvas those celebrated +pictures which I mentioned in my letter of the 13th ult°. Like many +other, things that appear simple on being known, so is this process; +but it is not, on that account, the less ingenious and difficult in +execution. + +Such is the great disadvantage of the art of painting that, while +other productions of genius may survive the revolution of ages, the +creations of the pencil are intrusted to perishable wood or canvas. +From the effect of heat, humidity, various exhalations to which they +may be carelessly exposed, and even an unperceived neglect in the +priming of the pannel or cloth, master-pieces are in danger of +disappearing for ever. Happy, then, is it for the arts that this +invaluable discovery has been lately brought to so great a degree of +perfection, and that the restoration of several capital pictures +having been confided to men no less skilful than enlightened, they +have thus succeeded in rescuing them from approaching and inevitable +destruction. + +Of all the fruits of the French conquests, not a painting was brought +from Lombardy, Rome, Florence, or Venice, that was not covered with +an accumulation of filth, occasioned by the smoke of the wax-tapers +and incense used in the ceremonies of the catholic religion. It was +therefore necessary to clean and repair them; for to bring them to +France, without rendering them fit to be exhibited, would have +answered no better purpose than to have left them in Italy. One of +those which particularly fixed the attention of the Administration of +the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, was the famous picture by RAPHAEL, +taken from the _Chiesa delle Contesse_ at Foligno, and thence +distinguished by the appellation of + +MADONNA DI FOLIGNO. + +This _chef d'oeuvre_ was in such a lamentable state of decay, that +the French commissioners who selected it, wereunder the necessity of +pasting paper over it in order to prevent the scales, which curled up +on many parts of its surface, from falling off during its conveyance +to to Paris. In short, had not the saving hand of art interposed, +this, and other monuments of the transcendent powers of the Italian +school, marked by the corroding tooth of Time, would soon have +entirely perished. + +As this picture could not be exhibited in its injured state, the +Administration of the Museum determined that it should be repaired. +They accordingly requested the Minister of the Interior to cause this +important operation to be attended by Commissioners chosen from the +National Institute. The Class of Physical and Mathematical Sciences +of that learned Society appointed to this task, GUYTON and +BERTHOLLET, chymists, and the Class of Literature and Fine Arts named +VINCENT and TAUNAY, painters. + +These Commissioners, in concert with the Administration, having +ascertained the state of the picture, it was unanimously agreed that +the only mean of saving it would be to remove it from the worm-eaten +pannel on which it was painted. It was, besides, necessary to +ascertain the safety of the process, in order that, without, exciting +the apprehensions of the lovers of the arts, it might be applied to +other pictures which required it. + +The Report of the four Commissioners before named, respecting the +restoration of the _Madonna di Foligno_, has been adopted by the +Classes to which they respectively belong, and is to be made to the +National Institute at their next public sitting on the 15th of Nivose +(5th of January, 1802). + +In order to make you perfectly acquainted with the whole of the +process, I shall transcribe, for your satisfaction, that part of the +Report immediately connected with the art of restoring damaged or +decayed paintings. This labour, and the success by which it was +attended, are really a memorial of what the genius and industry of +the French can achieve. To all those who, like you, possess valuable +collections, such information cannot but be particularly interesting. + +"The desire of repairing the outrages of time has unfortunately +accelerated the decay of several pictures by coarse repainting and +bad varnish, by which much of the original work has been covered. +Other motives, too, have conspired against the purity of the most +beautiful compositions: a prelate has been seen to cause a discordant +head of hair to conceal the charms of a Magdalen." + +"Nevertheless, efficacious means of restoration have been discovered: +a painting, the convass of which is decayed, or the pannel +worm-eaten, is transferred to a fresh cloth; the profane touches +of a foreign pencil are made to disappear; the effaced strokes are +reinserted with scrupulous nicety; and life is restored to a picture +which was disfigured, or drawing near to its end. This art has made +great progress, especially in Paris, and experienced recent +improvement under the superintendance of the Administration of the +Museum; but it is only with a religious respect that any one can +venture on an operation which may always give rise to a fear of some +change in the drawing or colouring, above all when the question is to +restore a picture by RAPHAEL."[1] + +"The restoration may be divided into two parts; the one, which is +composed of mechanical operations, whose object is to detach the +painting from the ground on which it is fixed, in order to transfer +it to a fresh one; the other, which consists in cleaning the surface +of the painting from every thing that can tarnish it, in restoring +the true colour of the picture, and in repairing the parts destroyed, +by tints skilfully blended with the primitive touches. Thence the +distinctive division of the mechanical operations, and of the art of +painting, which will be the object of the two parts of this Report. +The former particularly engaged the attention of the Commissioners of +the _Class of Sciences_; and the latter, which required the habit of +handling a scientific pencil, fell to the share of the Commissioners +of the _Class of Fine Arts_" + +FIRST PART. + +"Although the mechanical labour is subdivided into several +operations, it was wholly intrusted to Citizen HACQUINS, on whose +intelligence, address, and skill, it is our duty to bestow every +commendation." + +"The picture represents the Virgin Mary, the infant Jesus, St. John, +and several other figures of different sizes. It was painted on a +pannel of 1-1/2 inches in thickness: a crack extended from its +circumference to the left foot of the infant Jesus: it was 4-1/2 +lines wide at its upper part, and diminished progressively to the +under: from this crack to the right hand border, the surface formed a +curve whose greatest bend was 2 inches 5-1/2 lines, and from the +crack to the other border, another curve bending 2 inches. The +picture was scaling off in several places, and a great number of +scales had already detached themselves; the painting was, besides, +worm-eaten in many parts." + +"It was first necessary to render the surface even: to effect this, a +gauze was pasted on the painting, and the picture was turned on its +face. After that, Citizen HACQUINS made, in the thickness of the +wood, several grooves at some distance from each other, and extending +from the upper extremity of the bend to the place where the pannel +presented a more level surface. Into these grooves he introduced +little wooden wedges; he then covered the whole surface with wet +cloths, which he took care to remoisten. The action of the wedges, +which swelled by the moisture against the softened pannel, compelled +the latter to resume its primitive form: both edges of the crack +before-mentioned being brought together, the artist had recourse to +glue, in order to unite the two separated parts. During the +desiccation, he laid oak bars across the picture, for the purpose of +keeping the pannel in the form which he wished it to assume." + +"The desiccation being effected slowly, the artist applied a second +gauze on the first, then successively two thicknesses of grey +blotting paper." + +"This preparation (which the French artists call _cartonnage_) being +dry, he laid the picture with its face downward on a table, to which +he carefully confined it; he next proceeded to the separation of the +wood on which the painting was fixed." + +"The first operation was executed by means of two saws, one of which +acted perpendicularly; and the other, horizontally: the work of the +two saws being terminated, the pannel was found to be reduced to the +thickness of 4-1/2 lines. The artist then made use of a plane of a +convex form on its breadth: with this instrument he planed the pannel +in an oblique direction, in order to take off very short shavings, +and to avoid the grain of the wood: by these means he reduced the +pannel to 2/3 of a line in thickness. He then took a flat plane with +a toothed iron, whose effect is much like that of a rasp which +reduces wood into dust: in this manner he contrived to leave the +pannel no thicker than a sheet of paper." + +"In that state, the wood was successively moistened with clear water, +in small compartments, which disposed it to detach itself: then the +artist separated it with the rounded point of a knife-blade." + +"The picture, thus deprived of all the wood, presented to the eye +every symptom of the injury which it had sustained. It had formerly +been repaired; and, in order to fasten again the parts which +threatened to fall off, recourse had been had to oils and varnishes. +But those ingredients passing through the intervals left by such +parts of the picture as were reduced to curling scales, had been +extended in the impression to the paste, on which the painting +rested, and had rendered the real restoration more difficult, without +producing the advantageous effect which had thence been expected." + +"The same process would not serve for separating the parts of the +impression which had been indurated by varnishes, and those where the +paste had remained unmixed: it was necessary to moisten the former +for some time in small compartments: when they were become +sufficiently softened, the artist separated them with the blade of +his knife: the others were more easily separated by moistening them +with a flannel, and rubbing them slightly. It required all the +address and patience of Citizen HACQUINS to leave nothing foreign to +the work of the original painter: at length the outline of RAPHAEL +was wholly exposed to view, and left by itself." + +"In order to restore a little suppleness to the painting, which was +too much dried, it was rubbed all over with carded cotton imbibed +with oil, and wiped with old muslin: then white lead, ground with +oil, was substituted in the room of the impression made by paste, and +fixed by means of a soft brush." + +"After being left to dry for three months, a gauze was glued on the +impression made by oil; and on the latter, a fine canvas." + +"When this canvas was dry, the picture was detached from the table, +and turned, in order to remove the _cartonnage_ from it with water; +this operation being effected, the next proceeding was to get rid of +the appearance of the inequalities of the surface arising from the +curling up of its parts: for that purpose, the artist successively +applied on the inequalities, flour-paste diluted. Then having put a +greasy paper on the moistened part, he laid a hot iron on the parts +curled up, which became level: but it was not till after he had +employed the most unequivocal signs to ascertan the suitable degree +of heat, that he ventured to come near the painting with the iron." + +"It has been seen that the painting, disengaged from its impression +made by paste and from every foreign substance, had been fixed on an +impression made by oil, and that a level form had been given to the +uneven parts of its surface. This master-piece was still to be +solidly applied on a new ground: for that, it was necessary to paste +paper over it again, detach it from the temporary gauze which had +been put on the impression, add a new coat of oxyde of lead and oil, +apply to it a gauze rendered very supple, and on the latter, in like +manner done over with a preparation of lead, a raw cloth, woven all +in one piece, and impregnated, on its exterior surface, with a +resinous substance, which was to confine it to a similar canvass +fixed on the stretching-frame. This last operation required that the +body of the picture, disengaged from its _cartonnage_, or paper +facing, and furnished with a new ground, should be exactly applied to +the cloth done over with resinous substances, at the same time +avoiding every thing that might hurt it by a too strong or unequal +extension, and yet compelling every part of its vast extent to adhere +to the cloth strained on the stretching-frame. It is by all these +proceedings that the picture has been incorporated with a ground more +durable than the original one, and guarded against the accidents +which had produced the injuries. It was then subjected to +restoration, which is the object of the second part of this Report." + +"We have been obliged to confine ourselves to pointing out the +successive operations, the numerous details of which we have +attended; we have endeavoured to give an idea of this interesting +art, by which the productions of the pencil may be indefinitely +perpetuated, in order only to state the grounds of the confidence +that it has appeared to us to merit." + +SECOND PART. + +"After having given an account of the mechanical operations, employed +with so much success in the first part of the restoration of the +picture by RAPHAEL, it remains for us to speak of the second, the +restoration of the painting, termed by the French artists +_restauration pittoresque_. This part is no less interesting than the +former. We are indebted to it for the reparation of the ravages of +time and of the ignorance of men, who, from their unskilfulness, had +still added to the injury which this master-piece had already +suffered. + +"This essential part of the restoration of works of painting, +requires, in those who are charged with it, a very delicate eye, in +order to know how to accord the new tints with the old, a profound +knowledge of the proceedings employed by masters, and a long +experience, in order to foresee, in the choice and use of colours, +what changes time may effect in the new tints, and consequently +prevent the discordance which would be the result of those changes. + +"The art of restoring paintings likewise requires the most scrupulous +nicety to cover no other than the damaged parts, and an extraordinary +address to match the work of the restoration with that of the master, +and, as it were, replace the first priming in all its integrity, +concealing the work to such a degree that even unexperienced eye +cannot distinguish what comes from the hand of the artist from what +belongs to that of the master. + +"It is, above all, in a work of the importance of that of which we +are speaking, that the friends of the arts have a right to require, +in its restoration, all the care of prudence and the exertion of the +first talents. We feel a real satisfaction in acquainting you with +the happy result of the discriminating wisdom of the Administration +of the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS; who, after having directed and +superintended the first part of the restoration, employed in the +second, that of the painting (which we call _pittoresque_) Citizen +ROESER, whose abilities in this line were long known to them, and +whose repeated success had justified their confidence." + +After having assured the Institute that they consider the +_pittoresque_ part of the restoration of the _Madonna di Foligno_ as +pure as it was possible to be desired, the Commissioners proceed to +call their attention to some discordance in the original design and +colouring of this _chef d'oeuvre_, and to make on it some critical +observations. This they do in order to prevent any doubts which might +arise in the mind of observers, and lead them to imagine that the +restoration had, in any manner, impaired the work of RAPHAEL. + +They next congratulate themselves on having at length seen this +masterpiece of the immortal RAPHAEL restored to life, shining in all +its lustre, and through such means, that there ought no longer to +remain any fear respecting the recurrence of those accidents whose +ravages threatened to snatch it for ever from general admiration. + +They afterwards terminate their Report in the following words: + +"The Administration of the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, who have, by +their knowledge, improved the art of restoration, will, no doubt, +neglect nothing to preserve that art in all its integrity; and, +notwithstanding repeated success, they will not permit the +application of it but to pictures so injured, that there are more +advantages in subjecting them to a few risks inseparable from +delicate and numerous operations, than in abandoning them to the +destruction by which they are threatened. The invitation which the +Administration of the Museum gave to the National Institute to attend +the restoration of the _Madonna di Foligno_ by RAPHAEL, is to us a +sure pledge that the enlightened men of whom it is composed felt that +they owed an account of their vigilance to all the connoisseurs in +Europe." + +[Footnote 1: It may not be amiss to observe that RAPHAEL employed the +_impasto_ colour but in few of his pictures, of which the +_Transfiguration_ is one wherein it is the most conspicuous: his +other productions are painted with great transparency, the colours +being laid on a white ground; which rendered still more difficult the +operation above-mentioned. _Note of the Author_.] + + + +LETTER XXXI. + +_Paris, December 10, 1801._ + +"Of all the bridges that were ever built," says Sterne, "the whole +world, who have passed over it, must own that the noblest--the +grandest--the lightest--the longest--the broadest that ever conjoined +land and land together upon the face of the terraqueous globe, is the + +PONT NEUF." + +The _Pont Neuf_ is certainly the largest, and, on account of its +situation[1], the most conspicuous, and most frequented of any of the +bridges in Paris; but, in the environs of the capital, is one which +surpasses them all. This is the _Pont de Neuilly._ + +The first stone of the _Pont Neuf_ was laid by Henry III in 1578, and +the foundation of the piles was begun to be formed on the opposite +side; when the troubles of the League forced DU CERCEAU, the +architect, to withdraw to foreign countries. The work was not resumed +till the reign of Henry IV, who ordered it to be continued under the +direction of MARCHAND; but, owing to various causes, the _Pont Neuf_ +was not finished till 1674. + +The length of this bridge is one thousand and twenty feet, and its +breadth seventy-two; which is sufficient to admit of five carriages +passing abreast. It is formed of twelve arches, seven of which are on +the side of the _Louvre_, and five on the side of the _Quai des +Augustins_, extending over the two channels of the river, which is +wider in this place, from their junction. + +In 1775, the parapets were repaired, and the foot-way lowered and +narrowed. SOUFFLOT, the architect of the Pantheon, availed himself of +this opportunity to build, on the twenty half-moons which stand +immediately above each pile, as many rotundas, in stone, to serve as +shops. On the outside, above the arches, is a double cornice, which +attracts the eye of the connoisseur in architecture, notwithstanding +its mouldering state, on account of the _fleurons_ in the antique +style, and the heads of Sylvans, Dryads, and Satyrs, which serve as +supports to it, at the distance of two feet from each other. + +As the mole that forms a projection on this bridge between the fifth +and seventh arch, stands facing the _Place Dauphine_, which was built +by Henry IV, it was the spot chosen for erecting to him a statue. +This was the first public monument of the kind that had been raised +in honour of French kings. Under the first, second, and third race, +till the reign of Lewis XIII, if the statue of a king was made, it +was only for the purpose, of being placed on his tomb, or else at the +portal of some church, or royal residence which he had either built +or repaired. + +Parisians and strangers used to admire this equestrian statue of +Henry IV, and before the revolution, all agreed in taking him for the +model of goodness. In proof of his popularity, we are told, in the +_Tableau de Paris_, that a beggar was one day following a passenger +along, the foot-way, of the _Pont Neuf_: it was a festival. "In the +name of St. Peter," said the mendicant, "in the name of St. Joseph, +in the name of the Virgin Mary, in the name of her divine Son, in the +name of God?" Being arrived before the statue of the conqueror of the +League, "In the name of _Henri quatre_" exclaimed he, "in the name of +_Henri quatre?_"--"Here!" said the passenger, and he gave him a louis +d'or. + +Unquestionably, no monarch that ever sat on the throne of France was +so popular as _Henri quatre_; and his popularity was never eclipsed +by any of his successors. Even amidst the rage of the revolutionary +storm, the military still held his memory in veneration. On opening +the sepultures at St. Denis in 1793, the coffin of Henry IV was the +first that was taken out of the vault of the Bourbons. Though he died +in 1610, his body was found in such preservation that the features of +his face were not altered. A soldier, who was present at the opening +of the coffin, moved by a martial enthusiasm, threw himself on the +body of this warlike prince, and, after a considerable pause of +admiration, he drew his sabre, and cut off a long lock of Henry's +beard, which was still fresh, at the same time exclaiming, in very +energetic and truly-military terms: "And I too am a French soldier! +In future I will have no other whiskers." Then placing this valuable +lock on his upper lip, he withdrew, adding emphatically: "Now I am +sure to conquer the enemies of France, and I march to victory." + +In Paris, all the statues of kings had fallen, while that of Henry IV +still remained erect. It was for some time a matter of doubt whether +it should be pulled down. "The poem of the _Henriade_ pleaded in its +favour;" but, says Mercier, "he was an ancestor of the perjured +king," Then, and not till then, this venerated statue underwent the +same fate. + +It has been generally believed that the deed of Ravaillac was +dictated by fanaticism, or that he was the instrument employed by the +Marchioness of Verneuil and the Duke of Epernon for assassinating +that monarch. However, it stands recorded, I am told, in a manuscript +found in the National Library, that Ravaillac killed Henry IV because +he had seduced his sister, and abandoned her when pregnant. Thus +time, that affords a clue to most mysteries, has also solved this +historical enigma. + +This statue of Henry IV was erected on the 23d of August, 1624. To +have insulted it, would, not long since, have been considered as a +sacrilege; but, after having been mutilated and trodden under foot, +this once-revered image found its way to the mint or the +cannon-foundry. On its site now stands an elegant coffeehouse, +whence you may enjoy a fine view of the stately buildings which +adorn the quays that skirt the river. + +While admiring the magnificence of this _coup d'oeil_, an Englishman +cannot avoid being struck by the multitude of washerwomen, striving +to expel the dirt from linen, by means of _battoirs_, or wooden +battledores. On each side of the Seine are to be seen some hundreds +hard at work, ranged in succession, along the sides of low barks, +equal in length to our west-country barges. Such is the vigour of +their arm that, for the circumference of half-a-mile, the air +resounds with the noise of their incessant blows. After beating the +linen for some time in this merciless manner, they scrub it with a +hard brush, in lieu of soaping it, so that a shirt which has passed +through their hands five or six times is fit only for making lint. No +wonder then that Frenchmen, in general, wear coarse linen: a hop-sack +could not long resist so severe a process. However, it must be +confessed, that some good arises from this evil. These washerwomen +insensibly contribute to the diffusion of knowledge; for, as they are +continually reducing linen into rags, they cannot but considerably +increase the supply, of that article for the manufacture of paper. + +Compared to the Thames, even above bridge, the Seine is far from +exhibiting a busy scene; a few rafts of wood for fuel, and some +barges occasionally in motion, now and then relieve the monotony of +its rarely-ruffled surface. At this moment, its navigation is impeded +from its stream being swollen by the late heavy rains. Hence much +mischief is apprehended to the country lying contiguous to its banks. +Many parts of Paris are overflowed: in some streets where carriages +must pass, horses are up to their belly in water; while pedestrians +are under the necessity of availing themselves of the temporary +bridges, formed with tressels and planks, by the industrious +Savoyards. The ill consequences of this inundation are already felt, +I assure you; being engaged to dinner yesterday in the _Rue St. +Florentin_, I was obliged to step into a punt in order to reach the +bottom of the stair-case; and what was infinitely more mortifying to +the master of the house, was that, the cellar being rendered +inaccessible,--he was deprived of the satisfaction of regaling his +guests with his best claret. + +On the right hand side of the _Pont Neuf_, in crossing that bridge +from the _Quai de l'École_ to the _Quai de Conti_, is a building, +three stories high, erected on piles, with its front standing between +the first and second arches. It is called + +LA SAMARITAINE. + +Over the dial is a gilt group, representing Jesus Christ and the +Samaritan woman near Jacob's well, pourtrayed by a basin into which +falls a sheet of water issuing from a shell above. Under the basin is +the following inscription: + + _Fons Hortorum + Puteus aquarum viventium._ + +These words of the Gospel are here not unaptly applied to the +destination of this building, which is to furnish water to the garden +of the _Tuileries_, whose basins were not, on that account, the less +dry half the year. The water is raised by means of a pump, and +afterwards distributed, by several conduits, to the _Louvre_ and the +_Palais du Tribunat_, as well as to the _Tuileries_. + +In the middle, and above the arch, is a superstructure of timber-work +faced with gilt lead, where are the bells of the clock and those of +chimes, which ought to play every half-hour. + +This tasteless edifice interrupts the view in every direction and as +it is far from being an ornament to the _Pont Neuf_, no one could now +regret its entire removal. Under the old _régime_, however, it was +nothing less than a government. + +Among the functions of the governor, were included the care of the +clock, which scarcely ever told the hour, and that of the chimes, +which were generally out of order. When these chimes used to delight +Henry IV, it is to be presumed that they were kept in better tune. It +was customary to make them play during all public ceremonies, and +especially when the king passed. + +"The _Pont Neuf_, is in the city of Paris what the heart is in the +human body, the centre of motion and circulation: the flux and reflux +of inhabitants and strangers crowd this passage in such a manner, +that, in order to meet persons one is looking for, it is sufficient +to walk here for an hour every day. Here, the _mouchards_, or spies +of the police, take their station; and, when at the expiration of a +few days, they see not their man, they positively affirm that he is +not in Paris." + +Such was the animated picture of the _Pont Neuf_, as drawn by Mercier +in 1788, and such it really was before the revolution. At present, +though this bridge is sometimes thronged with passengers, it presents +not, according to my observation, that almost continual crowd and +bustle for which it was formerly distinguished. No stoppage now from +the press of carriages of any description, no difficulty in advancing +quickly through the concourse of pedestrians. Fruit-women, hucksters, +hawkers, pedlars, indeed, together with ambulating venders of +lottery-tickets, and of _tisane_, crying "_à la fraiche! Qui veut +boire?_" here take their stand as they used, though not in such +numbers. + +But the most sensible diminution is among the shoe-blacks, who stand +in the carriage-way, and, with all their implements before them, +range themselves along the edge of the very elevated _trottoir_ or +foot-pavement. The _décrotteurs_ of the _Pont Neuf_ were once reputed +masters of the art: their foresight was equal to their dexterity and +expedition. For the very moderate sum of two _liards_, they enabled +an abbé or a poet to present himself in the gilded apartments of a +dutchess. If it rained, or the rays of the sun were uncommonly +ardent, they put into his hand an umbrella to protect the economy of +his head-dress during the operation. Their great patrons have +disappeared, and, in lieu of a constant succession of customers, the +few _décrotteurs_ who remain at their old-established station, are +idle half the day for want of employment. + +These Savoyards generally practise more than one trade, as is +indicated by the _enseigne_ which is affixed, on a short pole, above +their tool-box. + + LA FRANCE tond les + chiens coupe les chats + proprement et sa femme + vat en ville et en campagne + +Change the name only, and such is, line for line, letter for letter, +the most ordinary style of their _annonce_. It is, however, to be +presumed, that the republican belles have adopted other favourites +instead of dogs and cats; for no longer is seen, as in the days of +royalty, the aspiring or favoured lover carrying his mistress's +lap-dog in the public promenades. In fact, the business of +dog-shearing, &c. seems full as dead in this part of Paris as that +of shoe-cleaning. The _artists_ of the _Pont Neuf_ are, consequently, +chop-fallen; and hilarity which formerly shone on their countenance, +is now succeeded by gloomy sadness. + +At the foot of the _Pont Neuf_ on the _Quai de la Féraille_ +recruiting-officers used to unfurl their inviting banners, and +neglect nothing that art and cunning could devise to insnare the +ignorant, the idle, and the unwary. The means which they sometimes +employed were no less whimsical than various: the lover of wine was +invited to a public-house, where he might intoxicate himself; the +glutton was tempted by the sight of ready-dressed turkies, fowls, +sausages &c. suspended to a long pole; and the youth, inclined to +libertinism, was seduced by the meretricious allurements of a +well-tutored doxy. To second these manoeuvres, the recruiter +followed the object of his prey with a bag of money, which he +chinked occasionally, crying out "_Qui en veut?_" and, in this +manner, an army of heroes was completed. It is almost superfluous +to add, that the necessity of such stratagems is obviated, by the +present mode of raising soldiers by conscription. + +Before we quit the _Pont Neuf_, I must relate to you an adventure +which, in the year 1786, happened to our friend P-----, who is now +abroad, in a situation of considerable trust and emolument. He was, +at that time, a half-pay subaltern in the British army, and visited +Paris, as well from motives of economy as from a desire of acquiring +the French language. Being a tall, fresh-coloured young man, as he +was one day crossing the _Pont Neuf_, he caught the eye of a +recruiting-officer, who followed him from the _Quai de la Féraille_ +to a coffee-house, in the _Rue St. Honoré_, which our Englishman +frequented for the sake of reading the London newspapers. The +recruiter, with all the art of a crimp combined with all the +politeness of a courtier, made up to him under pretence of having +relations in England, and endeavoured, by every means in his power, +to insinuate himself into the good graces of his new acquaintance. +P----, by way of sport, encouraged the eagerness of the recruiter, +who lavished on him every sort of civility; peaches in brandy, +together with the choicest refreshments that a Parisian coffee-house +could afford, were offered to him and accepted: but not the smallest +hint was dropped of the motive of all this more than friendly +attention. At length, the recruiter, thinking that he might venture +to break the ice, depicted, in the most glowing colours, the +pleasures and advantages of a military life, and declared ingenuously +that nothing would make him so happy as to have our countryman P---- +for his comrade. Without absolutely accepting or rejecting his offer, +P---- begged a little delay in order to consider of the matter, at +the same time hinting that there was; at that moment, a small obstacle +to his inclination. The recruiter, like a pioneer, promised to remove +it, grasped his hand with joy and exultation, and departed, singing a +song of the same import as that of Serjeant Kite: + + "Come brave boys, 'tis one to ten, + But we return all gentlemen." + +In a few days, the recruiter again met Mr. P---- at his accustomed +rendezvous; when, after treating him with coffee, liqueur, &c. he +came directly to the point, but neglected not to introduce into his +discourse every persuasive allurement. P----, finding himself pushed +home, reminded the recruiter of the obstacle to which he had before +alluded, and, to convince him of its existence, put into his hand His +Britannic Majesty's commission. The astonishment and confusion of the +French recruiter were so great that he was unable to make any reply; +but instantly retired, venting a tremendous ejaculation. + +[Footnote 1: By the Plan of Paris, it will be seen that the _Pont +Neuf_ lies at the west point of the Island called _L'Ile du Palais_, +and is, as it were, in the very centre of the capital.] + + + +LETTER XXXII. + +_Paris, December 13, 1801._ + +In this gay capital, balls succeed to balls in an almost incredible +variety. There are actually an immense number every evening; so that +persons fond of the amusement of dancing have full scope for the +exercise of their talents in Paris. It is no longer a matter of +surprise to me that the French women dance so well, since I find that +they take frequent lessons from their master, and, almost every +night, they are at a dance of one kind or another. Added to this, the +same set of dances lasts the whole season, and go where you will, you +have a repetition of the same. However, this detracts not in the +smallest degree; from the merit of those Parisian belles who shine as +first-rate dancers. The mechanical part of the business, as Mr. +C----g would call it, they may thus, acquire by constant practice; +but the decorative part, if I may so term the fascinating grace which, +they display in all their movements, is that the result of study, or +do they hold it from the bounteous hand of Nature? + +While I am speaking of balls, I must inform you that, since the +private ball of which I gave you so circumstantial an account, I have +been at several others, also private, but of a different complexion; +inasmuch as pleasure, not profit, was the motive for which they were +given, and the company was more select; but, in point of general +arrangement, I found them so like the former, that I did not think it +worth while to make any one of them the subject of a distinct letter. +In this line Madame Recamier takes the lead, but though her balls are +more splendid, those of Madame Soubiran are more agreeable. On the +21st of Frimaire, which was yesterday, I was at a public ball of the +most brilliant kind now known in Paris. It was the first of the +subscription given this season, and, from the name of the apartment +where it is held, it is styled the + +BAL DU SALON DES ÉTRANGERS. + +Midnight is the general hour for the commencement of such diversions; +but, owing to the long train of carriages setting down company at +this ball, it was near two o'clock before I could arrive at the scene +of action, in the _Rue Grange Batelière_, near the Boulevards. + +After I alighted and presented my ticket, some time elapsed before I +could squeeze into the room where the dancing was going forward. The +spectators were here so intermixed with the dancers, that they formed +around them a border as complete as a frame to a picture. It is +astonishing that, under such circumstances, a Parisian Terpsichore, +far from being embarrassed, lays fresh claim to your applause. With +mathematical precision, she measures with her eye the space to which +she is restricted by the curiosity of the by-standers. Rapid as +lightning, she springs forward till the measure recalling her to the +place she left, she traces her orbit, like a planet, at the same time +revolving on her axis. Sometimes her "light, fantastic toe" will +approach within half an inch of your foot; nay, you shall almost feel +her breath on your cheek, and still she will not touch you, except, +perhaps, with the skirt of her floating tunic. + +Among the female part of the company, I observed several lovely +women; some, who might have been taken for Asiatic sultanas, +irradiating the space around them by the dazzling brilliancy of their +ornaments; others, without jewels, but calling in every other aid of +dress for the embellishment of their person; and a few, rich in their +native charms alone, verifying the expression of the poet. Truth +compels me to acknowledge that six or eight English ladies here were +totally eclipsed. For the honour of my country, I could have wished +for a better specimen of our excellence in female beauty. No women in +the world, or at least none that ever I have met with in the +different quarters I have visited, are handsomer than the English, in +point of complexion and features. This is a fact which Frenchmen +themselves admit; but for grace, say they, our countrywomen stand +unrivalled, I am rather inclined to subscribe to this opinion. In a +well-educated French woman, there is an ease, an affability, a desire +to please and be pleased, which not only render her manners +peculiarly engaging, but also influence her gait, her gestures, her +whole deportment in short, and captivate admiration. Her natural +cheerfulness and vivacity spread over her features an animation +seldom to be found in our English fair, whose general characteristics +are reserve and coldness. Hence that striking expression which +exhibits the grace of the French belles to superior advantage. + +Although my memory frequently disappoints me when I wish to retain +names, I have contrived to recollect those of three of the most +remarkable women in the ball-room. I shall therefore commit them to +paper before I forget them. Madame la Princesse de Santa-Croce +displayed more diamonds than any of her competitors; Mademoiselle +Lescot was the best dancer among several ladies renowned for dancing; +and Madame Tallien was, on the whole, the handsomest female that I +saw in the room. There might possibly be women more beautiful than +she at this ball, but they did not come under my observation. + +I had previously seen Madame Tallien at the _Opera Buffa_, and was +struck by her appearance before, I knew who she was. On seeing her +again at the _Salon des Étrangers_, I inquired of a French lady of my +acquaintance, whose understanding and discernment are pre-eminent, if +Madame T------ had nothing to recommend her but her personal +attractions? The lady's answer is too remarkable for me not to repeat +it, which I will do _verbatim_. "In Madame T------," said she, +"beauty, wit, goodness of heart, grace, talents, all are united. In a +gay world, where malice subsists in all its force, her +inconsistencies alone have been talked of, without any mention being +made of the numerous acts of beneficence which have balanced, if they +have not effaced, her weakness. Would you believe," continued she, +"that, in Paris, the grand theatre of misconduct, where moral +obligations are so much disregarded, where we daily commit actions +which we condemn in others; would you believe, that Madame T------ +experiences again and again the mortification of being deprived of +the society of this, or that woman who has nothing to boast of but +her depravity, and cannot plead one act of kindness, or even +indulgence? This picture is very dark," added she, "but the colouring +is true."--"What you tell me," observed I, "proves that, +notwithstanding the irruption of immorality, attributed to the +revolution, it is still necessary for a woman to preserve appearances +at least, in order to be received here in what is termed the best +company."--"Yes, indeed," replied she; "if a woman neglects that main +point in Paris, she will soon find herself lowered in the opinion of +the fashionable world, and be at last excluded from even the +secondary circles. In London, your people of fashion are not quite so +rigid."--"If a husband chooses to wink at his wife's incontinence," +rejoined I, "the world on our side of the water is sufficiently +complaisant to follow his example. Now with you, character is made to +depend more on the observance of etiquette; and, certainly, +hypocrisy, when detected, is of more prejudice to society than +barefaced profligacy."--The lady then resumed thus concerning the +subject of my inquiry. "Were some people to hear me," said she, "they +might think that I had drawn you a flattering portrait of Madame +T------ and say, by way of contrast, when the devil became old, he +turned hermit; but I should answer that, for some years, no +twenty-four hours have elapsed without persons, whom I could name on +occasion, having begun their daily career by going to see her, who +saved their life, when, to accomplish that object, she hazarded her +own." + +Here then is an additional instance of the noble energy manifested by +women during the most calamitous periods of the revolution. +Unappalled by the terrors of captivity or of death, their sensibility +impelled them to brave the ferocity of sanguinary tyrants, in order +to administer hope or comfort to a parent, a husband, a relation, or +a friend. Some of these heroines, though in the bloom of youth, not +content with sympathizing in the misfortunes of others, gave +themselves up as a voluntary sacrifice, rather than survive those +whose preservation they valued more than their own existence. Rome +may vaunt her Porcia, or her Cornelia; but the page of her history +can produce no such exaltation of the female character as has been +exhibited within the last ten years by French women. Examples, like +these, of generosity, fortitude, and greatness of soul, deserve to be +recorded to the end of time, as they do honour to the sex, and to +human nature. + +If, according to the scale of Parisian enjoyment, a ball or rout is +dull and insipid, _à moins qu'on ne manque d'y être étouffé_, how +supreme must have been the satisfaction of the company at the _Salon +des Étrangers!_ The number present, estimated at seven or eight +hundred, occasioned so great a crowd that it was by no means an easy +enterprise to pass from one room to another. Of course, there was no +opportunity of viewing the apartments to advantage; however, I saw +enough of them to remark that they formed a suite elegantly +decorated. Some persons amused themselves with cards, though the +great majority neither played nor danced, but were occupied in +conversing with their acquaintance, There was no regular supper, but +substantial refreshments of every kind were to be procured on paying; +and other smaller ones, _gratis_. + +From the tickets not being transferable, and the bearer's name being +inserted in each of them, the company was far more select than it +could have been without such a restriction. Most of the foreign +ambassadors, envoys, &c. were present, and many of the most +distinguished persons of both sexes in Paris. More regard was paid to +the etiquette of dress at this ball than, I have ever witnessed here +on similar occasions, The ladies, as I have before said, were all _en +grande toilette_; and the men with cocked hats, and in shoes and +stockings, which is a novelty here, I assure you, as they mostly +appear in boots. But what surprised me not a little, was to observe +several inconsiderate French youths wear black cockades. Should they +persist in such an absurdity, I shall be still more surprised, if +they escape admonition from the police. This fashion seemed to be the +_ignis fatuus_ of the moment; it was never before exhibited in +public, and probably will be but of ephemeral duration. + +I cannot take leave of this ball without communicating to you a +circumstance which occurred there, and which, from the extravagant +credulity it exhibits in regard to the effects of sympathy, may +possibly amuse you for a moment. + +A widow, about twenty years of age, more to be admired for the +symmetry of her person, than for the beauty of her features, had, +according to the prevailing custom, intrusted her pocket-handkerchief +to the care of a male friend, a gentlemanlike young Frenchman of my +acquaintance. After dancing, the lady finding herself rather warm, +applied for her handkerchief, with which she wiped her forehead, and +returned it to the gentleman, who again put it into his pocket. He +then danced, but not with her; and, being also heated, he, by +mistake, took out the lady's handkerchief, which, when applied to his +face, produced, as he fancied, such an effect on him, that, though he +had previously regarded her with a sort of indifference, from that +moment she engaged all his attention, and he was unable to direct his +eyes, or even his thoughts, to any other object. + +Some philosophers, as is well known, have maintained that from all +bodies there is an emanation of corpuscles, which, coming into +contact with our organs, make on the brain an impression, either more +or less sympathetic, or of a directly-opposite nature. They tell you, +for instance, that of two women whom you behold for the first time, +the one the least handsome will sometimes please you most, because +there exists a greater _sympathy_ between you and her, than between +you and the more beautiful woman. Without attempting to refute this +absurd doctrine of corpuscles, I shall only observe that this young +Frenchman is completely smitten, and declares that no woman in the +world can be compared to the widow. + +This circumstance reminds me of a still more remarkable effect, +ascribed to a similar cause, experienced by Henry III of France. The +marriage of the king of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV, with Marguerite +de Valois, and that of the Prince de Condé with Marie de Cleves, was +celebrated at the Louvre on the 10th of August, 1572. Marie de +Cleves, then a most lovely creature only sixteen, after dancing much, +finding herself incommoded by the heat of the ball-room, retired to a +private apartment, where one of the waiting-women of the +queen-dowager, seeing her in a profuse perspiration, persuaded her +to make an entire change of dress. She had scarcely left the room +when the Duke of Anjou, afterwards Henry III, who had also danced a +great deal, entered it to adjust his hair, and, being overheated, +wiped his face with the first thing that he found, which happened +to be the shift she had just taken off. Returning to the ball, he +fixed his eyes on her, and contemplated her with as much surprise +as if he had never before beheld her. His emotion, his transports, +and the attention which he began to pay her, were the more +extraordinary, as during the preceding week, which she had passed +at court, he appeared indifferent to those very charms which now +made on his heart an impression so warm and so lasting. In short, +he became insensible to every thing that did not relate to his +passion. + +His election to the crown of Poland, say historians, far from +flattering him, appeared to him an exile, and when he was in that +kingdom, absence, far from diminishing his love, seemed to increase +it. Whenever he addressed the princess, he pricked his finger, and +never wrote to her but with his blood. No sooner was he informed of +the death of Charles IX, than he dispatched a courier to assure her +that she should soon be queen of France; and, on his return, his +thoughts were solely bent on dissolving her marriage with the Prince +de Condé, which, on account of the latter being a protestant, he +expected to accomplish. But this determination proved fatal to the +princess; for, shortly after, she was attacked by a violent illness, +attributed to poison, which carried her off in the flower of her age. + +No words can paint Henry's despair at this event: he passed several +days in tears and groans; and when he was at length obliged to shew +himself in public, he appeared in deep mourning, and entirely covered +with emblems of death, even to his very shoe-strings. + +The Princess de Condé had been dead upwards of four months, and +buried in the abbey-church of _St. Germain-des-Prés_, when Henry, on +entering the abbey, whither he was invited to a grand entertainment +given there by Cardinal de Bourbon, felt such violent tremblings at +his heart, that not being able to endure their continuance, he was +going away; but they ceased all at once, on the body of the princess +being removed from its tomb, and conveyed elsewhere for that evening. + +His mother, Catherine de Medicis, by prevailing on him to marry +Louise de Vaudemont, one of the most beautiful women in Europe, hoped +that she would make him forget her whom death had snatched from him, +and he himself perhaps indulged a similar hope, but the memoirs of +those times concur in asserting that the image of the Princess de +Condé was never effaced from his heart, and that, to the day of his +assassination, which did not happen till seventeen years after, +whatever efforts he made to subdue his passion, were wholly +unavailing. + +Sympathy is a sentiment to which few persons attach the same ideas. +It may be classed in three distinct species. The first seems to have +an immediate connexion with the senses; the second, with the heart; +and the third, with the mind. Although it cannot be denied that the +preference we bestow on this or that woman is the result of the one +or the other of these, or even of all three together; yet the +analysis of our attachments is, in some cases, so difficult as to +defy the investigation of reason. For, as the old song says, some +lovers + + Will "whimper and whine + For lilies and roses, + For eyes, lips, and noses, + Or a _tip of an ear_." + +To cut the matter short, I think it fully proved, by the example of +some of the wisest men, that the affections are often captivated by +something indefinable, or, in the words of Corneille, + + _"Par un je ne sais quoi--qu'on ne peut exprimer."_ + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + +_Paris, December 14, 1801._ + +I have already spoken to you of the _Pont Neuf_. To the east of it, +as you will see by the Plan of Paris, the small islands in the middle +of the Seine are connected to its banks by several bridges; while to +the west, there are two only, though a third is projected, and, +previously to the late rise of the river, workmen were employed in +driving piles for the foundation. I shall now describe to you these +two bridges, beginning with the + +PONT NATIONAL. + +Before the revolution, this bridge bore the appellation of _Pont +Royal_, from its having been built by Lewis XIV, and the expenses +defrayed but of his privy purse, to supply the place of one of wood, +situated opposite to the _Louvre_, which was carried away by the ice +in 1684. It is reckoned one of the most solid bridges in Paris, and, +till the existence of the _Pont de la Concorde_, was the only one +built across the river, without taking advantage of the islands +above-mentioned. It stands on four piles, forming with the two +abutments five elliptical arches of a handsome sweep. The span of the +centre arch is seventy-two feet, that of the two adjoining sixty-six, +and that of the two outer ones sixty. On each side is a raised +pavement for foot-passengers, in the middle of which I should imagine +that there is breadth sufficient to admit of four carriages passing +abreast. + +GABRIEL had undertaken this bridge from the designs of MANSARD. The +work was already in a state of forwardness, when, at a pile on the +side of the _Faubourg St. Germain_, the former could not succeed in +excluding the water. A Jacobin, not a clubist, but a Jacobin friar, +one FRANÇOIS ROMAIN, who had just finished the bridge of Strasburg, +was sent for by the king to the assistance of the French architects, +and had the honour of completing the rest of the work. + +In the time of Henry IV, there was no bridge over this part of the +river, which he used frequently to cross in the first boat that +presented itself. Returning one day from the chace, in a plain +hunting dress, and having with him only two or three gentlemen, he +stepped into a skiff to be carried over from the _Faubourg St. +Germain_ to the _Tuileries_. Perceiving that he was not known by the +waterman, he asked him what people said of the peace, meaning the +peace of Vervins, which was just concluded. "Faith! I don't +understand this sort of peace," answered the waterman; "there are +taxes on every thing, and even, on this miserable boat, with which I +have a hard matter to earn my bread."--"And does not the king," +continued Henry, "intend to lighten these taxes?"--"The king is a +good kind of man enough," replied the waterman; "but he has a lady +who must needs have so many fine gowns and gewgaws; and 'tis we who +pay for all that. One would not think so much of it either, if she +kept to him only; but, they say, she suffers herself to be kissed by +many others." + +Henry IV was so amused by this conversation, that, the next morning, +he sent for the waterman, and made him repeat, word for word, before +the Dutchess of Beaufort, all that he had said the preceding evening. +The Dutchess, much irritated, was for having him hanged. "You are a +foolish woman," said Henry; "this is a poor devil whom poverty has +put out of humour. In future, he shall pay no tax for his boat, and I +am convinced that he will then sing every day, _Vive Henri! Vive +Gabrielle!_" + +The north end of the _Pont National_ faces the wing of the palace of +the _Tuileries_ distinguished by the name of the _Pavillon de Flore_. +From the middle of this bridge, you see the city in a striking point +of view. Here, the celebrated Marshal de Catinat used frequently to +make it part of his morning's amusement to take his stand, and, while +he enjoyed the beauty of the prospect, he opened his purse to the +indigent as they passed. That philosophic warrior often declared that +he never beheld any thing equal to the _coup d'oeil_ from this +station. In fact, on the one side, you discover the superb gallery of +the _Louvre_, extending from that palace to the _Tuileries_; and, on +the other, the _Palais du Corps Législatif_, and a long range of +other magnificent buildings, skirting the quays on each bank of the +river. + +These quays, nearly to the number of thirty, are faced with stone, +and crowned with parapets breast high, which, in eighteen or twenty +different spots, open to form watering-places. The Seine, being thus +confined within its bed, the eye is never displeased here by the +sight of muddy banks like those of the Thames, or the nose offended +by the smell arising from the filth which the common sewers convey to +the river. + +The galiot of _St. Cloud_ regularly takes its departure from the +_Pont National_. Formerly, on Sundays and holidays, it used to be a +very entertaining sight to contemplate the Paris cocknies crowding +into this vessel. Those who arrived too late, jumped into the first +empty boat, which frequently overset, either through the +unskilfulness of the waterman, or from being overloaded. In +consequence of such accidents, the boats of the Seine are prohibited +from taking more than sixteen passengers. + +Not many years ago, an excursion to _St. Cloud_ by water, was an +important voyage to some of the Parisians, as you may see by +referring to the picture which has been drawn of it, under the title +of "_Voyage de Paris à Saint Cloud par mer, et le retour de Saint +Cloud à Paris par terre_." + +Following the banks of the Seine, towards the west, we next come to +the + +PONT DE LA CONCORDE. + +This bridge, which had long been wished for and projected, was begun +in 1787, and finished in 1790. Its southern extremity stands opposite +to the _Palais du Corps Législatif_; while that of the north faces +the _Place de la Concorde_, whence it not only derives its present +appellation, but has always experienced every change of name to which +the former has been subject. + +The lightness of its apearance is less striking to those who have +seen the _Pont de Neuilly_, in which PERRONET, Engineer of bridges +and highways, has, by the construction of arches nearly flat, so +eminently distinguished himself. He is likewise the architect of this +bridge, which is four hundred and sixty-two feet in length by +forty-eight in breadth. Like the _Pont National_, it consists of +five elliptical arches. The span of the centre arch is ninety-six +feet; that of the collateral ones, eighty-seven; and that of the +two others near the abutments, sixty-eight. Under one of the latter +is a tracking-path for the facility of navigation. + +The piles, which are each nine feet in thickness, have, on their +starlings, a species of pillars that support a cornice five feet and +a half high. Perpendicularly to these pillars are to rise as many +pyramids, which are to be crowned by a parapet with a balustrade: in +all these, it is intended to display no less elegance of workmanship +than the arches present boldness of design and correctness of +execution. + +On crossing these bridges, it has often occurred to me, how much the +Parisians must envy us the situation of our metropolis. If the Seine, +like the Thames, presented the advantage of braving the moderate +winds, and of conveying, by regular tides, the productions of the +four quarters of the globe to the quays which skirt its banks, what +an acquisition would it not be to their puny commerce! What a +gratification to their pride to see ships discharging their rich +cargoes at the foot of the _Pont de la Concorde_! The project of the +canal of Languedoc must, at first, have apparently presented greater +obstacles; yet, by talents and perseverance, these were overcome at a +time when the science of machinery of every description was far less +understood than it is at the present moment. + +It appears from the account of Abbon, a monk of the abbey of St. +Germain-des-Prés, that, in the year 885, the Swedes, Danes, and +Normans, to the number of forty-five thousand men, came to lay siege +to Paris, with seven hundred sail of ships, exclusively of the +smaller craft, so that, according to this historian, who was an +eye-witness of the fact, the river Seine was covered with their +vessels for the space of two leagues. + +Julius Cæsar tells us, in the third book of his Commentaries, that, +at the time of his conquest of the Gauls, in the course of one +winter, he constructed six hundred vessels of the wood which then +grew in the environs of Paris; and that, in the following spring, he +embarked his army, horse and foot, provisions and baggage, in these +vessels, descended the Seine, reached Dieppe, and thence crossed over +to England, of which, he says, he made a conquest. + +About forty years ago, the scheme engaged much attention. In 1759, +the Academy of Sciences, Belles-Lettres, and Arts of Rouen, proposed +the following as a prize-question: "Was not the Seine formerly +navigable for vessels of greater burden than those which are now +employed on it; and are there not means to restore to it, or to +procure it, that advantage?" In 1760, the prize was adjourned; the +memoirs presented not being to the satisfaction of the Academy. In +1761, the new candidates having no better success, the subject was +changed. + +However, notwithstanding this discouragement, we find that, on the +1st of August, 1766, Captain Berthelot actually reached the _Pont +Royal_ in a vessel of one hundred and sixty tons burden. When, on the +22d of the same month, he departed thence, loaded with merchandise, +the depth of the water in the Seine was twenty-five feet, and it was +nearly the same when he ascended the river. This vessel was seven +days on her passage from Rouen to Paris: but a year or two ago, four +days only were employed in performing the same voyage by another +vessel, named the _Saumon_. + +Engineers have ever judged the scheme practicable, and the estimate +of the necessary works, signed by several skilful surveyors, was +submitted to the ministry of that day. The amount was forty-six +millions of livres (circa £1,916,600 sterling). + +But what can compensate for the absence of the tide? This is an +advantage, which, in a commercial point of view, must ever insure to +London a decided superiority over Paris. Were the Seine to-morrow +rendered navigable for vessels of large burden, they must, for a +considerable distance, be tracked against the stream, or wait till a +succession of favourable winds had enabled them to stem it through +its various windings; whereas nothing can be more favourable to +navigation than the position of London. It has every advantage of a +sea-port without its dangers. Had it been placed lower down, that is, +nearer to the mouth of the Thames, it would have been more exposed to +the insults of a foreign enemy, and also to the insalubrious +exhalations of the swampy marshes. Had it been situated higher up the +river, it would have been inaccessible to ships of large burden. + +Thus, by no effort of human invention or industry can Paris rival +London in commerce, even on the supposition that France could produce +as many men possessed of the capital and spirit of enterprise, for +which our British merchants are at present unrivalled. + +Yet, may not this pre-eminence in commercial prosperity lead to our +destruction, as the gigantic conquests of France may also pave the +way to her ruin? Alas! the experience of ages proves this melancholy +truth, which has also been repeated by Raynal: "Commerce," says that +celebrated writer, "in the end finds its ruin in the riches which it +accumulates, as every powerful state lays the foundation of its own +destruction in extending its conquests." + + + +LETTER XXXIV. + +_Paris, December 16, 1801._ + +No part of the engagement into which I have entered with you, so +fully convinces me of my want of reflection, and shews that my zeal, +at the time, got the better of my judgment, as my promising you some +ideas on + +FRENCH LITERATURE. + +It would, I now perceive, be necessary to have inhabited France for +several years past, with the determined intention of observing this +great empire solely in that single point of view, to be able to keep +my word in a manner worthy of you and of the subject. It would be +necessary to write a large volume of rational things; and, in a +letter, I ought to relate them with conciseness and truth; draw +sketches with rapidity, but clearness; in short, express positive +results, without deviating from abstractions and generalities, since +you require from me, on this subject, no more than a letter, and not +a book. + +I come to the point. I shall consider literature in a double sense. +First, the thing in itself; then, its connexions with the sciences, +and the men who govern. In England, it has been thought, or at least +insinuated in some of the papers and periodical publications, that +literature had been totally annihilated in France within the last +twelve years. This is a mistake: its aberrations have been taken for +eclipses. It has followed the revolution through all its phases. + +Under the Constituent Assembly, the literary genius of the French was +turned towards politics and eloquence. There remain valuable +monuments of the fleeting existence of that assembly. MIRABEAU, +BARNAVE, CAZALÈS, MAURY, and thirty other capital writers, attest +this truth. Nothing fell from their lips or their pen that did not +hear at the same time the stamp of philosophy and literature. + +Under the Legislative Assembly and the Convention, the establishments +of the empire of letters were little respected. Literati themselves +became victims of the political collisions of their country; but +literature was constantly cultivated under several forms. Those who +shewed themselves its oppressors, were obliged to assume the refined +language which it alone can supply, and that, at the very time when +they declared war against it. + +Under the Directorial government, France, overwhelmed by the weight +of her long misfortunes, first cast her eye on the construction of a +new edifice, dedicated to human knowledge in general, under the name +of _National Institute_. Literature there collected its remains, and +those who cultivate it, as members of this establishment, are not +unworthy of their office. Such as are not admitted into this society, +notwithstanding all the claims the most generally acknowledged, owe +this omission to moral or political causes only, on which I could not +touch, without occupying myself about persons rather than the thing +itself. + +The French revolution, which has levelled so many gigantic fortunes, +is said (by its advocates) to have really spread a degree of comfort +among the inferior classes. Indeed, if there are in France, as may be +supposed, much fewer persons rolling in riches, there are, I am +informed, much fewer pining in indigence. This observation, admitting +it to be strictly true, may, with great propriety, be applied to +French literature. France no longer has a VOLTAIRE or a ROUSSEAU, to +wield the sceptre of the literary world; but she has a number of +literary degrees of public interest or simple amusement, which are +perfectly well filled. Few literati are without employ, and still +fewer are beneath their functions. The place of member of the +Institute is a real public function remunerated by the State. It is +to this cause, and to a few others, which will occur to you +beforehand, that we must attribute the character of gravity which +literature begins to assume in this country. The prudery of the +school of DORAT would here be hissed. Here, people will not quarrel +with the Graces; but they will no longer make any sacrifice to them +at the expense of common sense. + +In this literary republic still exist, as you may well conceive, the +same passions, the same littleness, the same intrigues as formerly +for arriving at celebrity, and keeping in that envied sphere; but all +this makes much less noise at the present juncture. It is this which +has induced the belief that literature had diminished its intensity, +both in form and object: that is another mistake. The French literati +are mostly a noisy class, who love to make themselves conspicuous, +even by the clashing of their pretensions; but, to the great regret +of several among them, people in this country now attach a rational +importance only to their quarrels, which formerly attracted universal +attention. The revolution has been so great an event; it has +overthrown such great interests; that no one here can any longer +flatter himself with exciting a personal interest, except by +performing the greatest actions. + +I must also make a decisive confession on this matter, and +acknowledge that literature, which formerly held the first degree in +the scale of the moral riches of this nation, is likely to decline in +priority and influence. The sciences have claimed and obtained in the +public mind a superiority resulting from the very nature of their +object; I mean utility. The title of _savant_ is not more brilliant +than formerly; but it is more imposing; it leads to consequence, to +superior employments, and, above all, to riches. The sciences have +done so much for this people during their revolution, that, whether +through instinct, or premeditated gratitude, they have declared their +partiality towards the _savans_, or men of science, to the detriment +of the mere literati. The sciences are nearly allied both to pride +and national interest; while literature concerns only the vanity and +interest of a few individuals. This difference must have been felt, +and of itself alone have fixed the esteem of the public, and +graduated their suffrages according to the merit of the objects. +Regard being had to their specific importance, I foresee that this +natural classification will be attended with happy consequences, both +for sciences and literature. + +I have been enabled to observe that very few men of science are +unacquainted with the literature of their country, whether for +seeking in it pleasing relaxation, or for borrowing from it a magic +style, a fluent elocution, a harmony, a pomp of expression, with +which the most abstract meditations can no longer dispense to be +received favourably by philosophers and men of taste. Very few +literati, on the other hand, are unacquainted with philosophy and the +sciences, and, above all, with natural knowledge; whether not to be +too much in arrear with the age in which they live, and which +evidently inclines to the study of Nature, or to give more colour and +consistence to their thoughts, by multiplying their degrees of +comparison with the eternal type of all that is great and fertile. + +It has been so often repeated that HOMER, OSSIAN, and MILTON, knew +every thing known in their times; that they were at once the greatest +natural philosophers and the best moralists of their age, that this +truth has made an impression on most of the adepts in literature; and +as the impulse is given, and the education of the present day by the +retrenchment of several unnecessary pursuits, has left, in the mind +of the rising generation, vacancies fit to be filled by a great +variety of useful acquirements, it appears to me demonstrated, on +following analogy, and the gradations of human improvement, that the +sciences, philosophy, and literature will some day have in France but +one common domain, as they there have at present, with the arts, only +one central point of junction. + +The French government has flattered the literati and artists, by +calling them in great numbers round it and its ministers, either to +give their advice in matters of taste, or to serve as a decoration to +its power, and an additional lustre to the crown of glory with which +it is endeavouring to encircle itself; but, in general, the palpable, +substantial, and solid distinctions have been reserved for men of +science, chymists, naturalists, and mathematicians: they have seats +in the Senate, in the Tribunate, in the Council of State, and in all +the Administrations; while LAHARPE, the veteran of French literature, +is not even a member of the Institute, and is reduced to give +lessons, which are, undoubtedly, not only very interesting to the +public, but also very profitable to himself, and produce him as much +money, at least, as his knowledge has acquired him reputation. + +It results from what I have said, that French literature has not +experienced any apparent injury from the revolutionary storm: it has +only changed its direction and means: it has still remaining talents +which have served their time, talents in their maturity, and talents +in a state of probation, and of much promise. + +Persons of reflection entertain great hopes from the violent shock +given to men's minds by the revolution; from that silent inquietude +still working in their hearts; from that sap, full of life, +circulating with rapidity through this body politic. "The factions +are muzzled," say they; "but the factious spirit still ferments under +the curb of power; if means can be found to force it to evaporate on +objects which belong to the domain of illusion and sensibility, the +result will prove a great blessing to France, by carrying back to the +arts and to literature, and even to commerce, that exuberance of heat +and activity which can no longer be employed without danger on +political subjects." + +The same men, whom I have just pointed out, affirm that England +herself will feel, in her literary and scientific system, a salutary +concussion from the direction given here to the public mind. They +expect with impatience that the British government will engage in +some great measure of public utility, in order that the rivalship +subsisting between the two nations on political and military points, +which have no longer any object, may soon become, in France, the most +active and most powerful vehicle for different parts of her interior +improvement. + +Of all kinds of literature, _Epic Poetry_ is the only one in which +France has not obtained such success as to place her on a level with +TASSO and MILTON. To make amends, her poets have followed with +advantage the steps of ARIOSTO, without being able to surpass him. +From this school have issued two modern epic poems: _La guerre des +dieux payens contre les dieux chretiens_, by PARNY and _La conquête +de Naples_, by GUDIN. The former is distinguished by an easy +versification, and an imagination jocose and fertile, though, +certainly, far too licentious. Educated in the school of DORAT, he +possesses his redundance and grace, without his fatuity. His elegies +are worthy of TIBULLUS; and his fugitive pieces are at once dictated +by wit and sentiment: thus it was that CHAULIEU wrote, but with more +negligence. The latter has thought to compensate for the energy and +grace that should give life to his subject (which he considers only +in a playful and satirical light), by a truly tiresome multitude of +incidents. Conceive three huge volumes in octavo, for a poem which +required but one of a moderate size, and, in them, a versification +frequently negligent. These are two serious faults, which the French +will not readily overlook. No where are critics more severe, on the +one hand, against redundance that is steril, and on the other, +respecting the essential composition of verse, which ought always to +flow with grace, even when under restraint. Catholicism, however, has +no more reason to be pleased with the loose scenes presented in this +work, than christianity, in general, has with the licentious pictures +of PARNY; but GUDIN is far less dangerous to Rome, because he will be +less read. + +Several authors have devoted their labours to _Tragedy_, during the +course of the revolution. CHÉNIER has produced a whole theatre, which +will remain to posterity, notwithstanding his faults, as he has +contrived to cover them with beauties. ARNAULT and MERCIER of +Compiegne are two young authors that seem to have been educated in +the school of DUCIS, who is at this day the father of all the present +tragic writers. The pieces which they have produced have met with +some success, and are of considerable promise. + +_Comedy_ lost a vigorous supporter under the tyranny of ROBESPIERRE. +This was FABRE D'EGLANTINE. That poet seldom failed of success, drew +none but bold characters, and placed himself, by his own merit, +between MOLIÈRE and DESTOUCHES. COLIN D'HARLEVILLE and LEGOUVÉ +produce agreeable pieces which succeed. They paint, with an easy and +graceful pencil, the absurdities and humours of society; but their +pieces are deficient in plot and action. FABRÉ D'EGLANTINE +pourtrayed, in striking colours, those frightful vices which are +beyond the reach of the law. His pieces are strongly woven and easily +unravelled. PICARD seems to have taken GOLDONI, the celebrated +Venetian comic writer, for his model. Like him, an excellent painter, +a writer by impulse, he produces, with wonderful fecundity, a number +of interesting comedies, which make the audience laugh till they shed +tears, and how and then give great lessons. PALISSOT, CAILHAVA, and +MERCIER are still living; but no longer produce any thing striking. + +I shall say little of French eloquence. Under the new form of +government, orators have less opportunity and less scope for +displaying transscendant talents than during the first years of the +revolution. Two members of the government, CAMBACÉRÈS and LEBRUN, +have distinguished themselves in this career by close, logical +argument, bright conceptions, and discriminating genius. BENJAMIN +CONSTANT and GUINGUÉNÉ, members of the Tribunate, shewed themselves +to advantage last year, as I understand, in some productions full of +energy and wisdom. DEMEUNIER and BOISSI D'ANGLAS are already, in the +Tribunate, veterans of eloquence; but the man who unites, in this +respect, all the approbation of that body, and even of France, is +DAUNOU. In exterior means he is deficient; but his thoughts proceed +at once from a warm heart and an open mind, guided by a superior +genius; and his expressions manifest the source from which they flow. + +Several capital works of the historic kind have made their appearance +in France within the last ten years; but, with the exception of those +of celebrated voyagers or travellers, such as LA PÉROUSE, BAUDIN, +SONNINI, LABILLARDIÈRE, OLIVIER, ANDRÉ MICHAUD, &c. those whose +object has been to treat of the arts, sciences, and manners of +Greece, such as the travels of Anacharsis, of Pythagoras, or of +Antenor; those whose subject has not been confined to France, such as +the _Précis de l'histoire générale_, by ANQUETIL; people ought to be +on their guard against the merit even of productions written +mediately or immediately on the revolution, its causes, and +consequences. The passions are not yet sufficiently calmed for us not +to suspect the spirit of party to interpose itself between men and +truth. The most splendid talents are frequently in this line only the +most faithless guide. It is affirmed, however, that there are a few +works which recommend themselves, by the most philosophic +impartiality; but none of these have as yet fallen under my +observation. A striking production is expected from the pen of the +celebrated VOLNEY. This is a _Tableau Physique des États Unis_; but +it is with regret I hear that its appearance is delayed by the +author's indisposition. + +_Novels_ are born and die here, as among us, with astonishing +abundance. The rage for evocations and magic spectres begins to +diminish. The French assert that they have borrowed it from us, and +from the school of MRS. RADCLIFF, &c. &c. They also assert, that the +policy of the royalist-party was not unconnected with this +propagation of cavernous, cadaverous adventures, ideas, and +illusions, intended, they say, by the impression of a new moral +terror to infatuate their countrymen again with the dull and +soporific prestiges of popery. They see with joy that the taste for +pleasure has assumed the ascendency, at least in Paris, and that +novels in the English style no longer make any one tremble, at night +by the fireside, but the old beldams of the provincial departments. + +The less important kinds of literature, such as the _Apologue_ or +_Moral Fable_, which is not at this day much in fashion; the +_Eclogue_ or _Idyl_, whose culture particularly belongs to agrestical +and picturesque regions; _Political Satire_, which is never more +refined than under the influence of arbitrary power; these kinds, to +which I might add the _Madrigal_ and _Epigram_, without being +altogether abandoned, are not generally enough cultivated here to +obtain special mention. I shall make an exception only in favour of +the pastoral poems of LECLERC (of Marne and Loire) of which I have +heard a very favourable account. + +At the end of a revolution which has had periods so ensanguined, +_Romance_, (romantic poetry) must have been cultivated and held in +request. It has been so, especially by sentimental minds, and not a +little too through the spirit of party; this was likely to be the +case, since its most affecting characteristic is to mourn over tombs. + +_Lyric poetry_ has been carried by LEBRUN, CHÉNIER, &c. to a height +worthy of JEAN BAPTISTE ROUSSEAU. The former, above all, will stand +his ground, by his weight, to the latest posterity; while hitherto +the lyric productions of CHÉNIER have not been able to dispense with +the charm of musical harmony. FONTANES, CUBIÈRES, PONS DE VERDUN, +BAOUR-LORNIAN, and DESPAZE are secondary geniuses, who do not make us +forget that DELISLE and the Chevalier BERTIN are still living; but +whose fugitive pieces sometimes display many charms. + +When you shall be made acquainted that Paris, of all the cities in +the world, is that where the rage for dancing is the most +_nationalized_, where, from the gilded apartments of the most +fashionable quarters to the smoky chambers of the most obscure +suburbs, there are executed more capers in cadence, than in any other +place on earth, you will not be surprised if I reserve a special +article for one of the kinds of literature that bears the most +affinity to this distinctive diversion of the Parisian belles, which +has led MERCIER to say, that their city was the _guingette_ of +Europe; I mean _Song_. Perhaps, a subject new and curious to treat +on, would be the influence of vocal music on the French revolution. +Every one knows that this people marched to battle singing; but, +independently of the subject being above my abilities, it would carry +me too far beyond the limited plan which I have prescribed to myself. + +Let it suffice for you to know, that there has existed in Paris a +sort of lyric manufactory, which, under the name of "_Diners du +vaudeville_" scrupulously performed, for several years, an engagement +to furnish, every month, a collection of songs very agreeable and +very captivating. These productions are pretty often full of +allusions, more or less veiled, to the political events of the +moment; seldom, however, have they been handled as very offensive +weapons against persons or institutions. The friends of mirth and +wine are seldom dark and dangerous politicians. This country +possesses a great number of them, who combine the talents required by +the gravest magistracy with all the levity of the most witty and most +cheerful _bon vivant_. I shall quote at random FRANÇOIS DE +NEUFCHÂTEAU, the two SÉGURS, PIIS, &c. &c. Others, such as BARRÉ, +DESFONTAINES, and RADET, confine themselves to their exclusive +functions of professed song-makers, and write only for the little +musical theatres, or for the leisure of their countrymen and their +evening-amusements. + +It is impossible to terminate a sketch of the literature of France, +without saying a word of such of the _Journals_ as I have yet +perused, which are specially devoted to it. The _Mercure de France_ +is one of those held in most esteem; and habit, as well as the spirit +of party, concurs in making the fortune of this journal. There exists +another, conducted by a member of the Institute, named POUGENS, under +the title of _Bibliothèque Française_, which is spoken of very +favourably. But that which appears every ten days, under the name of +_Décade Philosophique_, is the best production of the sort. A society +of literary men, prudent, well-informed, and warmly attached to their +country, are its authors, and deposit in it a well-digested analysis +of every thing new that appears in the arts, sciences, or literature. +Nevertheless, a labour so carefully performed, is perfectly +disinterested. This is the only enterprise of the kind that does not +afford a livelihood to its associates, and is supported by a zeal +altogether gratuitous. + +Without seeking to blame or approve the title of this last-mentioned +journal, I shall only remark that the word _Décade_, coupled with the +word _Philosophique_, becomes in the eyes of many persons a double +cause of reprobation; and that, at this day, more than ever, those +two words are, in the opinion the most in fashion, marked by a +proscription that is reflected on every thing which belongs to the +science of philosophy. + +This would be the moment to inquire into the secret or ostensible +causes which have led to the retrograde course that is to be remarked +in France in the ideas which have been hitherto reckoned as conducive +to the advancement of reason. This would be the moment to observe the +new government of France endeavouring to balance, the one by the +other, the opinions sprung from the Republic, and those daily +conjured up from the Monarchy; holding in _equilibrio_ two colours of +doctrines so diametrically opposite, and consequently two parties +equally dissatisfied at not being able to crush each other, +_neutralizing_ them, in short, by its immense influence in the +employment of their strength, when they bewilder or exhaust +themselves uselessly for its interests; but I could not touch on +these matters, without travelling out of the domain of literature, +which is the only one that is at present familiar to me, in order to +enter into yours, where you have not leisure to direct me; and you +may conceive with what an ill grace I should appear, in making before +you, in politics, excursions, which, probably, would have for me the +inconvenience of commanding great efforts, without leaving me the +hope of adding any thing to your stock of information. + + + +LETTER XXXV. + +_Paris, December 18, 1801._ + +Divided as Paris is by the Seine, it seldom happens that one has not +occasion to cross it more than once in the course of the day. I shall +therefore make you acquainted with the bridges which connect to its +banks the islands situated in that part of the river I have not yet + +described. Being out of my general track, I might otherwise forget to +make any further mention of them, which would be a manifest omission, +now you have before you the Plan of Paris. + +We will also embrace the opportunity of visiting the _Palais de +Justice_ and the Cathedral of _Notre-Dame_. East of the _Pont-Neuf_, +we first arrive at the + +PONT AU CHANGE. + +This bridge, which leads from the north bank of the Seine to the _Ile +du Palais_, is one of the most ancient in Paris. Though, like all +those of which I have now to speak, it crosses but one channel of the +river, it was called the _Grand Pont_, till the year 1141, when it +acquired its present name on Lewis VII establishing here all the +money-changers of Paris. + +It was also called _Pont aux Oiseaux_, because bird-sellers were +permitted to carry on their business here, on condition of letting +loose two hundred dozen of birds, at the moment when kings and queens +passed, in their way to the cathedral, on the day of their public +entry. By this custom, it was intended to signify that, if the people +had been oppressed in the preceding reign, their rights, privileges, +and liberties would be fully re-established under the new monarch. + +On the public entry of Isabeau de Bavière, wife of Charles VI, a +Genoese stretched a rope from the top of the towers of _Notre-Dame_ +to one of the houses on this bridge: he thence descended, dancing on +this rope, with a lighted torch in each hand. Habited as an angel, he +placed a crown on the head of the new queen, and reascending his +rope, he appeared again in the air. The chronicle adds that, as it +was already dark, he was seen by all Paris and the environs. + +This bridge was then of wood, and covered with houses also of wood. +Two fires, one of which happened in 1621, and the other in 1639, +occasioned it to be rebuilt of stone in 1647. + +The _Pont au Change_ consists of seven arches. Previously to the +demolition of the houses, which, till 1786, stood on each side of +this bridge, the passage was sufficiently wide for three carriages. + +Traversing the _Ile du Palais_ from north to south, in order to +proceed from the _Pont au Change_ to the _Pont St. Michel_, we pass +in front of the + +PALAIS DE JUSTICE. + +Towards the end of the ninth century, this palace was begun by Eudes. +It was successively enlarged by Robert, son of Hugh Capet, by St. +Lewis, and by Philip the Fair. Under Charles V, who abandoned it to +occupy the _Hôtel St. Paul_, which he had built, it was nothing more +than an assemblage of large towers, communicating with each other by +galleries. In 1383, Charles VI made it his residence. In 1431, +Charles VII relinquished it to the Parliament of Paris. However, +Francis I. took up his abode here for some time. + +It was in the great hall of this palace that the kings of France +formerly received ambassadors, and gave public entertainments. + +On Whitsunday, 1313, Philip the Fair here knighted his three sons, +with all the ceremonies of ancient chivalry. The king of England, our +unfortunate Edward II, and his abominable queen Isabella, who were +invited, crossed the sea on purpose, and were present at this +entertainment, together with a great number of English barons. It +lasted eight days, and is spoken of, by historians, as a most +sumptuous banquet. + +This magnificent hall, as well as great part of the palace, being +reduced to ashes in 1618, it was rebuilt, in its present state, under +the direction of that skilful architect, JACQUES DE BROSSES. It is +both spacious and majestic, and is the only hall of the kind in +France: the arches and arcades which support it are of hewn stone. + +Another fire, which happened in 1776, consumed all the part extending +from the gallery of prisoners to the _Sainte Chapelle_, founded by +St. Lewis, and where, before the revolution, were shewn a number of +costly relics. The ravages occasioned by this fire, were repaired in +1787, and the space in front laid open by the erection of uniform +buildings in the form of a crescent. To two gloomy gothic gates has +been substituted an iron railing, of one hundred and twenty feet in +extent, through which is seen a spacious court formed by two wings of +new edifices, and a majestic façade that affords an entrance to the +interior of the palace. + +In this court Madame La Motte, who, in 1786, made so conspicuous a +figure in the noted affair of the diamond necklace, was publicly +whipped. I was in Paris at the time, though not present at the +execution of the sentence. + +In the railing, are three gates, the centre one of which is charged +with garlands and other gilt ornaments. At the two ends are pavilions +decorated with four Doric pillars. Towards the _Pont St. Michel_ is a +continuation of the building ornamented with a bas-relief, at present +denominated _Le serment civique_. + +At the top of a flight of steps, is an avant-corps, with four Doric +columns, a balustrade above the entablature, four statues standing on +a level with the base of the pillars, and behind, a square dome. + +These steps lead you to the _Mercière_ gallery, having on the one +side, the _Sainte Chapelle_, and on the other, the great hall, called +the _Salle des Procureurs_. In this extensive hall are shops, for the +sale of eatables and pamphlets, which, since the suppression of the +Parliament, seem to have little custom, as well as those of the +milliners, &c. in the other galleries. + +In what was formerly called the _grande chambre_, where the +Parliament of Paris used to sit, the ill-fated Lewis XVI, in 1788, +held the famous bed of justice, in which D'ESPRESMENIL, one of the +members of that body, struck the first blow at royalty; a blow that +was revenged by a _lettre de cachet_, which exiled him to the _Ile de +St. Marguerite_, famous for being the place of confinement of the +great personage who was always compelled to wear an _iron mask_. The +courage of this counsellor, who was a noble and deputy of the +_noblesse_, may be considered as the _primum mobile_ of the +revolution. Under the despotism of the court, he braved all its +vengeance; but, in the sequel, he afforded a singular proof of the +instability of the human mind. After haying stirred up all the +parliaments against the royal authority, he again became the humble +servant of the crown. + +After the revolution, the _Palais de Justice_ became the seat of the +Revolutionary Tribunal, where the satellites of Robespierre, not +content with sending to the scaffold sixty victims at a time, +complained of the insufficiency of their means for bringing to trial +all the enemies of liberty. Dumas, at one time president of this +sanguinary tribunal, proposed to his colleagues to join to the hall, +where the tribunal sat, part of the great hall of the palace, in +order to assemble there five or six hundred victims at a time; and on +its being observed to him that such a sight might in the end disgust +the people; "Well," said he, "there's but one method of accomplishing +our object, without any obstacle, that is to erect a guillotine in +the court-yard of every prison, and cause the prisoners to be +executed there during the night." Had not Robespierre's downfall +involved that of all his blood-thirsty dependents, there seems no +doubt that this plan would have been carried into speedy execution. + +Nothing can paint the vicissitude of human events in colours more +striking than the transitions of this critical period. Dumas who made +this proposal, and had partially satisfied his merciless disposition +by signing, a few hours before, the death-warrant of sixty victims, +was the very next day brought before the same tribunal, composed of +his accomplices, or rather his creatures, and by them condemned to +die. Thus did experience confirm the general observation, that the +multiplicity and enormity of punishments announces an approaching +revolution. The torrents of blood which tyrants shed, are, in the +end, swelled by their own. + +In lieu of a tribunal of blood, the _Palais de Justice_ is now +appropriated to the sittings of the three tribunals, designated by +the following titles: _Tribunal de cassation_, _Tribunal d'appel_, +and _Tribunal de première instance_. The first of these, the +_Tribunal de cassation_, occupies the audience-chambers of the late +parliament; while the _grande chambre_ is appointed for the meetings +of its united Sections. The decoration of this spacious apartment is +entirely changed: it is embellished in the antique style; and a +person in contemplating it might fancy himself at Athens. + +Adjoining to the _Palais de Justice_, is the famous prison, so +dreaded in the early periods of the revolution, called + +LA CONCIERGERIE. + +From this fatal abode, neither talent, virtue, nor patriotism could, +at one time, secure those who possessed such enviable qualities. +Lavoisier, Malsherbes, Condorcet, &c. were here successively immured, +previously to being sent to the guillotine. Here too the unfortunate +Marie-Antoinette lived in a comfortless manner, from the 2nd of July, +1793, to the 13th of October following, the period of her +condemnation. + +On being reconducted to the prison, at four o'clock in the morning, +after hearing her sentence read, the hapless queen displayed a +fortitude worthy of the daughter of the high-minded Maria Theresa. +She requested a few hours' respite, to compose her mind, and +entreated to be left to herself in the room which she had till then +occupied. The moment she was alone, she first cut off her hair, and +then laying aside her widow's weeds, which she had always worn since +the death of the king, put on a white dress, and threw herself on her +bed, where she slept till eleven o'clock the same morning, when she +was awakened, in order to be taken to the scaffold. + +Continuing to cross the _Ile du Palais_ in a direction towards the +south, we presently reach the + +PONT ST. MICHEL. + +This bridge stands in a direct line with the _Pont au Change_, and is +situated on the south channel of the river. It was formerly of wood: +but having been frequently destroyed, it was rebuilt with stone in +1618, and covered on both sides with houses. From the _Pont Neuf_, +the back of these buildings has a most disagreeable and filthy +appearance. It is said that they are to be taken down, as those have +been which stood on the other bridges. + +In severe winters, when there is much ice in the river, it is +curious, on the breaking up of the frost, to behold families +deserting their habitations, like so many rats, and carrying with +them their valuables, from the apprehension that these crazy +tenements might fall into the river. This wise precaution is +suggested by the knowledge of these bridges, when built of wood, +having been often swept away by ice or great inundations. + +The _Pont St. Michel_ consists of four arches. Its length is two +hundred and sixty-eight feet, by sixty in breadth, including the +houses, between which is a passage for three carriages. + +If, to avoid being entangled in narrow, dirty streets, we return, by +the same route, to the north bank of the Seine, and proceed to the +westward, along the _Quai de Gévres_, which is partly built on piles, +driven into the bed of the river, we shall come to the + +PONT NOTRE-DAME. + +A wooden bridge, which previously existed here, having been +frequently carried away by inundations, Lewis XII ordered the +construction of the present one of stone, which was begun in 1499, +and completed in 1507. It was built from the plan of one JOCONDE, a +Cordelier, and native of Verona, and is generally admired for the +solidity, as well as beauty of its architecture. It consists of six +arches, and is two hundred and seventy-six feet in length. Formerly +it was bordered by houses, which were taken down in 1786: this has +rendered the quarter more airy, and consequently more salubrious. + +It was on this bridge that the Pope's Legate reviewed the +ecclesiastical infantry of the League, on the the 3d of June, 1590. +Capuchins, Minimes, Cordeliers, Jacobins or Dominicans, Feuillans, +&c. all with their robe tucked up, their cowl thrown behind, a helmet +on their head, a coat of mail on their body, a sword by their side, +and a musquet on their shoulder, marched four by four, headed by the +reverend bishop of Senlis, bearing a spontoon. But some of this holy +soldiery, forgetting that their pieces were loaded with ball, wished +to salute the Legate, and killed by his side one of his chaplains. +His Eminence finding that it began to grow hot at this review, +hastened to give his benediction, and vanished. + + +_December 18, in continuation_. + +Traversing once more two-thirds of the _Ile du Palais_ in a direction +from north to south, and then striking off to the east, up the _Rue +de Callandre_, we reach the + +CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE-DAME. + +This church, the first ever built in Paris, was begun about the year +375, under the reign of the emperor Valentinian I. It was then called +_St. Etienne_ or _St. Stephen's_, and there was as yet no other +within the walls of this city in 1522, when Childebert, son of +Clovis, repaired and enlarged it, adding to it a new basilic, which +was dedicated to _Notre Dame_ or Our Lady. + +More anciently, under Tiberius, there had been, on the same spot, an +altar in the open air, dedicated to Jupiter and other pagan gods, +part of which is still in being at the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS, in +the _Rue des Petits Augustins_. + +These two churches existed till about the year 1160, under the reign +of Lewis the Young, when the construction of the present cathedral +was begun partly on their foundations. It was not finished till 1185, +during the reign of Philip Augustus. + +This Gothic Church is one of the handsomest and most spacious in +France. It has a majestic and venerable appearance, and is supported +by one hundred and twenty clustered columns. Its length is three +hundred and ninety feet by one hundred and forty-four in breadth, and +one hundred and two in height. + +We must not expect to find standing here the twenty-six kings, +benefactors of this church, from Childeric I to Philip Augustus, +fourteen feet high, who figured on the same line, above the three +doors of the principal façade. They have all fallen under the blows +of the iconoclasts, and are now piled up behind the church. There lie +round-bellied Charlemagne, with his pipe in his mouth, and Pepin the +Short, with his sword in his hand, and a lion, the emblem of courage, +under his feet. The latter, like Tydeus, mentioned in the Iliad, +though small in stature, was stout in heart, as appears from the +following anecdote related of him by the monk of St. Gal. + +In former times, as is well known, kings took a delight in setting +wild beasts and ferocious animals to fight against each other. At one +of thege fights, between a lion and a bull, in the abbey of +Ferrières, Pepin the Short, who knew that some noblemen were daily +exercising their pleasantry on his small stature, addressed to them +this question: "Which of you feels himself bold enough to kill or +separate those terrible animals?" Seeing that not one of them stepped +forward, and that the proposal alone made them shudder: "Well," added +he, "'tis I then who will perform the feat." He accordingly descended +from his place, drew his sword, killed the lion, at another stroke +cut off the head of the bull, and then looking fiercely at the +railers: "Know," said he to them, "that stature adds nothing to +courage, and that I shall find means to bring to the ground the proud +persons who shall dare to despise me, as little David laid low the +great giant Goliah." Hence the attribute given to the statue of king +Pepin, which not long since adorned the façade of _Notre-Dame_. + +The groups of angels, saints, and patriarchs, which, no doubt, owe +their present existence only to their great number, still present to +the eye of the observer that burlesque mixture of the profane and +religious, so common in the symbolical representations of the twelfth +century. These figures adorn the triple row of indented borders of +the arches of the three doors. + +Two enormous square towers, each two hundred and two feet in height, +and terminated by a platform, decorate each end of the cathedral. The +ascent to them is by a winding staircase of three hundred and +eighty-nine steps, and their communication is by a gallery which +has no support but Gothic pillars of a lightness that excites +admiration. + +Independently of the six bells, which have disappeared with the +little belfry that contained them, in the two towers were ten, one of +which weighed forty-four thousand pounds. + +At the foot of the north tower is the rural calendar or zodiac, which +has been described by M. Le Gentil, member of the Academy of +Sciences. The Goths had borrowed from the Indians this custom of thus +representing rustic labours at the entrance of their temples. + +Another Gothic bas-relief, which is seen on the left, in entering by +the great door, undoubtedly represents that condemned soul who, +tradition says, rose from his bier, during divine service, in order +to pronounce his own damnation. + +None of the forty-five chapels have preserved the smallest vestige of +their ornaments. Those which escaped the destructive rage of the +modern Vandals, have been transported to the MUSEUM OF FRENCH +MONUMENTS. The most remarkable are the statue of Pierre de Gondi, +archbishop of Paris, the mausoleum of the Conte d'Harcourt, designed +by his widow, the modern Artemisia, and executed by Pigalle, together +with the group representing the vow of St. Lewis, by Costou the +elder. Six angels in bronze, which were seen at the further end of +the choir, have also been removed thither. + +The stalls present, in square and oval compartments, bas-reliefs very +delicately sculptured, representing subjects taken from the life of +the Holy Virgin and from the New Testament. Of the two episcopal +pulpits, which are at the further end, the one, that of the +archbishop, represents the martyrdom of St. Denis; the other, +opposite, the cure of king Childebert, by the intercession of St. +Germain. + +Some old tapestry, hung scantily round the choir, makes one regret +the handsome iron railing, so richly wrought, by which it was +inclosed, and some valuable pictures, which now figure in the grand +Gallery of the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS. + +The nave, quite as naked as the choir and the sanctuary, had been +enriched, as far as the space would admit, with pictures, twelve feet +high, given for a long time, on every first of May, by the +Goldsmiths' company and the fraternity of St. Anne and St. Marcel. + +On the last pillar of the nave, on the right, was the equestrian +statue of Philip of Valois. That king was here represented on +horseback, with his vizor down, sword in hand, and armed cap-à-pié, +in the very manner in which he rode into the cathedral of +_Notre-Dame_, in 1328, after the battle of Cassel. At the foot of +the altar he left his horse, together with his armour, which he had +worn in the battle, as an offering to the Holy Virgin, after having +returned thanks to God and to her, say historians, for the victory +he had obtained through her intercession. + +Above the lateral alleys, as well of the choir as of the nave, are +large galleries, separated by little pillars of a single piece, and +bordered by iron balustrades. Here spectators place themselves to see +grand ceremonies. From their balconies were formerly suspended the +colours taken from the enemy: these are now displayed in the _Temple +of Mars_ at the HÔTEL DES INVALIDES. + +The organ, which appears to have suffered no injury, is reckoned one +of the loudest and most complete in France. It is related that +Daquin, an incomparable organist, who died in 1781, once imitated the +nightingale on it so perfectly, that the beadle was sent on the roof +of the church, to endeavour to discover the musical bird. + +Some of the stained glass is beautiful. Two roses, restored to their +original state, the one on the side of the archipiscopal palace in +1726, and the other above the organ, in 1780, prove by their lustre, +that the moderns are not so inferior to the ancients, in the art of +painting on glass, as is commonly imagined. + +Should your curiosity lead you to contemplate the house of Fulbert, +the canon, the supposed uncle to the tender Héloïse, where that +celebrated woman passed her youthful days, you must enter, by the +cloister of _Notre-Dame_, into the street that leads to the _Pont +Rouge_, since removed. It is the last house on the right under the +arcade, and is easily distinguished by two medallions in stone, +preserved on the façade, though it has been several times rebuilt +during the space of six hundred years. All the authors who have +written on the antiquities of Paris, speak of these medallions as +being real portraits of Abélard and Héloïse. It is presumable that +they were so originally; but, without being a connoisseur, any one +may discover that the dresses of these figures are far more modern +than those peculiar to the twelfth century; whence it may be +concluded that the original portraits having been destroyed by time, +or by the alterations which the house has undergone, these busts have +been executed by some more modern sculptor of no great talents. + +Leaving the cathedral, by the _Rue Notre-Dame_, and turning to the +left, on reaching the _Marché Palu_, we come to the + +PETIT PONT. + +Like the _Pont St. Michel_, this bridge is situated on the south +channel of the river, and stands in a direct line with the _Pont +Notre-Dame_. It originally owed its construction to the following +circumstance. + +Four Jews, accused of having killed one of their converted brethren, +were condemned to be publicly whipped through all the streets of the +city, on four successive Sundays. After having suffered the half of +their sentence, to redeem themselves from the other half, they paid +18,000 francs of gold. This sum was appropriated to the erection of +the _Petit Pont_, the first stone of which was laid by Charles VI, in +1395. + +In 1718, two barges, loaded with hay, caught fire, and being cut +loose, drifted under the arches of this bridge, which, in the space +of four hours, was consumed, together with the houses standing on it. +The following year it was rebuilt, but without houses. + +Proceeding to the east, along the quays of the _Ile du Palais_, you +will find the + +PONT AU DOUBLE. + +This little bridge, situated behind the _Hôtel-Dieu_, of which I +shall speak hereafter, is destined for foot-passengers only, as was +the _Pont Rouge_. The latter was the point of communication between +the _Cité_ and the _Ile St. Louis_; but the frequent reparations +which it required, occasioned it to be removed in 1791, though, by +the Plan of Paris, it still appears to be in existence. However, it +is in contemplation to replace it by another of stone.[1] + +Supposing that you have regained the north bank of the Seine, by +means of the _Pont Notre-Dame_, you follow the quays, which skirt +that shore, till you reach the + +PONT MARIE. + +This bridge forms a communication between the _Port St. Paul_ and the +_Ile St. Louis_. The _Pont Marie_ was named after the engineer who +engaged with Henry IV to build it; but that prince having been +assassinated; the young king, Lewis XIII, and the queen dowager, laid +the first stone in 1614: it was finished, and bordered with houses, +in 1635. It consists of five arches. Its length is three hundred feet +by sixty-two in breadth. An inundation having carried away two of the +arches, in 1658, they were repaired without the addition of houses, +and in 1789, the others were removed. + +Passing through the _Rue des Deux Ponts_, which lies in a direct line +with the _Pont Marie_, we arrive at the + +PONT DE LA TOURNELLE. + +This bridge takes its name from the _Château de la Tournelle_, +contiguous to the _Porte St. Bernard_, where the galley-slaves used +formerly to be lodged, till they were sent off to the different +public works. It consists of six arches of solid construction, and is +bordered on each side by a foot-pavement. + +You are now acquainted with all the bridges in Paris; but should you +prefer crossing the Seine in a boat, there are several ferries +between the bridges, and at other convenient places. Here, you may +always meet with a waterman, who, for the sum of one _sou_, will +carry you over, whether master or lackey. Like the old ferryman +Charon, he makes no distinction of persons. + +[Footnote 1: Workmen are, at this moment, employed in the +construction of three new bridges. The first, already mentioned, will +form a communication between the _ci-devant Collège des Quatre +Nations_ and the _Louvre_; the second, between the _Ile du Palais_ +and the _Ile St. Louis_; and the third, between the _Jardin des +Plantes_ and the Arsenal.] + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + +_Paris, December 20, 1801._ + +What a charming abode is Paris, for a man who can afford to live at +the rate of a thousand or fifteen hundred pounds a year! Pleasures +wait not for him to go in quest of them; they come to him of their +own accord; they spring up, in a manner, under his very feet, and +form around him an officious retinue. Every moment of the day can +present a new gratification to him who knows how to enjoy it; and, +with prudent management, the longest life even would not easily +exhaust so ample a stock. + +Paris has long been termed an epitome of the world. But, perhaps, +never could this denomination be applied to it with so much propriety +as at the present moment. The chances of war have not only rendered +it the centre of the fine arts, the museum of the most celebrated +masterpieces in existence, the emporium where the luxury of Europe +comes to procure its superfluities; but the taste for pleasure has +also found means to assemble here all the enjoyments which Nature +seemed to have exclusively appropriated to other climates. + +Every country has its charms and advantages. Paris alone appears to +combine them all. Every region, every corner of the globe seems to +vie in hastening to forward hither the tribute of its productions. +Are you an epicure? No delicacy of the table but may be eaten in +Paris.--Are you a toper? No delicious wine but may be drunk, in +Paris.--Are you fond of frequenting places of public entertainment? +No sort of spectacle but may be seen in Paris.--Are you desirous of +improving your mind? No kind of instruction but may be acquired in +Paris.--Are you an admirer of the fair sex? No description of female +beauty but may be obtained in Paris.--Are you partial to the society +of men of extraordinary talents? No great genius but comes to display +his knowledge in Paris.--Are you inclined to discuss military topics? +No hero but brings his laurels to Paris.--In a word, every person, +favoured by Nature or Fortune, flies to enjoy the gifts of either in +Paris. Even every place celebrated in the annals of voluptuousness, +is, as it were, reproduced in Paris, which, in some shape or another, +presents its name or image. + +Without going out of this capital, you may, in the season when Nature +puts on her verdant livery, visit _Idalium_, present your incense to +the Graces, and adore, in her temple, the queen of love; while at +_Tivoli_, you may, perhaps, find as many beauties and charms as were +formerly admired at the enchanting spot on the banks of the Anio, +which, under its ancient name of _Tibur_, was so extolled by the +Latin poets; and close to the Boulevard, at _Frascati_, you may, in +that gay season, eat ices as good as those with which Cardinal de +Bernis used to regale his visiters, at his charming villa in the +_Campagna di Roma_. Who therefore need travel farther than Paris to +enjoy every gratification? + +If then, towards the close of a war, the most frightful and +destructive that ever was waged, the useful and agreeable seem to +have proceeded here hand in hand in improvement, what may not be +expected in the tranquillity of a few years' peace? Who knows but the +emperor Julian's "_dear Lutetia_" may one day vie in splendour with +Thebes and its hundred gates, or ancient Rome covering its seven +mountains? + +However, if _Tivoli_ and _Frascati_ throw open their delightful +recesses to the votaries of pleasure only in spring and summer, even +now, during the fogs of December, you may repair to + +PAPHOS. + +It might almost be said that you enter this place of amusement +gratis, for, though a slight tribute of seventy-five _centimes_ +(_circa_ seven-pence halfpenny sterling) is required for the +admission of every person, yet you may take refreshment to the amount +of that sum, without again putting your hand into your pocket; +because the counter mark, given at the door, is received at the bar +as ready-money. + +This speculation, the first of the kind in France, and one of the +most specious, is, by all accounts, also one of the most productive. +It would be too rigorous, no doubt, to compare the frequenters of the +modern PAPHOS to the inhabitants of the ancient. Here, indeed, you +must neither look for _élégantes_, nor _muscadins_; but you may view +belles, less gifted by Fortune, indulging in innocent recreation; and +for a while dispelling their cares, by dancing to the exhilarating +music of an orchestra not ill composed. Here, the grisette banishes +the _ennui_ of six days' application to the labours of her industry, +by footing it away on Sunday. Hither, in short, the less refined sons +and daughters of mirth repair to see and be seen, and to partake of +the general diversion. + +PAPHOS is situated on that part of the Boulevard, called the +_Boulevard du Temple_, whither I was led the other evening by that +sort of curiosity, which can be satisfied only when the objects that +afford it aliment are exhausted. I had just come out of another place +of public amusement, at no great distance, called + +LA PHANTASMAGORIE. + +This is an exhibition in the _Cour des Capucines_, adjoining to the +Boulevard, where ROBERTSON, a skilful professor of physics, amuses or +terrifies his audience by the appearance of spectres, phantoms, &c. +In the piece which I saw, called _Le Tombeau de Robespierre_, he +carries illusion to an extraordinary degree of refinement. His +cabinet of physics is rich, and his effects of optics are managed in +the true style of French gallantry. His experiments of galvanism +excite admiration. He repeats the difficult ones of M. VOLTA, and +clearly demonstrates the electrical phenomena presented by the +metallic pile. A hundred disks of silver and a hundred pieces of zinc +are sufficient for him to produce attractions, sparks, the divergency +of the electrometer, and electric hail. He charges a hundred Leyden +bottles by the simple contact of the metallic pile. ROBERTSON, I +understand, is the first who has made these experiments in Paris, and +has succeeded in discharging VOLTA's pistol by the galvanic spark. + +FITZJAMES, a famous ventriloquist, entertains and astonishes the +company by a display of his powers, which are truly surprising. + +You may, perhaps, be desirous to procure your family circle the +satisfaction of enjoying the _Phantasmagoria_, though not on the +grand scale on which it is exhibited by ROBERTSON. By the +communication of a friend, I am happy in being enabled to make you +master of the secret, as nothing can be more useful in the education +of children than to banish from their mind the deceitful illusion of +ghosts and hobgoblins, which they are so apt to imbibe from their +nurses. But to the point--"You have," says my author, "only to call +in the first itinerant foreigner, who perambulates the streets with a +_galantee-show_ (as it is commonly termed in London), and by +imparting to him your wish, if he is not deficient in intelligence +and skill, he will soon be able to give you a rehearsal of the +apparition of phantoms: for, by approaching or withdrawing the stand +of his show, and finding the focus of his glasses, you will see the +objects diminish or enlarge either on the white wall, or the sheet +that is extended. + +"The illusion which leads us to imagine that an object which +increases in all its parts, is advancing towards us, is the basis of +the _Phantasmagoria_, and, in order to produce it with the +_galantee-show_, you have only to withdraw slowly the lantern from +the place on which the image is represented, by approaching the outer +lens to that on which the object is traced: this is easily done, that +glass being fixed in a moveable tube like that of an opera-glass. +As for approaching the lantern gradually, it may be effected with the +same facility, by placing it on a little table with castors, and, by +means of a very simple mechanism, it is evident that both these +movements may be executed together in suitable progression. + +"The deception recurred to by phantasmagorists is further increased +by the mystery that conceals, from the eyes of the public, their +operations and optical instruments: but it is easy for the showman to +snatch from them this superiority, and to strengthen the illusion for +the children whom you choose to amuse with this sight. For that +purpose, he has only to change the arrangement of the sheet, by +requiring it to be suspended from the ceiling, between him and the +spectators, much in the same manner as the curtain of a playhouse, +which separates the stage from the public. The transparency of the +cloth shews through it the coloured rays, and, provided it be not of +too thick and too close a texture, the image presents itself as clear +on the one side as on the other. + +"If to these easy means you could unite those employed by ROBERTSON, +such as the black hangings, which absorb the coloured rays, the +little musical preparations, and others, you might transform all the +_galantee-shows_ into as many _phantasmagorias_, in spite of the +priority of invention, which belongs, conscientiously, to Father +KIRCHER, a German Jesuit, who first found means to apply his +knowledge respecting light to the construction of the magic lantern. + +"The coloured figures, exhibited by the phatasmagorists, have no +relation to these effects of light: they are effigies covered with +gold-beater's skin, or any other transparent substance, in which is +placed a dark lantern. The light of this lantern is extinguished or +concealed by pulling a string, or touching a spring, at the moment +when any one wishes to seize on the figure, which, by this +contrivance, seems to disappear. + +"The proprietors of the grand exhibitions of _phantasmagoria_ join to +these simple means a combination of different effects, which they +partly derive from the phenomena, presented by the _camera obscura_. +Some faint idea of that part of physics, called optics, which NEWTON +illuminated, by his genius and experience, are sufficient for +conceiving the manner in which these appearances are produced, though +they require instruments and particular care to give them proper +effect." + +Such is the elucidation given of the _phantasmagoria_ by an +intelligent observer, whose friend favoured me with this +communication. + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + +_Paris, December 21, 1801._ + +If Paris affords a thousand enjoyments to the man of fortune, it may +truly be said that, without money, Paris is the most melancholy abode +in the world. Privations are then the more painful, because desires +and even wants are rendered more poignant by the ostentatious display +of every object which might satisfy them. What more cruel for an +unfortunate fellow, with an empty purse, than to pass by the kitchen +of a _restaurateur_, when, pinched by hunger, he has not the means of +procuring himself a dinner? His olfactory nerves being still more +readily affected when his stomach is empty, far from affording him a +pleasing sensation, then serve only to sharpen the torment which he +suffers. It is worse than the punishment of Tantalus, who, dying with +thirst, could not drink, though up to his chin in water. + +Really, my dear friend, I would advise every rich epicure to fix his +residence in this city. Without being plagued by the details of +housekeeping, or even at the trouble of looking at a bill of fare, he +might feast his eye, and his appetite too, on the inviting plumpness +of a turkey, stuffed with truffles. A boar's head set before him, +with a Seville orange between its tusks, might make him fancy that he +was discussing the greatest interests of mankind at the table of an +Austrian Prime Minister, or British Secretary of State; while _pâtés_ +of _Chartres_ or of _Périgord_ hold out to his discriminating palate +all the refinements of French seasoning. These, and an endless +variety of other dainties, no less tempting, might he contemplate +here, in walking past a _magazin de comestibles_ or +provision-warehouse. + +Among the changes introduced here, within these few years, I had +heard much of the improvements in the culinary art, or rather in the +manner of serving up its productions; but, on my first arrival in +Paris, I was so constantly engaged in a succession of dinner-parties, +that some time elapsed before I could avail myself of an opportunity +of dining at the house of any of the fashionable + +RESTAURATEURS. + +This is a title of no very ancient date in Paris. _Traiteurs_ have +long existed here: independently of furnishing repasts at home, these +_traiteurs_, like Birch in Cornhill, or any other famous London cook, +sent out dinners and suppers. But, in 1765, one BOULANGER conceived +the idea of _restoring_ the exhausted animal functions of the +debilitated Parisians by rich soups of various denominations. Not +being a _traiteur_, it appears that he was not authorized to serve +ragouts; he therefore, in addition to his _restorative_ soups, set +before his customers new-laid eggs and boiled fowl with strong gravy +sauce: those articles were served up without a cloth, on little +marble tables. Over his door he placed the following inscription, +borrowed from Scripture: "_Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis, +et ego restaurabo vos._" + +Such was the origin of the word and profession of _restaurateur_. + +Other cooks, in imitation of BOULANGER, set up as _restorers_, on a +similar plan, in all the places of public entertainment where such +establishments were admissible. Novelty, fashion, and, above all, +dearness, brought them into vogue. Many a person who would have been +ashamed to be seen going into a _traiteur's_, made no hesitation of +entering a _restaurateur's_, where he paid nearly double the price +for a dinner of the same description. However, as, in all trades, it +is the great number of customers that enrich the trader, rather than +the select few, the _restaurateurs_, in order to make their business +answer, were soon under the necessity of constituting themselves +_traiteurs_; so that, in lieu of one title, they now possess two; and +this is the grand result of the primitive establishment. + +At the head of the most noted _restaurateurs_ in Paris, previously to +the revolution, was LA BARRIÈRE in the _ci-devant Palais Royal_; but, +though his larder was always provided with choice food, his cellar +furnished with good wines, his bill of fare long, and the number of +his customers considerable, yet his profits, he said, were not +sufficiently great to allow him to cover his tables with linen. This +omission was supplied by green wax cloth; a piece of economy which, +he declared, produced him a saving of near 10,000 livres (_circa_ +400£ sterling) per annum in the single article of washing. Hence you +may form an idea of the extent of such an undertaking. I have often +dined at LA BARRIÈRE'S was always well served, at a moderate charge, +and with remarkable expedition. Much about that time, BEAUVILLIERS, +who had opened, within the same precincts, a similar establishment, +but on a more refined plan, proved a most formidable rival to LA +BARRIÈRE, and at length eclipsed him. + +After a lapse of almost eleven years, I again find this identical +BEAUVILLIERS still in the full enjoyment of the greatest celebrity. +ROBERT and NAUDET in the _Palais du Tribunat_, and VÉRY on the +_Terrace des Feuillant_ dispute with him the palm in the art of +Apicius. All these, it is true, furnish excellent repasts, and their +wines are not inferior to their cooking: but, after more than one +impartial trial, I think I am justified in giving the preference to +BEAUVILLIERS. Let us then take a view of his arrangements: this, with +a few variations in price or quality, will serve as a general picture +of the _ars coquinaria_ in Paris. + +On the first floor of a large hotel, formerly occupied, perhaps, by a +farmer-general, you enter a suite of apartments, decorated with +arabesques, and mirrors of large dimensions, in a style no less +elegant than splendid, where tables are completely arranged for large +or small parties. In winter, these rooms are warmed by ornamental +stoves, and lighted by _quinquets_, a species of Argand's lamps. They +are capable of accommodating from two hundred and fifty to three +hundred persons, and, at this time of the year, the average number +that dine here daily is about two hundred; in summer, it is +considerably decreased by the attractions of the country, and the +parties of pleasure made, in consequence, to the environs of the +capital. + +On the left hand, as you pass into the first room, rises a sort of +throne, not unlike the _estrado_ in the grand audience-chamber of a +Spanish viceroy. This throne is encircled by a barrier to keep +intruders at a respectful distance. Here sits a lady, who, from her +majestic gravity and dignified bulk, you might very naturally suppose +to be an empress, revolving in her comprehensive mind the affairs of +her vast dominions. This respectable personage is Madame +BEAUVILLIERS, whose most interesting concern is to collect from the +gentlemen in waiting the cash which they receive at the different +tables. In this important branch, she has the assistance of a lady, +somewhat younger than herself, who, seated by her side, in stately +silence, has every appearance of a maid of honour. A person in +waiting near the throne, from his vacant look and obsequious +carriage, might, at first sight, be taken for a chamberlain; whereas +his real office, by no means an unimportant one, is to distribute +into deserts the fruit and other _et ceteras_, piled up within his +reach in tempting profusion. + +We will take our seats in this corner, whence, without laying down +our knife and fork, we can enjoy a full view of the company as they +enter. We are rather early: by the clock, I perceive that it is no +more than five: at six, however, there will scarcely be a vacant seat +at any of the tables. "_Garçon, la carte_!"--"_La voilà devant vous, +Monsieur._" + +Good heaven! the bill of fare is a printed sheet of double _folio_, +of the size of an English newspaper. It will require half an hour at +least to con over this important catalogue. Let us see; Soups, +thirteen sorts.--_Hors-d'oeuvres_, twenty-two species.--Beef, dressed +in eleven different ways.--Pastry, containing fish, flesh and fowl, +in eleven shapes. Poultry and game, under thirty-two various forms. +--Veal, amplified into twenty-two distinct articles.--Mutton, confined +to seventeen only.--Fish, twenty-three varieties.--Roast meat, game, +and poultry, of fifteen kinds.--Entremets, or side-dishes, to the +number of forty-one articles.--Desert, thirty-nine.--Wines, including +those of the liqueur kind, of fifty-two denominations, besides ale +and porter.--Liqueurs, twelve species, together with coffee and ices. + +Fudge! fudge! you cry--Pardon me, my good friend, 'tis no fudge. Take +the tremendous bill of fare into your own hand. _Vide et lege_. As we +are in no particular hurry, travel article by article through the +whole enumeration. This will afford you the most complete notion of +the expense of dining at a fashionable _restaurateur's_ in Paris. + +BEAUVILLIERS, RESTAURATEUR + +_Anciennement à la grande Tavernede la République, Palais-Egalité, +No. 142, Présentement Rue de la LOI, No. 1243._ + +PRIX DES METS POUR UNE PERSONNE.--LES ARTICLES DONT +LES PRIX NE SONT POINT FIXES, MANQUENT. + + + POTAGES. + + fr. s. + Potage aux laitues et petits pois 0 15 + Potage aux croûtons à la purée 0 15 + Potage aux choux 0 15 + Potage au consommé 0 12 + Potage au pain 0 12 + Potage de santé 0 12 + Potage au vermicel 0 12 + Potage au ris 0 12 + Potage à la julienne 0 12 + Potage printanier 0 15 + Potage à la purée 0 15 + Potage au lait d'amandes 0 15 + Potage en tortue 1 10 + + HORS-D'OEUVRES. + + Tranche de melon 1 0 + Artichaud à la poivrade 0 15 + Raves et Radis 0 6 + Salade de concombres 1 10 + Thon mariné 1 10 + Anchois à l'huile 1 5 + Olives 0 15 + Pied de cochon à la Sainte-Mènéhould 0 12 + Cornichons 0 8 + Petit salé aux choux 1 5 + Saucisses aux choux 0 18 + 1 Petit Pain de Beurre 0 4 + 2 OEufs frais 0 12 + 1 Citron 0 8 + Rissole à la Choisy 1 0 + Croquette de volaille 1 4 + 3 Rognons à la brochette 1 0 + Tête de veau en tortue 2 5 + Tête de veau au naturel 1 0 + 1 Côtelette de porc frais, sauce robert 1 0 + Chou-Croûte garni 1 10 + Jambon de Mayence aux épinards 1 5 + + ENTRÉES DE BOEUF. + + fr. s. + Boeuf au naturel ou à la sauce 0 15 + Boeuf aux choux ou aux légumes 0 18 + Carnebif 1 10 + Rosbif 1 5 + Filet de Boeuf sauté dans sa glace 1 5 + Bifteck 1 5 + Entre-côte, sauce aux cornichons 1 5 + Palais de Boeuf au gratin 1 4 + Palais de Boeuf à la poulette ou à l'Italienne 1 0 + Langue de Boeuf glacée aux épinards 1 0 + Jarrets de veau 0 15 + + ENTRÉES DE PATISSERIE. + + Pâté chaud de légumes 1 5 + 2 petits Pâtés à la Béchamel 1 4 + 2 petits Pâtés au jus 0 16 + 1 Pâté chaud d'anguille 1 10 + 1 Pâté chaud de crêtes et de rognons de coqs 2 0 + Tourte de godiveau 1 0 + Tourte aux confitures 1 5 + Vol-au-Vent de filets de volailles 2 0 + Vol-au-Vent de Saumon frais 1 10 + Vol-au-Vent de morue à la Béchamel 1 5 + Vol-au-Vent de cervelle de veau à l'Allemande 1 5 + + ENTRÉES DE VOLAILLES. + (_Toutes les entrées aux Truffes sont de 15 de plus_). + + fr. s. + Caille aux petits pois 2 10 + Pigeon à la crapaudine 2 10 + Chapon au riz, le quart 2 15 + Chapon au gros sel, le quart 2 10 + Demi-poulet aux Truffes ou aux Huitres 4 0 + Fricassée de poulets garnie, la moitié 3 10 + Fricassée de poulets, la moitié 3 0 + Salade de volaille 3 0 + Friteau de poulet, la moitié 3 0 + Demi-poulet à la ravigotte ou à la tartare 3 0 + Marinade de poulet, la moitié 3 0 + Le quart d'un poulet à l'estragon ou à la crème ou + aux laitues 1 10 + Blanquette de poularde 2 10 + 1 cuisse de poulet aux petits pois 2 0 + 1 cuisse de volaille au jambon 2 0 + 2 côtelettes de poulet 3 0 + 1 cuisse ou aile de poulet en papillote 1 10 + 1 cuisse de poulet à la Provençale 1 10 + Ragoût mêlé de crêtes et de rognons de coqs 3 0 + Capilotade de volaille 3 0 + Filet de poularde au suprême 3 0 + Mayonaise de volaille 3 0 + Cuisses de Dindon grillées, sauce robert 3 0 + Le quart d'un Canard aux petits pois ou aux navets 1 10 + Foie gras en caisses ou en matelote + Perdrix aux choux, la moitié + Salmi de perdreau au vin de Champagne + Pigeons en compote ou aux petits pois 2 10 + Béchamel de blanc de volaille 2 10 + 2 cuisses de poulet en hochepot 1 10 + Ailerons de dinde aux navets 1 10 + Blanc de volaille aux concombres 3 0 + + ENTRÉES DE VEAU. + + fr. s. + Riz de veau piqué, à l'oseille ou à la chicorée 2 0 + Riz de veau à la poulette 2 0 + Fricandeau aux petits pois 1 5 + Fricandeau à la chicorée 1 4 + Fricandeau à la ravigotte 1 4 + Fricandeau à l'oseille 1 4 + Fricandeau à l'Espagnole 1 4 + Côtelette de veau au jambon 1 4 + Côtelette de veau aux petits pois 1 10 + Côtelette de veau en papillotte 1 5 + Côtelette de veau panée, sauce piquante 1 0 + Côtelette de veau, sauce tomate 1 5 + Blanquette de veau 1 0 + Oreille de veau à la ravigotte 1 4 + Oreille de veau farcie, frite 1 4 + Oreille de veau frite ou en marinade 1 4 + Cervelle de veau en matelote 1 4 + Cervelle de veau à la purée 1 4 + Tendons de veau panés, grillés, sauce piquante 1 4 + Tendons de veau à la poulette 1 4 + Tendons de veauen macédoine 1 5 + Tendons de veau aux petits pois 1 5 + + ENTRÉES DE MOUTON. + + Gigot de mouton braisé, aux légumes 1 0 + Tendons de mouton grillés 0 18 + Tendons de mouton aux petits pois 1 5 + Hachi de mouton à la Portugaise 1 0 + 2 Côtelettes de mouton à la minute 1 5 + 2 Côtelettes de mouton aux racines 1 5 + 2 Côtelettes de mouton au naturel 0 18 + 2 Côtelettes de pré 1 0 + Epigramme d'agneau + 2 Côtelettes d'agneau au naturel + Tendons d'agneau aux pointes d'asperges + Tendons d'agneau aux petits pois + Blanquette d'agneau + Filet de chevreuil 1 5 + Côtelette de chevreuil + Queue de mouton à la purée 1 5 + Queue de mouton à l'oseille ou à la chicorée 1 5 + + ENTRÉES DE POISSONS. + + fr. s. + Merlan frit + Maquereau à la maître d'hôtel + Saumon frais, sauce aux câpres 2 10 + Raie, sauce aux câpres ou au beurre noir 1 10 + Turbot, sauce aux câpres 2 10 + Cabillaud + Morue fraîche au beurre fondu + Morue d'Hol. à la maître-d'hôtel ou à la Provençale 1 10 + Sole frite + Sole sur le plat 5 0 + Eperlans frits + Barbue + Turbotin + Matelote de carpe et d'anguille 2 0 + Tronçon d'anguille à la tartare 1 10 + Carpe frite, la moitié 2 0 + Perche du Rhin à la Vallesfiche + Goujons frits 1 5 + Truite au bleu + Laitance de carpe + Moules à la poulette 1 5 + Homard 3 0 + Esturgeon 2 10 + + RÔTS. + + fr. s. + Bécasse + 3 Mauviettes + + + Poularde fine 9fr. la moitié 4 10 + Poulet Normand, 7fr. la moitié 3 10 + Poulet gras, 6fr. la moitié 3 0 + 1 Pigeon de volière 2 10 + Perdreau rouge + Perdreau gris 3 10 + Caneton de Rouen + Caille 2 0 + Agneau + Veau 1 0 + Mouton + Levreau + Grive + + + Obergine 1 10 + + ENTREMETS. + + Gelée de citron 1 10 + Concombres à la Béchamel 1 10 + Laitues a jus 1 10 + Petits pois à la Française ou à l'Anglaise 1 10 + Haricots verts à la poulette ou à l'Anglaise 1 10 + Haricots blancs à la maître-d'hôtel 0 18 + Fèves de marais 1 10 + Artichaud à la sauce 1 10 + Artichaud à la barigoul 1 10 + Artichaud frit 1 5 + Truffes au vin de Champagne + Truffes à l'Italienne + Croûte aux truffes + Navets + Carottes 0 18 + Epinards au jus 0 18 + Chicorée au jus 1 5 + Céleri au jus + Choux-fleurs à la sauce ou au parmesan 1 10 + Macédoine de légumes 1 5 + Pommes de terre à la maître-d'hôtel 0 18 + Champignons à la Bordelaise 1 4 + Croûtes aux champignons 1 10 + OEufs brouillés au jus 0 15 + OEufs au beurre noir 1 0 + Omelette aux fines herbes 0 15 + Omelette aux rognons ou au jambon 1 0 + Omelette au sucre ou aux confitures 1 5 + Omelette soufflée 1 10 + Beignets de pommes 1 10 + Charlotte de pommes 1 10 + Charlotte aux confitures 2 0 + Riz soufflé 1 10 + Soufflé aux pommes de terre 1 10 + Le petit pôt de crème 0 10 + Macaroni d'Italie au parmesan 1 5 + Fondu 1 4 + Plumpuding 1 10 + Eorevisses 2 0 + Salade 1 0 + + DESSERT. + + fr. s. + Cerneaux 0 15 + Raisins 1 5 + + + Fraises + Cerises + Groseilles + Framboises + Abricot 0 8 + Pêche 0 12 + Prunes 0 3 + Figue 0 5 + Amandes 0 15 + Noisettes 0 12 + Pommes à la Portugaise + Poires 0 8 + Pomme + Compote de verjus épépine + Compote d'épine-vinette + Compote de poires 1 4 + Compote de pommes + Compote de cerises 1 4 + Nix Vert 0 10 + Meringue 0 8 + Compote de groseilles 1 4 + Compote d'abricot 1 4 + Compote de pêche 1 4 + Confitures 1 4 + Cerises liquides 1 4 + Marmelade d'abricots 1 10 + Gelée de groseilles 1 4 + Biscuit à la crème 1 8 + Fromage à la crème 1 10 + Fromage de Roquefort 0 10 + Fromage de Viry 0 15 + Fromage de Gruyère 0 8 + Fromage de Neufehâtel 0 5 + Fromage de Clochestre ou Chester 0 10 + Cerises à l'eau-de-vie 0 12 + Prunes à l'eau-de-vie 0 12 + Abricots à l'eau-de-vie + Pêches à l'eau-de-vie + + VINS. + + fr. s. + Clarette 6 0 + Vin de Bourgogne 1 15 + Vin de Chablis 2 0 + Vin de Beaune 2 5 + Vin de Mulsaux 3 0 + Vin de Montrachet 3 10 + Vin de Pomard 3 10 + Vin de Volnay 3 10 + Vin de Nuits 3 10 + Vin de Grave 5 0 + Vin de Soterne 5 0 + Vin de Champagne mousseux 5 0 + Vin de champagne, mousseux 4 0 + Tisane de Champagne 3 10 + Vin de Rosé 5 0 + Vin de Silery rouge 6 0 + Vin de Silery blanc 6 0 + Vin de Pierri 5 0 + Vin d'Aï 5 0 + Vin de Porto 6 0 + Latour 6 0 + Vin de Côte-Rôtie 5 0 + + + Vin du Clos Vougeot de 88 7 4 + Clos St. Georges 6 0 + Vin de Pomarel 6 0 + Vin du Rhin 8 0 + Vin de Chambertin 5 0 + Vin de l'Hermitage rouge 5 0 + Vin de l'Hermitage blanc 6 0 + Vin delà Romanée 5 0 + Ronflante Conti 8 0 + Vin de Richebourg 5 0 + Chevalier montrachet 6 0 + Vin de Vône 5 0 + Vîn de Bordeaux de Ségur 5 0 + Vin de Bordeaux Lafite 5 0 + Vin de Saint Emilion 5 0 + Bierre forte ou porter 2 0 + Bierre 0 10 + + + VINS DE LIQUEURS. + + fr. s. + Vin de Chereste, demi-bouteille 4 0 + Vin de Malvoisie, _idem_ 4 0 + Madère sec _id._ 4 0 + Malaga 3 0 + Alicante _id._ 3 0 + Muscat 3 0 + Le petit verre 0 10 + Vermouth + Chipre + Calabre + Paille + Palme + Constance + Tokai + Le petit verre 1 0 + + LIQUEURS. + + Anisette d'Hollande 0 15 + Anisette de Bordeaux 0 12 + Eau-de-vie d'Andaye 0 10 + Fleur d'Orange 0 10 + Cuirasseau 0 10 + Rhum 0 10 + Kirschewaser 0 10 + Eau Cordiale de Coradon 0 15 + Liqueurs des Isles 0 15 + Marasquin 0 15 + Eau-de-vie de Dantzick 0 15 + Eau-de-vie de Coignac 0 8 + Casé, la tasse 12s. la demie 0 8 + Glace 0 15 + +One advantage, well deserving of notice, of this bill of fare with +the price annexed to each article, is, that, when you have made up +your mind as to what you wish to have for dinner, you have it in your +power, before you give the order, to ascertain the expense. But, +though you see the price of each dish, you see not the dish itself; +and when it comes on the table, you may, perhaps, be astonished to +find that a pompous, big-sounding name sometimes produces only a +scrap of scarcely three mouthfuls. It is the mountain in labour +delivered of a mouse. + +However, if you are not a man of extraordinary appetite, you may, for +the sum of nine or ten francs, appease your hunger, drink your bottle +of Champagne or Burgundy, and, besides, assist digestion by a dish of +coffee and a glass of liqueur. Should you like to partake of two +different sorts of wine, you may order them, and drink at pleasure of +both; if you do not reduce the contents below the moiety, you pay +only for the half bottle. A necessary piece of advice to you as a +stranger, is, that, while you are dispatching your first dish, you +should take care to order your second, and so on in progression to +the end of the chapter: otherwise, for want of this precaution, when +the company is very numerous, you may, probably, have to wait some +little time between the acts, before you are served. + +This is no trifling consideration, if you purpose, after dinner, to +visit one of the principal theatres: for, if a new or favourite piece +be announced, the house is full, long before the raising of the +curtain; and you not only find no room at the theatre to which you +first repair; but, in all probability, this disappointment will +follow you to every other for that evening. + +Nevertheless, ten or fifteen minutes are sufficient for the most +dainty or troublesome dish to undergo its final preparation, and in +that time you will have it smoking on the table. Those which admit of +being completely prepared beforehand, are in a constant state of +readiness, and require only to be set over the fire to be warmed. +Each cook has a distinct branch to attend to in the kitchen, and the +call of a particular waiter to answer, as each waiter has a distinct +number of tables, and the orders of particular guests to obey in the +dining-rooms. In spite of the confused noise arising from the gabble +of so many tongues, there being probably eighty or a hundred persons +calling for different articles, many of whom are hasty and impatient, +such is the habitual good order observed, that seldom does any +mistake occur; the louder the vociferations of the hungry guests, the +greater the diligence of the alert waiters. Should any article, when +served, happen not to suit your taste, it is taken back and changed +without the slightest murmur. + +The difference between the establishments of the fashionable +_restaurateurs_ before the revolution, and those in vogue at the +present day, is, that their profession presenting many candidates for +public favour, they are under the continual necessity of employing +every resource of art to attract customers, and secure a continuance +of them. The commodiousness and elegance of their rooms, the +savouriness of their cooking, the quality of their wines, the +promptitude of their attendants, all are minutely criticized; and, if +they study their own interest, they must neglect nothing to flatter +the eyes and palate. In fact, how do they know that some of their +epicurean guests may not have been of their own fraternity, and once +figured in a great French family as _chef de cuisine_? + +Of course, with all this increase of luxury, you must expect an +increase of expense: but if you do not now dine here at so reasonable +a rate as formerly, at least you are sumptuously served for your +money. If you wish to dine frugally, there are numbers of +_restaurateurs_, where you may be decently served with _potage_, +_bouilli_, an _entrée_, an _entremet_, bread and desert, for the +moderate sum of from twenty-six to thirty _sous_. The addresses of +these cheap eating-houses, if they are not put into your hand in the +street, will present themselves to your eye, at the corner of almost +every wall in Paris. Indeed, all things considered, I am of opinion +that the difference in the expense of a dinner at a _restaurateur's_ +at present, and what it was ten or eleven years ago, is not more than +in the due proportion of the increased price of provisions, +house-rent, and taxes. + +The difference the most worthy of remark in these rendezvous of good +cheer, unquestionably consists in the company who frequent them. In +former times, the dining-rooms of the fashionable _restaurateurs_ +were chiefly resorted to by young men of good character and +connexions, just entering into life, superannuated officers and +batchelors in easy circumstances, foreigners on their travels, &c. At +this day, these are, in a great measure, succeeded by stock-jobbers, +contractors, fortunate speculators, and professed gamblers. In +defiance of the old proverb, "_le ventre est le plus grand de tous +nos ennemis,_" guttling and guzzling is the rage of these upstarts. +It is by no means uncommon to see many of them begin their dinner by +swallowing six or seven dozen of oysters and a bottle of white wine, +by way of laying a foundation for a _potage en tortue_ and eight or +ten other rich dishes. Such are the modern parvenus, whose craving +appetites, in eating and drinking, as in every thing else, are not +easily satiated. + +It would be almost superfluous to mention, that where rich rogues +abound, luxurious courtesans are at no great distance, were it not +for the sake of remarking that the former often regale the latter at +the _restaurateurs_, especially at those houses which afford the +convenience of snug, little rooms, called _cabinets particuliers_. +Here, two persons, who have any secret affairs to settle, enjoy all +possible privacy; for even the waiter never has the imprudence to +enter without being called. In these asylums, Love arranges under his +laws many individuals not suspected of sacrificing at the shrine of +that wonder-working deity. Prudes, whose virtue is the universal +boast, and whose austerity drives thousands of beaux to despair, +sometimes make themselves amends for the reserve which they are +obliged to affect in public, by indulging in a private _tête-à-tête_ +in these mysterious recesses. In them too, young lovers frequently +interchange the first declarations of eternal affection; to them many +a husband owes the happiness of paternity; and without them the gay +wife might, perhaps, be at a loss to deceive her jealous Argus, and +find an opportunity of lending an attentive ear to the rapturous +addresses of her aspiring gallant. + +What establishment then can be more convenient than that of a +_restaurateur_? But you would be mistaken, were you to look for +_cabinets particuliers_ at every house of this denomination, Here, at +BEAUVILLIERS', for instance, you will find no such accommodation, +though if you dislike dining in public, you may have a private room +proportioned to the number of a respectable party: or, should you be +sitting at home, and just before the hour of dinner, two or three +friends call in unexpectedly, if you wish to enjoy their company in a +quiet, sociable manner, you have only to dispatch your _valet de +place_ to BEAUVILLIERS' or to the nearest _restaurateur_ of repute +for the bill of fare, and at the same time desire him to bring +table-linen, knives, silver forks, spoons, and all other necessary +appurtenances. While he is laying the cloth, you fix on your dinner, +and, in little more than a quarter of an hour, you have one or two +elegant courses, dressed in a capital style, set out on the table. As +for wine, if you find it cheaper, you can procure that article from +some respectable wine-merchant in the neighbourhood. In order to save +trouble, many single persons, and even small families now scarcely +ever cook at home; but either dine at a _restaurateur's_, or have +their dinners constantly furnished from one of these sources of +culinary perfection. + +But, while I am relating to you the advantages of these +establishments, time flies apace: 'tis six o'clock.--If you are not +disposed to drink more wine, let us have some coffee and our bill. +When you want to pay, you say: "_Garçon, la carte payante!_" The +waiter instantly flies to a person, appointed for that purpose, to +whom he dictates your reckoning. On consulting your stomach, should +you doubt what you have consumed, you have only to call in the aid of +your memory, and you will be perfectly satisfied that you have not +been charged with a single article too much or too little. + +Remark that portly man, so respectful in his demeanour. It is +BEAUVILLIERS, the master of the house: this is his most busy hour, +and he will now make a tour to inquire at the different tables, if +his guests are all served according to their wishes. He will then, +like an able general, take a central station, whence he can command a +view of all his dispositions. The person, apparently next in +consequence to himself, and who seems to have his mind absorbed in +other objects, is the butler: his thoughts are, with the wine under +his care, in the cellar. + +Observe the cleanly attention of the waiters, neatly habited in +close-bodied vests, with white aprons before them: watch the +quickness of their motions, and you will be convinced that no scouts +of a camp could be more _on the alert_. An establishment, so +extremely well conducted, excites admiration. Every spring of the +machine duly performs its office; and the regularity of the whole +might serve as a model for the administration of an extensive State. +Repair then, ye modern Machiavels, to N° 1243, _Rue de la Loi_; and, +while you are gratifying your palate, imbibe instruction from +BEAUVILLIERS. + +END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + + + * * * * * + * * * * * + + + + + +PARIS + +AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS; + +OR + +A Sketch of the French Capital, + +ILLUSTRATIVE OF + +THE EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION, + +WITH RESPECT TO + +SCIENCES, +LITERATURE, +ARTS, +RELIGION, +EDUCATION, +MANNERS, +AND +AMUSEMENTS; + +COMPRISING ALSO + +A correct Account of the most remarkable National Establishments and +Public Buildings. + +In a Series of Letters, + +WRITTEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER, + +DURING THE YEARS 1801-2, + +TO A FRIEND IN LONDON. + + * * * * * + +Ipsâ varietate tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis, quædem fortasse +omnibus placeant. PLIN. Epist. + + * * * * * + +VOL. II + +LONDON + + + +A SKETCH OF PARIS, &c. &c. + + +LETTER XXXVIII. + +_Paris, December 23, 1801._ + +An establishment at once deserving of the attention of men of +feeling, particularly of those who, in cultivating literature, apply +themselves to the science of metaphysics and grammar; an +establishment extremely interesting to every one, the great +difficulties of which mankind had, repeatedly, in the course of ages, +endeavoured to encounter, and which had driven to despair all those +who had ventured to engage in the undertaking; an establishment, in a +word, which produces the happiest effects, and in a most wonderful +manner, is the + +NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. + +To the most religious of philanthropists is France indebted for this +sublime discovery, and the Abbé SICARD, a pupil of the inventor; the +Abbé de l'Epée, has carried it to such a degree of perfection, that +it scarcely appears possible to make any further progress in so +useful an undertaking. And, in fact, what can be wanting to a species +of instruction the object of which is to establish between the deaf +and dumb, and the man who hears and speaks, a communication like that +established between all men by the knowledge and practice of the same +idiom; when the deaf and dumb man, by the help of the education given +him, succeeds in decomposing into phrases the longest period; into +simple propositions, the most complex phrase; into words, each +proposition; into simple words, words the most complex: and when he +distinguishes perfectly words derived from primitives; figurative +words from proper ones; and when, after having thus decomposed the +longest discourse, he recomposes it; when, in short, the deaf and +dumb man expresses all his ideas, all his thoughts, and all his +affections; when he answers, like men the best-informed, all +questions put to him, respecting what he knows through the nature of +his intelligence, and respecting what he has learned, either from +himself or from him who has enlightened his understanding? What wish +remains to be formed, when the deaf and dumb man is enabled to learn +by himself a foreign language, when he translates it, and writes it, +as well as those of whom it is the mother-tongue? + +Such is the phenomenon which the Institution of the deaf and dumb +presents to the astonishment of Europe, under the direction, or +rather under the regeneration of the successor of the celebrated Abbé +de l'Epée. His pupils realize every thing that I have just mentioned. +They write English and Italian as well as they do French. Nothing +equals the justness and precision of their definitions. + +Nor let it be imagined that they resemble birds repeating the tunes +they have learned. Never have they been taught the answer to a +question. Their answers are always the effect of their good logic, +and of the ideas of objects and of qualities of beings, acquired by a +mind which the Institutor has formed from the great art of +observation. + +This institution was far short of its present state of perfection at +the death of the celebrated inventor, which happened on the 23d of +December 1789. During the long career of their first father, the deaf +and dumb had been able to find means only to write, under the +dictation of signs, words whose import was scarcely known to them. +When endeavours were made to make them emerge from the confined +sphere of the first wants, not one of them knew how to express in +writing any thing but ideas of sense and wants of the first +necessity. The nature of the verb, the relations of tenses, that of +other words comprehended in the phrase, and which form the syntax of +languages, were utterly unknown to them. And, indeed, how could they +answer the most trifling question? Every thing in the construction of +a period was to them an enigma. + +It was not long before the successor of the inventor discovered the +defect of this instruction, which was purely mechanical and acquired +by rote. He thought he perceived this defect in the _concrete_ verb, +in which the deaf and dumb, seeing only a single word, were unable to +distinguish two ideas which are comprehended in it, that of +affirmation and that of quality. He thought he perceived also that +defect in the expression of the qualities, always presented, in all +languages, out of the subjects, and never in the noun which they +modify; and, by the help of a process no less simple than ingenious +and profound, he has made the deaf and dumb comprehend the most +arduous difficulty, the nature of abstraction; he has initiated them +in the art of generalizing ideas by presenting to them the adjective +in the noun, as the quality is in the object, and the quality +subsisting alone and out of the object, having no support but in the +mind, for him who considers it, and but in the abstract noun for him +who reads the expression of it. He has, in like manner, separated the +verb from the quality in concrete verbs, and communicated to the deaf +and dumb the knowledge of the true verb, which he has pointed out to +them in the termination of all the French verbs, by reattaching to +the subject, by a line agreed on, its verbal quality. This line he +has translated by the verb _to be_, the only verb recognized by +philosophic grammarians. + +These are the two foundations of this very extraordinary source of +instruction, and on which all the rest depend. The pronouns are +learned by nouns; the tenses of conjugation, by the three absolute +tenses of conjugation of all languages; and these, by this line, so +happily imagined, which is a sign of the present when it connects the +verbal quality and the subject, a sign of the past when it is +intersected, a sign of the future when it is only begun. + +All the conjugations are reduced to a single one, as are all the +verbs. The adverbs considered as adjectives, when they express the +manner, and as substitutes for a preposition and its government, when +they express time or place, &c. The preposition represented as a mean +of transmitting the influence of the word which precedes it to that +which follows it; the articles serving, as in the English language, +to determine the extent of a common noun. Such is a summary of the +grammatical system of the Institutor of the deaf and dumb. + +It is the metaphysical part, above all, which, in this institution, +is carried to such a degree of simplicity and clearness, that it is +within reach of understandings the most limited. And, indeed, one +ought not to be astonished at the rapid progress of the deaf and dumb +in the art of expressing their ideas and of communicating in writing +with every speaker, as persons absent communicate with each other by +similar means. In the space of eighteen months, a pupil begins to +give an account in writing of the actions of which he is rendered a +witness, and, in the space of five years, his education is complete. + +The objects in which the deaf and dumb are instructed, are Grammar, +the notions of Metaphysics and Logic, which the former renders +necessary, Religion, the Use of the Globes, Geography, Arithmetic, +general notions of History, ancient and modern, of Natural History, +of Arts and Trades, &c. + +These unfortunates, restored by communication to society, from which +Nature seemed to have intended to exclude them, are usefully +employed. One of their principal occupations is a knowledge of a +mechanical art. Masters in the most ordinary arts are established in +the house of the deaf and dumb, and every one there finds employment +in the art which best suits his inclination, his strength, and his +natural disposition. In this school, which is established at the +extremity of the _Faubourg St. Jacques_, is a printing-office, where +some are employed as compositors; others, as pressmen. In a +preparatory drawing-school they are taught the rudiments of painting, +engraving, and Mosaic, for the last of which there are two workshops. +There is also a person to teach engraving on fine grained stones, as +well as a joiner, a tailor, and a shoemaker. The garden, which is +large, is cultivated by the deaf and dumb. Almost every thing that is +used by them is made by themselves. They make their own bedsteads, +chairs, tables, benches, and clothes. The deaf and dumb females too +make their shirts, and the rest of their linen. + +Thus their time is so taken up that, with the exception of three +hours devoted to moral instruction, all the rest is employed in +manual labour. + +Such is this establishment, where the heart is agreeably affected at +the admirable spectacle which presents at once every thing that does +the most honour to human intelligence, in the efforts which it has +been necessary to make in order to overcome the obstacles opposed to +its development by the privation of the sense the most useful, and +that of the faculty the most essential to the communication of men +with one another, and the sight of the physical power employed in +seeking, in arts and trades, resources which render men independent. + +But to what degree are these unfortunates deaf, and why are they +dumb? + +It is well known that they are dumb because they are deaf, and they +are more or less deaf, when they are so only by accident, in +proportion as the auditory nerve is more or less braced, or more or +less relaxed. In various experiments made on sound, some have heard +sharp sounds, and not grave ones; others, on the contrary, have heard +grave sounds, and not sharp ones. + +All would learn, were it deemed expedient to teach them, the +mechanism of speech. But, besides that the sounds which they would +utter, would never be heard by themselves, and they would never be +conscious of having uttered them, those, sounds would be to those who +might listen to them infinitely disagreeable. Never could they be of +use, to them in conversing with us, and they would serve only to +counteract their instruction. + +Woe be to the deaf and dumb whom it should be proposed to instruct by +teaching them to speak! How, in fact, can, the development of the +understanding be assisted by teaching them a mechanism which has no +object or destination, when the thought already formed in the mind, +by the help of signs which fix the ideas, restores not the mechanism +of speech? + +Of this the Institutor has been fully sensible, and, although in his +public lessons, he explains all the efforts of the vocal instrument +or organ of the voice, and proves that he could, as well as any other +man, teach the deaf and dumb to make use of it, all his labour is +confined to exercising the instrument of thought, persuaded that +every thing will be obtained, when the deaf and dumb shall have +learned to arrange their ideas, and to think. + +It is then only that the Institutor gives lessons of analysis. But, +how brilliant are they! You think yourself transported into a class +of logic. The deaf and dumb man has ceased to be so. A contest begins +between him and his master. All the spectators are astonished; every +one wishes to retain what is written on both sides. It is a lesson +given to all present. + +Every one is invited to interrogate the deaf and dumb man, and he +answers to any person whatsoever, with a pen or pencil in his hand, +and in the same manner puts a question. He is asked, "What is Time?" +--"Time," says the dumb pupil, "is a portion of duration, the nature +of which is to be successive, to have commenced, and consequently to +have passed, and to be no more; to be present, and to be so through +necessity. Time," adds he, "is the fleeting or the future." As if in +the eyes of the dumb there was nothing real in Time but the future. +--"What is eternity?" says another to him--"It is a day without +yesterday, or to-morrow," replies the pupil.--"What is a sense?"--"It +is a vehicle for ideas."--"What is duration?"--"It is a line which +has no end, or a circle."--"What is happiness?"--"It is a pleasure +which never ceases."--"What is God?"--"The author of nature, the sun +of eternity."--"What is friendship?"--"The affection of the mind." +--"What is gratitude?"--"The memory of the heart." + +There are a thousand answers of this description, daily collected at +the lessons of the deaf and dumb by those who attend them, and which +attest the superiority of this kind of instruction over the common +methods. Thus, this institution is not only, in regard to beneficence +and humanity, deserving of the admiration of men of feeling, it +merits also the observation of men of superior understanding and true +philosophers, on account of the ingenious process employed here to +supply the place of the sense of seeing by that of hearing, and +speech by gesture and writing. + +I must not conceal from my countrymen, above all, that the +Institutor, in his public lessons, formally declares, that it is by +giving to the French language the simple form of ours, and +accommodating to it our syntax, he has been chiefly successful in +making the deaf and dumb understand that of their own country. I must +also add, that it is no more than a justice due to the Institutor to +say that, in the midst of the concourse of auditors, who press round +him, and who offer him the homage due to his genius and philanthropy, +he shews for all the English an honourable preference, acknowledging +to them, publicly, that this attention is a debt which he discharges +in return for the asylum that we granted to the unfortunate persons +of his profession, who, emigrating from their native land, came among +us to seek consolation, and found another home. + +Should ever this feeble sketch of so interesting an institution reach +SICARD, that religious philosopher, who belongs as much to every +country in the world as to France, the land which gave him birth, he +will find in it nothing more than the expression of the gratitude of +one Englishman; but he may promise himself that as soon as the +definitive treaty of peace shall have reopened a free intercourse +between the two nations, the sentiments contained in it will be +adopted by all the English who shall witness the extraordinary +success of his profoundly-meditated labours. They will all hasten to +pay their tribute of admiration to a man, whose most gratifying +reward consists in the benefits which he has had the happiness to +confer on that part of his fellow-creatures from whom Nature has +withheld her usual indulgence. + + + +LETTER XXXIX. + +_Paris, December 25, 1801._ + +Much has been said of the general tone of immorality now prevailing +in this capital, and so much, that it becomes necessary to look +beyond the surface, and examine whether morals be really more corrupt +here at the present day than before the revolution. To investigate +the subject through all its various branches and ramifications, would +lead me far beyond the limits of a letter. I shall therefore, as a +criterion, take a comparative view of the increase or decrease of the +different classes of women, who, either publicly or privately, +deviate from the paths of virtue. If we begin with the lowest rank, +and ascend, step by step, to the highest, we first meet with those +unfortunate creatures, known in France by the general designation of + +PUBLIC WOMEN. + +Their number in Paris, twelve years ago, was estimated at thirty +thousand; and if this should appear comparatively small, it must be +considered how many amorous connexions here occupy the attention of +thousands of men, and consequently tend to diminish the number of +_public_ women. + +The question is not to ascertain whether it be necessary, for the +tranquillity of private families, that there should be public women. +Who can fairly estimate the extent of the mischief which they +produce, or of that which they obviate? Who can accurately determine +the best means for bringing the good to overbalance the evil? But, +supposing the necessity of the measure, would it not be proper to +prevent, as much as possible, that complete mixture by which virtuous +females are often confounded with impures? + +Charlemagne, though himself a great admirer of the sex, was of that +opinion. He had, in vain, endeavoured to banish entirely from Paris +women of this description; by ordering that they should be condemned +to be publicly whipped, and that those who harboured them, should +carry them on their shoulders to the place where the sentence was put +in execution. But it was not a little singular that, while the +emperor was bent on reforming the morals of the frail fair, his two +daughters, the princesses Gifla and Rotrude, were indulging in all +the vicious foibles of their nature. + +Charlemagne, who then resided in the _Palais des Thermes_, situated +in the _Rue de la Harpe_, happened to rise one winter's morning much +earlier than usual. After walking for some time about his room, he +went to a window which looked into a little court belonging to the +palace. How great was his astonishment, when, by the twilight, he +perceived his second daughter, Rotrude, with Eginhard, his prime +minister, on her back, whom she was carrying through the deep snow +which had fallen in the night in order that the foot-steps of a man +might not be traced. + +When Lewis the _débonnaire_, his successor, ascended the throne, he +undertook to reform these two princesses, whose father's fondness had +prevented him from suffering them to marry. The new king began by +putting to death two noblemen who passed for their lovers, thinking +that this example would intimidate, and that they would find no more: +but it appears that he was mistaken, for they were never at a loss. +Nor is this to be wondered at, as these princesses to a taste for +literature joined a very lively imagination, and were extremely +affable, generous, and beneficent; on which account, says Father +Daniel, they died universally regretted. + +Experience having soon proved that public women are a necessary evil +in great cities, it was resolved to tolerate them. They therefore +began to form a separate body, became subject to taxes, and had their +statutes and judges. They were called _femmes amoureuses_, _filles +folles de leur corps_, and, on St. Magdalen's day, they were +accustomed to form annually a solemn procession. Particular streets +were assigned to them for their abode; and a house in each street, +for their commerce. + +A penitentiary asylum, called _les Filles Dieu_, was founded at Paris +in 1226, and continued for some years open for the reception of +_female sinners who had gone astray, and were reduced to beggary_. In +the time of St. Lewis, their number amounted to two hundred; but +becoming rich, they became dissolute, and in 1483, they were +succeeded by the reformed nuns of Fontevrault. + +When I was here in the year 1784, a great concourse of people daily +visited this convent in order to view the body of an ancient virgin +and martyr, said to be that of St. Victoria, which, having been +lately dug up near Rome, had just been sent to these nuns by the +Pope. This relic being exposed for some time to the veneration and +curiosity of the Parisian public, the devout wondered to see the fair +saint with a complexion quite fresh and rosy, after having been dead +for several centuries, and, in their opinion, this was a miracle +which incontestably proved her sanctity. The incredulous, who did not +see things in the same light, thought that the face was artificial, +and that it presented one of those holy frauds which have so +frequently furnished weapons to impiety. But they were partly +mistaken: the nuns had thought proper to cover the face of the saint +with a mask, and to clothe her from head to foot, in order to skreen +from the eyes of the public the hideous spectacle of a skeleton. + +In 1420, Lewis VIII, with a view of distinguishing impures from +modest women, forbade the former to wear golden girdles, then in +fashion. This prohibition was vain, and the virtuous part of the sex +consoled themselves by the testimony of their conscience, whence the +old proverb: "_Bonne rénommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée_." + +Another establishment, first called _Les Filles pénitentes ou +repenties_, and afterwards _Filles de St. Magloire_, was instituted +in 1497 by a Cordelier, and had the same destination. He preached +against libertinism, and with such success, that two hundred +dissolute women were converted by his fervent eloquence. The friar +admitted them into his congregation, which was sanctioned by the +Pope. Its statutes, which were drawn up by the Bishop of Paris, are +not a little curious. Among other things, it was established, that +"none should be received but women who had led a dissolute life, and +that, in order to ascertain the fact, they should be examined by +matrons, who should swear on the Holy Evangelists to make a faithful +report." + +There can be no doubt that women were well taken care of in this +house, since it was supposed that virtue even might assume the mask +of vice to obtain admission. The fact is singular. "To prevent girls +from prostituting themselves in order to be received, those who shall +have been once examined and refused, shall be excluded for ever. + +"Besides, the candidates shall be obliged to swear, under penalty of +their eternal damnation, in presence of their confessor and six nuns, +that they did not prostitute themselves with a view of entering into +this congregation; and in order that women of bad character may not +wait too long before they become converted, in the hope that the door +will always be open to them, none will be received above the age of +thirty." + +This community, for some years, continued tolerably numerous; but its +destination had been changed long before the suppression of convents, +which took place in the early part of the revolution. All the places +of public prostitution in Paris, after having been tolerated upwards +of four hundred years, were abolished by a decree of the States +General, held at Orleans in 1560. The number of women of the town, +however, was far from being diminished, though their profession was +no longer considered as a trade; and as they were prohibited from +being any where, that is, in any fixed place, they were compelled to +spread themselves every where. + +At the present day, the number of these women in Paris is computed at +twenty-five thousand: they are taken up as formerly, in order to be +sent into infirmaries, whence they, generally, come out only to +return to their former habits. Twelve years ago, those apprehended +underwent a public examination once a month, and were commonly +sentenced to a confinement, more or less long, according to the +pleasure of the minister of the police. The examination of them +became a matter of amusement for persons of not over-delicate +feelings. The hardened females, neither respecting the judge not the +audience, impudently repeated the language and gestures of their +traffic. The judge added a fortnight's imprisonment for every insult, +and the most abandoned were confined only a few months longer in the +_Salpétrière_. + +Endeavours have since been made to improve the internal regulation of +this and similar houses of correction; but, as far as my information +goes, with little success. For want of separating, from the beginning +of their confinement, the most debauched from those whom a moment of +distress or error has thrown into these scenes of depravity, the +contamination of bad example rapidly spreads, and those who enter +dissolute, frequently come out thievish; while all timidity is +banished from the mind of the more diffident. Besides, it is not +always the most culpable who fall into the hands of the police, the +more cunning and experienced, by contriving to come to terms with its +agents, employed on these errands, generally escape; and thus the +object in view is entirely defeated. + +On their arrival at the _Salpétrière_, the healthy are separated from +the diseased; and the latter are sent to _Bicêtre_, where they either +find a cure or death. Your imagination will supply the finishing +strokes of this frightful picture.--These unfortunate victims of +indigence or of the seduction of man, are deserving of compassion. +With all their vices, they have, after all, one less than many of +their sex who pride themselves on chastity, without really possessing +it; that is, hypocrisy. As they shew themselves to be what they +really are, they cannot make the secret mischief which a detected +prude not unfrequently occasions under the deceitful mask of modesty. +Degraded in their own eyes, and being no longer able to reign through +the graces of virtue, they fall into the opposite extreme, and +display all the audaciousness of vice. + +The next class we come to is that which was almost honoured by the +Greeks, and tolerated by the Romans, under the denomination of + +COURTESANS. + +By courtesans, I mean those ladies who, decked out in all the luxury +of dress, if not covered with diamonds, put up their favours to the +highest bidder, without having either more beauty or accomplishments, +perhaps, than the distressed female who sells hers at the lowest +price. But caprice, good fortune, intrigue, or artifice, sometimes +occasions an enormous distance between women who have the same views. + +If the ancients made great sacrifices for the Phrynes, the Laïses, or +the Aspasias of the day, among the moderns, no nation has, in that +respect, surpassed the French. Every one has heard of the luxurious +extravagance of Mademoiselle Deschamps, the cushion of whose +_chaise-percée_, was trimmed with point-lace of very considerable +value, and the harness of whose carriage was studded with paste, in +imitation of diamonds. This woman, however, lived to repent of her +folly; and if she did not literally die in a poorhouse, she at least +ended her days in wretchedness. + +Before the revolution, of all the gay ladies in Paris, Madame +Grandval displayed the greatest luxury in her equipage; and +Mademoiselle D'Hervieux, in her house. I knew them both. The former I +have seen at Longchamp, as well as at the annual review of the king's +household troops, in a splendid coach, as fine as that of any Lord +Mayor, drawn by a set of eight English grays, which cost a hundred +and twenty guineas a horse. She sat, like a queen, adorned with a +profusion of jewels; and facing her was a _dame de compagnie_, +representing a lady of the bedchamber. Behind the carriage, stood no +less than three tall footmen, besides a chasseur, in the style of +that of the Duke of Gloucester, in rich liveries, with swords, canes, +and bags. + +As for the house of Mademoiselle D'Hervieux, it was every thing that +oriental luxury, combined with French taste, could unite on a small +scale. Although of very low origin, and by no means gifted with a +handsome person, this lady, after having, rather late in life, +obtained an introduction on the opera-stage as a common _figurante_, +contrived to insinuate herself into the good graces of some rich +protectors. On the _Chaussée d'Antin_, they built for her this palace +in miniature, which, twelve years ago, was the object of universal +admiration, and, in fact, was visited by strangers as one of the +curiosities of Paris. + +At the present day, one neither sees nor hears of such favourites of +fortune; and, for want of subjects to paint under this head, I must +proceed to those of the next rank, who are styled + +KEPT WOMEN. + +What distinctions, what shades, what different names to express +almost one and the same thing! From the haughty fair in a brilliant +equipage, figuring, like a favourite Sultana, with "all the pride, +pomp, and circumstance" of the toilet, down to the hunger-pinched +female, who stands shivering in the evening at the corner of a +street, what gradations in the same profession! + +Before the revolution, there were reckoned in Paris eight or ten +thousand women to whom the rich nobility or financiers allowed from a +thousand pounds a year upwards to an almost incredible amount. Some +of these ladies have ruined a whole family in the short space of six +months; and, having nothing left at the year's end, were then under +the necessity of parting with their diamonds for a subsistence. +Although many of them are far inferior in opulence to the courtesans, +they are less depraved, and, consequently, superior to them in +estimation. They have a lover, who pays, and from whom they, in +general, get all they can, at the same time turning him into +ridicule, and another whom, in their turn, they pay, and for whom +they commit a thousand follies. + +These women used to have no medium in their attachments; they were +either quite insensible to the soft passion, or loved almost to +distraction. On the wane, they had the rage for marrying, and many of +them found men who, preferring fortune to honour, disgraced +themselves by such alliances. Some of these ladies, if handsome, were +not unfrequently taken by a man of fortune, and kept from mere +ostentation, just as he would sport a superlatively elegant carriage, +or ride a very capital horse; others were maintained from caprice, +which, like Achilles's spear, carried with it its own antidote; and +then, of course, they passed into the hands of different keepers. It +cannot be denied, however that a few of these connexions were founded +on attachment; and when the woman, who was the object of it, was +possessed of understanding, she assumed the manners and deportment of +a wife. Indeed, now and then a keeper adopted the style of oriental +gallantry. + +Beaujon, the banker of the court, who had amassed an immense fortune, +indulged himself in his old age, and, till his death, in a society +composed of pretty women, some of whom belonged to what was then +termed good families, among which he had diffused his presents. In an +elegant habitation, called _la Chartreuse_, which he erected in the +_Faubourg du Roule_, as a place of occasional retirement, was a most +curious apartment, representing a bower, in the midst of which was +placed a bedstead in imitation of a basket of flowers: four trees, +whose verdant foliage extended over part of the ceiling, which was +painted as a sky, seemed to shade this basket, and supported drapery, +suspended to their branches. This was M. Beaujon's Temple of Venus. + +The late Prince of Soubise, for some years, constantly kept ten or a +dozen ladies. The only intercourse he had with them, was to breakfast +or chat with them twice or thrice a month, and latterly he maintained +several old stagers, in this manner, from motives of benevolence. At +the end of the month, all these ladies came in their carriages at a +fixed hour, in a string, as it were, one after the other. The steward +had their money ready; they afterwards, one by one, entered a very +spacious room furnished with large closets, filled with silks, +muslins, laces, ribbands, &c. The prince distributed presents to +each, according to her age and taste: thus ended a visit of mere +ceremony, interspersed with a few words of general gallantry. + +Such was the style in which many women were kept by men of fortune +under the old _régime_. At the present day, if we except twenty or +thirty perhaps, it would be no easy matter to discover any women +supported in a style of elegance in Paris, and the lot of these seems +scarcely secured but from month to month. The reason of this mystery +is, that the modern Croesuses having mostly acquired their riches in +a clandestine manner, they take every possible precaution to prevent +the reports in circulation concerning their ill-gotten pelf from +being confirmed by a display of luxury in their _chères amies_. On +this account, many a matrimonial connexion, I am told, is formed +between them and women of equivocal character, on the principle, that +a man is better able to check the extravagant excesses of his wife +than those of his mistress. + +We now arrive at that class of females who move in a sphere of life +the best calculated for making conquests. I mean + +OPERA-DANCERS. + +When a spectator, whose eyes are fascinated by the illusion of scenic +decorations, contemplates those beauties whose voluptuous postures, +under the form of Calypso, Eucharis, Delphis, &c. awaken desire in +the mind of youth, and even of persons of maturer years, he forgets +that the divinities before him are women, who not unfrequently lavish +their favours on the common herd of mortals. His imagination lends to +them a thousand secret charms which they possess not; and he cannot +be persuaded that they are not tremblingly alive to a passion which +they express with so much apparent feeling. It is in their arms only +that he discovers his error. To arrive at this point, many an +Englishman has sacrificed thousands of pounds; while his faithless +fair has been indulging in all the wantonness of her disposition, +perhaps, with some obscure Frenchman among the long train of her +humble admirers. Hence the significant appellation of _Milord +Pot-au-feu_, given to one who supports a woman whose favours +another enjoys _gratis_. + +Such an opera-dancer used formerly to exhibit herself in a blaze of +jewels in the lobby, and according to the style in which she figured, +did she obtain respect from her companions. The interval between them +was proportioned to the degree of opulence which the one enjoyed over +the other, so that the richer scarcely appeared to belong to the same +profession as the poorer. To the former, every shopkeeper became a +candidate for custom; presents were heaped on presents, and gold was +showered on her in such a manner that she might, for the time, almost +have fancied herself a second Danaë. + +In the midst of this good fortune, perhaps, an obscure rival suddenly +started into fashion. She then was eclipsed by her whom, a few days +before, she disdained. Instead of a succession of visiters, her house +was deserted; and, at the expiration of the year, the proud fair, +awakened from her golden dream by the clamours of her importunate +creditors, found herself without one friend to rescue her valuables +from their rapacious gripe. + +No wonder, then, that this order of things, (excepting the reverse by +which it was sometimes followed) was very agreeable to the great +majority of these capering beauties, and, doubtless, they wished its +duration. For, among the reports of the _secret_ police, maintained +by Lewis XVI, in 1792, it appears by a letter addressed to M. de +Caylus, and found among the King's papers in the palace of the +_Tuileries_, that most of the female opera-dancers were staunch +_aristocrates_; but that democracy triumphed among the women who sang +at that theatre. This little anecdote shews how far curiosity was +then stretched to ascertain what is called public opinion; and I have +no doubt that the result confirmed the correctness of the statement. + +The opera-stage was certainly never so rich as it now is in +first-rate female dancers, yet the frail part of these beauties were +never so deficient, perhaps, in wealthy admirers. Proceeding to the +next order of meretricious fair, we meet with that numerous one +denominated + +GRISETTES. + +This is the name applied to those young girls who, being obliged to +subsist by their labour, chiefly fill the shops of milliners, +mantua-makers, and sellers of ready-made linen, &c. + +The rank which ought to be assigned to them, I think, is between +opera-dancers and demireps. You may smile at the distinction; but, as +Mr. Tickle justly observes, in the Spectator, we should vary our +appellations of these fair criminals, according to circumstances. +"Those who offend only against themselves," says he, "and are not a +scandal to society; but, out of deference to the sober part of the +world, have so much good left in them as to be ashamed, must not be +comprehended in the common word due to the worst of women. Regard is +to be had to their situation when they fell, to the uneasy perplexity +in which they lived under senseless and severe parents, to the +importunity of poverty, to the violence of a passion in its beginning +well-grounded, to all the alleviations which make unhappy women +resign the characteristic of their sex, modesty. To do otherwise than +thus," adds he, "would be to act like a pedantic Stoic, who thinks +all crimes alike, and not as an impartial spectator, who views them +with all the circumstances that diminish or enhance the guilt." + +If we measure them by this standard, _grisettes_ appear entitled to +be classed immediately below demireps; for, as Lear says of his +daughter, + + "-------- Not to be the worst + Stands in some rank of praise." + +Their principal merit consists in their conducting themselves with a +certain degree of decorum and reserve, and in being susceptible of +attachment. Born in an humble sphere, they are accustomed from their +infancy to gain their livelihood by their industry. Like young birds +that feel the power of using their wings, they fly from the +parent-nest at the age of sixteen; and, hiring a room for themselves, +they live according to their means and fancy. + +More fortunate in their indigence than the daughters of petty +tradesmen, they overleap the limits of restraint, while their charms +are in full lustre; and sometimes their happiness arises from being +born in poverty. In marrying an artisan of their own class, they see +nothing but distress and servitude, which are by no means compatible +with their spirit of independence. Vanity becomes their guide, and is +as bad a guide as distress; for it prompts them to add the resources +of their youth and person to those of their needle. This double +temptation is too strong for their weak virtue. They therefore seek a +friend to console them on Sundays for the _ennui_ of the remainder of +the week, which must needs seem long, when they are sitting close at +work from morning to night. In general, they are more faithful than +any of the other classes of the frail part of the sex, and may be +supported at little expense, and without scandal. + +It would require almost the powers of the inquisition to ascertain +whether _grisettes_ have increased or diminished since the +revolution; but their number is, and always has been, immense in +Paris. An object highly deserving of the attention of the French +legislators would be to find a remedy for this evil. A mortal blow +should, no doubt, be struck at the luxury of the toilet; as the rage +for dress has, I am convinced, undermined the virtue of as many women +as the vile stratagems of all the Lotharios in being. Leaving these +matters to some modern Lycurgus, I shall end my letter. But, in my +eager haste to close it, I must not omit a class, which has increased +in a proportion equal to the decrease of kept women. As they have no +precise designation in France, I shall take the liberty of applying +to them, that of + +DEMIREPS. + +Without having the shameless effrontery of vice, these ladies have +not the austere rigour of virtue. Seeing that professed courtesans +insnared the most promising youths, and snatched them from other +women, this description of females sprang up, in a manner, to dispute +with them, under the rose, the advantages which the others derived +from their traffic. If they have not the same boldness in their +carriage, their looks bespeak almost as much complaisance. They +declaim loudly against women of all the classes before-mentioned, for +the best possible reason; because these are their more dangerous +rivals. It is certain that a virtuous woman cannot hold the breach of +chastity too much in abhorrence, but every Lucretia ought to have "a +tear for pity," especially towards the fallen part of her sex. +Nothing can be more disgusting than to hear women, who are known to +have transgressed, forget their own frailties, and rail against the +more unguarded, and, consequently, more artless part of womankind, +without mercy or justice. + +Demireps, in general, profess the greatest disinterestedness in their +connexions; but if they receive no money at the moment of granting +their favours, they accept trinkets and other presents which have +some value. It is not at all uncommon for a man to think that he has +a _bonne fortune_, when he finds himself on terms of intimacy with +such a woman. Enraptured at his success, he repeats his visits, till +one day he surprises his belle, overwhelmed by despair. He eagerly +inquires the cause. After much entreaty, she informs him that she has +had ill luck at play, and, with anguish in her looks, laments that +she is ruined beyond redemption. The too credulous admirer can do no +less than accommodate her secretly with a sufficient sum to prevent +her from being taken to task by her husband; and thus the +disinterested lady proves, in the end, a greater drain to the +gallant's pocket than the most mercenary courtesan. + +The man who would wish to recommend himself to their favour, scarcely +need take any further trouble than to change some of their trinkets, +which are no longer in fashion. Sometimes he may meet with a husband, +who, conniving at his wife's infidelity, will shew him every mark of +attention. In that case, the lover is quite at home, and his presence +being equally agreeable to the obliging husband as to the kind wife, +when they are all three assembled, they seem to fit their several +places like the three sides of an equilateral triangle. + +Since the revolution, the increase of demireps is said to have +diminished most sensibly the class of what are termed kept women. +Indeed, it is affirmed by some, that the number of the former has, +within these few years, multiplied in a tenfold proportion. Others +again maintain that it is no greater than it was formerly; because, +say they, the state of society in Paris is not near so favourable to +amorous intrigue as that which existed under the old _régime_. Riches +being more equally divided, few persons, comparatively speaking, are +now sufficiently affluent to entertain large parties, and give routs, +balls, and suppers, where a numerous assemblage afforded, to those +inclined to dissipation, every opportunity of cultivating an intimate +acquaintance. I must confess that these reasons, assigned by some +worthy Frenchmen whose opinions I respect, do not altogether accord +with the result of my observation; and, without taking on myself to +controvert them, I am persuaded that truth will bear me out in +asserting, that, if the morals of that class of society in which I +have chiefly mixed during the different periods of my stay in France, +are not deteriorated, they are certainly not improved since I last +visited Paris. + +After having painted, in regular succession, and with colours +occasionally borrowed, the general portrait of all those classes of +females whose likeness every English traveller has, no doubt, met +with, I must find a little corner of my canvass for a small number of +women who might, probably, be sought in vain out of Paris. However +great a recommendation their rarity may be in the eyes of some, still +it is not the only quality that points them out to the notice of the +impartial observer. + +When a man has come to his senses respecting the sex, or, according +to the vulgar adage, sown his wild oats, he naturally seeks a sincere +friend to whom he can unbosom himself with confidence. Experience +warns him that few men are to be trusted; and unless he has had the +good fortune to meet with a virtuous wife, blessed with an engaging +temper and a good understanding, he must even, like Junius, be the +depository of his own secret. In Paris, however, he may find one of +those scarce females, who, being accustomed early in life to +reflection, possess the firm mind of a man, combined with the quick +sensibility of a woman. + +When the illusion of the first passions is dissipated, their reason +becomes unclouded. Renouncing every narrow thought, they raise +themselves to the knowledge of the most weighty affairs, and, by an +active observation of mankind, are accustomed to discriminate every +shade of character. Hence their penetration is great; and they are +capable of giving good advice on important occasions. In short, a +French woman at thirty makes an excellent friend, and, attaching +herself to the man she esteems, thinks no sacrifice too great for the +advancement of his interest, or the security of his happiness or +reputation. + +The friendship between man and woman is a thousand times more sweet +than that between one man and another. A woman's friendship is +active, vigilant, and at the same time tender. French women cherish +more sincerely their old friends than their young lovers. They may +perchance deceive the lover, but never the friend; the latter they +consider as a sacred being. Whence, no doubt, Rousseau (who has not +spared the Parisian ladies) has been led to say: "I would never have +sought in Paris a wife, still less a mistress; but I would willingly +have made there a female friend; and this treasure would, perhaps, +have consoled me for not finding the other two." + + + +LETTER XL. + +_Paris, December 27, 1801._ + +About thirty years ago, a public insult offered to human nature, in +the person of some unfortunate blind men belonging to the Hospital of +the _Quinze-vingts_, and repeated daily for the space of two months, +suggested to a spectator the idea of avenging it in a manner worthy +of a true philanthropist. + +In a coffeehouse of the _Foire St. Ovide_, in Paris, were placed ten +blind beggars, muffled up in grotesque dresses and long pointed caps, +with large paste-board spectacles on their nose, without glass: music +and lights were set before them; and one of them was characterized as +Midas, with the ears of an ass, and the addition of a peacock's tail, +spread behind him. He sang, while all the others played the same +parts of a monotonous tune, without either taste or measure; and the +unfeeling public turned into derision the unfortunate actors in this +infamous scene. This happened in September 1771. + +From that moment, M. VALENTIN HAÜY, brother to the celebrated +mineralogist of that name, animated by a noble enthusiasm, conceived +the project of teaching the blind to write and read, and of placing +in their hands books and music, printed by themselves. After +employing twelve years in maturing it, at length, in 1784, he +ventured to carry it into execution. To so laudable and benevolent a +purpose, he devoted all his fortune; and hence originated the +establishment known in Paris, since the year 1791, by the title of + +NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF THE INDUSTRIOUS BLIND. + +Presently M. HAÜY found his plan seconded by the Philanthropic +Society, and the benefactions and advice of several persons, no less +distinguished for understanding than benevolence, contributed not a +little to encourage his zeal in its prosecution. The following were +the primary objects of the establishment. + +1. To withdraw the blind from the dangerous paths of idleness. + +2. To procure them certain means of subsistence by the execution of +pleasant and easy labours. + +3. To restore them to society. + +4. To console them for their misfortune. + +To rescue the blind from idleness is, unquestionably, of itself a +great blessing, as it preserves them from an infinite number of +vices, and consequently must be approved by the moralist. But another +advantage, equally deserving of approbation, is to cause them to +find, in their labour, an infallible resource against indigence. +Previously to the execution of this beneficent plan, a young blind +child, born of poor parents, was reduced to the melancholy and +humiliating necessity of standing in a public thoroughfare, exposed +to all the inclemency of the weather, to beg its bread, and, at +present, it has no occasion to owe its livelihood but to its own +labour. + +The children that M. HAÜY had to educate were, in general, of the +class of artisans, though a few belonged to that of artists and men +of science. Some were born with a little aptitude for mechanical +labours, others with a great disposition for the arts and sciences. +These considerations naturally pointed out to him his plan of +instruction, which is divided into four branches. + +I. Handicraft work, viz. Spinning, knitting, making of cord, fringe, +trimming, ribband, pasteboard, &c. + +Task-masters direct the execution of these works, which are as easy +to the blind as to the clear-sighted. + +II. Education, viz. Reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, +literature, history, foreign languages, arts and sciences. + +This education of blind children is carried on by means of +raised-work or relief, and is intrusted to other blind people +whose education is completed. The latter not only instruct their +unfortunate fellow-sufferers, but also the clear-sighted. + +The sense of feeling is so refined in blind children, that a pupil, a +little informed, becomes perfectly acquainted with maps by handling +them: he points out with his finger countries and towns; if a map is +presented to him upside down, he places it in a proper manner, and if +one map is substituted to another, he instantly discovers the +deception. + +III. Printing, viz. In black characters, for the public. In relief, +for themselves. + +In black, they have printed no inconsiderable number of voluminous +works, for the use of the public. In relief, they have printed for +themselves a catechism, a grammar, and a great quantity of music. No +where but at this institution, and at the MUSEUM OF THE BLIND, of +which I shall presently speak, is there to be found an office for +printing in relief. + +IV. Music, viz. Vocal and instrumental, and composition. + +The music of the blind pupils has always been employed with the +greatest success in public festivals, playhouses, balls, +coffeehouses, and many public and private assemblies. It is +impossible to form an adequate idea of the decided taste of the blind +for music, and of the consolation which it affords them. Deprived of +their eyes, they seem to become all ears. + +No sooner had M. HAÜY rendered public his first essays, than the +learned, and especially the members of the _ci-devant_ Academy of +Sciences, stamped them with their approbation, as appears by a Report +signed by some of the most distinguished of that body, such as +DESMARETS, LA ROCHEFOUCAULT, CONDORCET, &c. Professors of the arts, +cultivated by his pupils, such as printing, music, &c. were equally +eager to acknowledge to what an astonishing degree the blind had +succeeded in appropriating to themselves the enjoyment of those arts. +Three of the first master-printers in Paris certified the +intelligence and skill of the blind pupils; and a concert was +executed by them to the no small satisfaction of the _ci-devant_ +Academy of Music. + +Persons of every degree now wished to be spectators of the result of +these essays. Lewis XVI sent for the Industrious Blind, their +machinery, &c. to Versailles; he visited them when at work, and +inspected their several performances, attended by all the royal +family, princes of the blood, ministers, ambassadors, &c. After +having procured the inhabitants of that town this interesting sight +for several successive days, he rewarded the blind with marks of his +favour and encouragement. + +The government, which succeeded to the monarchy, shewed no less +interest in the progress of M. HAÜY'S undertaking. The different +legislatures, which have successively governed France, promoted it by +various decrees. In proportion as the number of the pupils increased, +so did the resources of their industrious activity. By a law which +was solicited by M. HAÜY, and which excited and kept up a singular +emulation among his pupils, the blind, in preference to the +clear-sighted of equal merit, were admitted to the various secondary +employments of the establishment. From that period, the first blind +pupils, formed by M. HAÜY, being promoted to the functions of +teachers, transmitted with success to young blind children, sent for +instruction, from different parts of the Republic, the first elements +of education given them by himself and assistants. By virtue of this +law, the office of house-steward was intrusted to LESUEUR, a blind +pupil who had already discharged it with credit at a banker's. It +will scarcely be believed, no doubt, that a blind man can be a +cashier, receive money coming in, either from the public treasury, or +from the industry of his brothers in misfortune; make of it a +suitable division; buy commodities necessary for life and clothing; +introduce the strictest economy into his disbursements; by means of +his savings, procure the establishment the implements and machinery +of the Industrious Blind; in times of real scarcity, make use of the +productions of the labour of the grown blind, to maintain the young +blind pupils, and that, with all these concerns on his hands, his +accounts should always be ready for inspection. + +M. HAÜY informs me that out of fifteen or twenty of his old pupils, +whom he has connected by the ties of marriage, ten or twelve are +fathers; and that they have children more fortunate than the authors +of their days, since the enjoy the benefit of sight. But the most +interesting part of these connexions is, that the blind father (on +the principle of the plan before-stated) teaches his clear-sighted +son reading, arithmetic, music, and every thing that it is possible +to teach without the help of the eyes. + +Raised work, or relief, is the simple and general process by means of +which M. HAÜY forms his pupils, and there are a great number of them +whose abilities would excite the pride of many a clear-sighted +person. For instance, in addition to the before-mentioned LESUEUR, +who is an excellent geographer and a good mathematician, might be +quoted HUARD, a man of erudition and a correct printer; likewise +CAILLAT, a capital performer on the violin, and a celebrated +composer. For vocal and instrumental music, printing, and handicraft +work, there might be noticed thirty or forty, as well as ten or +twelve for knowledge relating to the sciences. + +It may not be improper to observe, that M. HAÜY always first puts a +frame into the hands of his pupils, and that he has made a law, to +which he scrupulously adheres, not to lean too much towards the +_agreeable_ arts, unless the pupil manifest for them a peculiar +disposition. + +Hence you may form an idea of the proficiency which these +unfortunates attain under the auspices of the benevolent M. HAÜY. In +the compass of a letter, or even of several letters, it is impossible +to develope proceedings which it is more easy to put into execution +than to describe. The process alone of printing in relief would +require a vast number of pages, and some plates, in order to make it +perfectly intelligible; but the greater part of what composes these +branches of instruction is amply detailed in a work, which I shall +communicate to you, entitled "_Essai sur l'Éducation des Aveugles_, +_par_ Valentin Haüy, _auteur de la manière de les instruire_," +printed under the sanction of the _ci-devant_ Academy of Sciences. + +By a law on public education, passed in July 1796, several +establishments were to be founded in favour of blind children, in the +principal towns of the Republic; but, in consequence of the political +changes which have since occurred in the government, it has never +been carried into execution. + +In October, 1800, the Consuls decreed that the _National Institution +of the Industrious Blind_ should be united to the Hospital of the +_Quinze-vingts_, together with the soldiers who had lost their sight +in Egypt. M. HAÜY is shortly to be honoured by a pension, as a reward +for the services which he has bestowed on those afflicted with +blindness. At the present moment, he is engaged in founding a second +establishment, of a similar nature, which is to take the name of + +MUSEUM OF THE BLIND. + +On my asking M. HAÜY, whether he would not retire, as it was intended +he should, on his pension? "This favour of the government," replied +he, "I consider as a fresh obligation, silently imposed on me, to +continue to be of service to the blind. The first establishment, +supported and paid by the nation, belonged to the poor. In forming +the second," added he, "I have yielded to the wishes of parents in +easy circumstances, who were desirous of giving to their blind +children a liberal education." + +I have already mentioned, that, agreeably to M. HAÜY'S plan, the +blind instruct the clear-sighted; and in this Museum, which is +situated _Rue Sainte Avoie, Hôtel de Mêsme, No. 19_, the former are +to be seen directing a class of fifty youths, whom they instruct in +every branch before-mentioned, writing excepted. It is also in +contemplation to teach a blind pupil _pasigraphy_, or universal +language, invented by DEMAIMIEUX. + +M. HAÜY details to strangers every part of his plan with the most +patient and obliging attention. When he had concluded, I could not +avoid expressing a wish that the art of instructing the blind in the +fullest extent might be speedily introduced among all nations. "After +having paid to my country," rejoined M. HAÜY, "the merited homage of +my invention, my anxiety to contribute to the relief of the +afflicted, wherever they may be found, gives birth to the desire of +propagating, as much as possible, an institution which enlightened +men and philanthropists have been pleased to recommend to the +attention of foreigners and to the esteem of my countrymen, as may be +seen by consulting different literary publications from the year 1785 +down to the present time, particularly the new French Encyclopædia, +at the article _Aveugle_." + +"I should," added he, "perform a task very agreeable to my feelings +in concurring, by my advice and knowledge, to lay in England the +foundation of an establishment of a description similar to either of +those which I have founded in Paris. One of my pupils in the art of +instructing the blind, M. GRANCHER, a member of several learned +societies in France, and possessed of my means and method, would +voluntarily devote his talents and experience to the success of such +an undertaking, to which he is himself strongly attached through +philanthropy and zeal for my reputation."--"I am persuaded," +interrupted I, "that were the advantages of such an establishment +made public in England, it would receive the countenance and support +of every friend of human nature."--"It is an unquestionable fact," +concluded M. Haüy, "that an institution of fifty blind, well +conducted, ought, by their labour, to produce more than would defray +its expenses. I have already even tried with success to apply to the +English tongue my method of reading, which is so contrived for the +French language, that I need not give more than two or three lessons +to a blind child, in order to enable him to teach himself to read, +without the further help of any master." + + + +LETTER XLI. + +_Paris, December 29, 1801._ + +Such a crowd of different objects present themselves to my mind, +whenever I sit down to write to you, that, frequently as I have +visited the Grand French Opera since my arrival here, I have been +hesitating whether I should make it the subject of this letter. +However, as it is one of the first objects of attraction to a +stranger, and the first in a theatrical point of view, I think you +cannot be too soon introduced to a knowledge of its allurements. Let +us then pass in review the + +THÉÂTRE DES ARTS ET DE LA REPUBLIQUE.[1] + +Previously to the revolution, the French opera-house, under the name +of _Académie Royale de Musique_, was situated on the Boulevard, near +the _Porte St. Martin_. Except the façade, which has been admired, +there was nothing very remarkable in the construction of this +theatre, but the dispatch with which it was executed. + +The old opera-house in the _Palais Royal_ having been burnt down on +the 8th of June 1781, M. LENOIR, the architect, built a new one in +the short space of sixty days, and, within a fortnight after, it was +decorated and opened. Had an hospital been reduced to ashes, observes +an able writer, it would have required four years at least to +determine on the eligibility of new plans.--But a theatre, +constructed with such expedition, excited apprehensions respecting +its stability: it was necessary to remove them, and, by way of +_trying the house_, the first representation was given _gratis_. This +had the desired effect: after having sustained the weight of between +two and three thousand market-women, oyster-wenches, shoe-blacks, +chimney-sweepers, porters, &c, it was deemed sufficiently solid to +receive a more refined audience. + +At the beginning of the year 1793, the interior of this quickly-built +theatre was also destroyed by fire. But the opera experienced no +interruption: such an event would be regarded as a public calamity in +the capital. In fact, this expensive establishment affords employ to +a vast number of persons. The singers, dancers, musicians, +machinists, painters, tailors, dress-makers, scene-shifters, &c. +attached to it, would constitute a little nation. The richness and +variety of the dresses give activity to several branches of trade, +and its representations involve all the agreeable arts. These united +attractions captivate foreigners, and induce them to squander +considerable sums of money in the country. Hence, were the +opera-house shut up, commerce would suffer; there would be an +absolute void in the pleasures of the Parisians; and, as experience +proves, these volatile people would sooner resign every thing most +valuable than any portion of their amusements. Besides, without such +an establishment, the talents of singers and dancers could not be +maintained in their present perfection. It holds out to them constant +encouragement and remuneration; while, compared to any other theatre, +it excites in the spectators a greater number of pleasing sensations. +How then could it be dispensed with? + +Accordingly, when the disaster befell the theatre of the _Porte St. +Martin_, it was considered as a fortunate circumstance that the +present opera-house was just finished. The performers of the +_ci-devant Académie de Musique_ immediately established themselves +in this new asylum, which is situated in the _Rue de la Loi_, facing +the National Library, and opened it to the public under the name of +_Théâtre des Arts_. I must observe, by the way, that, in France, all +players, dancers, musicians, and every one who exercises an art, are +now styled _artistes_. + +The form of this house is nearly a parallelogram: one of the shorter +sides is occupied by the stage, and the other three are slightly +curved. In general, one is ill placed here, except in the boxes in +front of the stage, and in the pit, the seats of which rise abruptly, +in the manner of an amphitheatre, from the orchestra to the first +tier of boxes. The Chief Consul has chosen for himself the stage-box, +as I believe we term it in England, on the right hand of the actors. +It is elegantly decorated with scarlet velvet, embroidered in gold. +The ornaments (I am not speaking of the scenery) are neither of +superlative elegance, nor do they display extraordinary taste. The +curtain, however, is majestic and beautiful, as well as the ceiling. + +"Here," says a French author, "arts, graces, genius, and taste +conspire to produce a most magnificent, a most brilliant, and most +enchanting spectacle. Here heroes come to life again to sing their +love and their despair; here many a goddess is seen to mix with +mortals, many a Venus to descend from the radiant Olympus in order to +throw herself into the arms of more than one Anchises."--Certainly, +if splendid decorations, rich and appropriate dresses, the most +skilful machinists, the most distinguished composers, a numerous and +most select orchestra, some excellent actors, together with the most +celebrated dancers in Europe, of both sexes, constitute a brilliant +spectacle, this justly deserves that title. In these magnificent +arrangements, we see again the Grand French Opera, as it appeared in +the most splendid days of the monarchy. With the exception of the +singing, every other department at this theatre is much improved; the +only drawback that I can discover at the representation of the same +pieces, which I have often seen here before the revolution, consists +in the exterior of the spectators. Between the acts, when I transport +myself in idea to the former period, and, looking round the house, +form a comparison, I find the republican audience far less brilliant, +owing, no doubt, to the absence of that glare of diamonds, +embroidery, lace, and other finery, which distinguished the +frequenters of the opera under the old government. + +The performances at the opera being, in general, more calculated for +charming the eyes and ears, than gratifying the understanding, it is, +consequently, the most frequented of any of the capital. + + "-------- With the many + Action is eloquence, and th' eyes of th' ignorant + More learned than their ears." + +There is, however, no piece represented at this theatre that a +stranger ought not to see, either on account of the music, or of the +spectacle and its decorations. The operas, or lyric tragedies, which, +from the number of times they have been performed, appear to have +obtained the greatest success, are those of GLUCK. The originality, +the energy, the force and truth of declamation of this great musician +were likely to render him successful, especially among the French, +who applauded the two last-mentioned qualities on their other +national theatre. + +With the exception of one only, all the works of GLUCK have remained +as stock-pieces, and are played from time to time. They are five in +number; namely, _Iphigénie en Aulide_, _Iphigénie en Tauride_, +_Orphée et Euridice_, _Armide_, and _Alceste_. That which could not +maintain its ground, and consequently fell, was _Narcisse_. The +flimsiness of the poem was the cause; for the music, I am assured, is +the finest that GLUCK ever composed, and several pieces of it have +been repeatedly performed in the Parisian concerts. + +The _Didon_ of PICCINI and the _OEdipe à Colonne_ of SACCHINI have +had no less success than the operas of GLUCK. They are very +frequently represented. + +It may not, perhaps, be unseasonable to remind you that, from twenty +to twenty-five years ago, when the old operas of LULLI and RAMEAU +were laid aside, and replaced by modern works, two parties were +formed, which, from the name of the musician that each adopted, were +called, the one, _Gluckists_; and the other, _Piccinists_. Their +inveteracy was great, somewhat like that which, forty years before, +existed between the _Molinists_ and _Jansenists_: and few persons, if +any, I believe, remained neuter. Victory seems to have crowned the +former party. Indeed the music of GLUCK possesses a melody which is +wonderfully energetic and striking. PICCINI is skilful and brilliant +in his harmony, as well as sweet and varied in his composition; but +this style of beauty has been thought to be deficient in expression. +Truth obliges me to say, that, of PICCINI'S works, no opera is now +played but his _Didon_, and that his other productions, which, to the +best of my recollection, are _Alys_, an opera called _Iphigénie en +Tauride_, and _Pénélope_, have fallen. This was ascribed to the +mediocrity of the language; a part of an opera somewhat essential, +though no great attention seems to be bestowed on it. But if people +here are not very difficult as to the style of the language, they +require at least an action well conducted and interesting. When the +piece is of itself cold, it is not in the power of the finest music +to give it warmth. The _OEdipe à Colonne_ of SACCHINI is reckoned by +many persons the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of operas. That able musician has +there excelled in all that is graceful, noble, and pathetic; but it +exhibits not the tragic fire that is to be found in the works of +GLUCK. SACCHINI has left behind him another composition, called +_Arvire et Evéline_, which, though a cold subject, taken from the +history of England, is held in estimation. + +At this theatre are also performed what the French term _opéras de +genre_. These are a species of comic opera, in which is introduced a +great deal of show and bustle. _Panurge_, _La Caravanne_, _Anacréon_, +_Tarare_, _Les Prétendus_, _Les Mystères d'Isis_, &c. are of this +description. The music of the first three is by GRÉTRY. It is +considered as replete with grace, charm, and truth of expression. The +poem of _Panurge_ is an _estravaganza_. Those of the _Caravanne_ and +of _Anacréon_ are but indifferent. It required no small share of +talent to put words into the mouth of the charming poet, whose name +is given to the last-mentioned piece; but M. GUY appears not to have +thought of this. _Tarare_ is a tissue of improbabilities and +absurdities. The poem is frequently nothing but an assemblage of +words which present no meaning. It is a production of the celebrated +BEAUMARCHAIS, who has contrived to introduce into it a sort of +impious metaphysics, much in fashion here before the revolution. The +music is by SALIERI; it is very agreeable. The decorations are +brilliant and diversified. The piece is preceded by a prologue (which +no other opera has) representing the confusion and separation of the +elements; and at the time of its first appearance, I remember it was +said that chaos was the image of the author's head. + +_Les Prétendus_ is a piece in one act, the plot of which is weak, +though of a gay cast. The music is charming. It is by LE MOYNE, who +died a few years ago, at an early period of life. _Les Mystères +d'Isis_, which is now the rage, is an incoherent parody from a German +opera, called _the Enchanted Flute_. To say that the music is by +MOZART, dispenses me from any eulogium. The decorations are extremely +beautiful and varied: a scene representing paradise is really +enchanting. + +After speaking of lyric tragedies, I should have mentioned those +which are either in rehearsal, or intended to be brought forward at +this theatre. They consist of _Hécube_, _Andromaque_, _Sémiramis_, +and _Tamerlan_. Although none of them are spoken of very highly, they +will, in all probability, succeed in a certain degree; for a piece +scarcely ever has a complete fall at the opera. This theatre has so +many resources in the decorations, music, and dancing, that a new +piece is seldom destitute of something worth seeing. + +What, at the present day, proves the greatest attraction to the +opera, is the dancing. How bad soever may be a piece, when it is +interspersed with fine ballets, it is sure of having a certain run. +Of these I shall say no more till I come to speak of that department. + +The weakest part of the performances at the opera is the singing. All +are agreed as to the mediocrity of the singers at this theatre, +called _lyric_. No one can say that, within the last ten or twelve +years, they are improved. To any person fond of the Italian style, it +would be a sort of punishment to attend while some of the singers +here go through a scene. On the stage of the French comic opera, it +has been adopted, and here also a similar change is required; but +with the will to accomplish it, say its partisans, the means, +perhaps, might still be wanting. The greater part of the old +performers have lost their voice, and those who have not, do not +appear to have sufficiently followed the progress of modern taste to +be able all at once to embrace a new manner. + +The first singer at the opera, in point of talent, is LAÏS. He even +leaves all the others far behind him, if we consider him only as a +singer. He is a _tenore_, according to the expression of the +Italians, and a _taille_, according to that of the French: in the +_cantabile_ or graceful style, he is perfect; but he ought to avoid +tragic pieces requiring exertion, in which his voice, though +flexible, is sometimes disagreeable, and even harsh. Besides, he is +absolutely deficient in nobleness of manner; and his stature and +countenance are better suited to low character. Indeed, he chiefly +performs in the operas termed here _opéras de genre_, such as +_Panurge_, _La Caravanne_, _Anacréon_, and _Les Prétendus_. In these, +his acting is correct, and his delivery judicious. + +LAÏS is no less famous for the violence of his political opinions +than for his talents as a singer. At the period when the abettors of +the reign of terror were, in their turn, hunted down, for a long time +he durst not appear on the stage. He was accused by his brother +performers of having said that the opera would never go on well till +a guillotine should be placed on the stage. This stroke was levelled +against the greater part of the actors and the musicians belonging to +the orchestra. However, as LAÏS could not be reproached with any +culpable _actions_, he found zealous defenders, and the public +sacrificed their resentment to their pleasure. This lenity appears +not to have had on him the effect which one would imagine. He still +possesses every requisite for singing well, but seems indifferent as +to the means of pleasing, and exerts himself but little. + +If singers were esteemed by seniority, and perhaps by employment, +LAINEZ would be reckoned the first at this theatre. He is a +counter-tenor, and performs the parts of a lover. His voice is very +strong, and, besides singing through his nose, he screams loud enough +to split one's ears. I have already observed that the ears of a +tasteful amateur would sometimes be shocked at this theatre. The +same remark, no doubt, was equally just some time ago; for J. J. +ROUSSEAU, when he was told that it was intended to restore to him +the free admission which he had enjoyed at the opera, replied that +this was unnecessary, because he had at the door of his +country-residence the screech owls of the forest of Montmorency. +Those who are partial to LAINEZ think him an excellent actor. This +means that he has some warmth, and bestirs himself like a demoniac. +When the heroes of the opera wore hair-powder, nothing was more +comic than to see him shake his head, which was instantly enveloped +in a cloud of dust. At this signal the plaudits burst forth with +great violence, and the would-be singer, screaming with still +greater loudness, seemed on the point of bursting a blood-vessel. + +It is reported that, not long since, a great personage having sent +for the _artists_ belonging to the opera, said to them, addressing +himself to LAINEZ, "Gentlemen, do you intend to keep long your old +singers?"[2] The same personage then turning round to the dancers +added, "As for you, gentlemen of the dance, none but compliments can +be paid to you." + +LAFORÊT who (as the French express it), _doubles_ LAINEZ, that is, +performs the same characters in his absence, has little more to +recommend him than his zeal. His voice is tolerably agreeable, but +not strong enough for so large a house. As an actor he is cold and +aukward. + +Next comes CHÉRON: he sings bass. His voice is strong, and the tone +of it sonorous and clear. However, it is thought to be weakened, and +although this singer sometimes throws out fine tones, he is +reproached with a want of taste and method. He is a sorry actor. +Indeed, he very seldom makes his appearance, which some attribute to +idleness; and others, to his state of health. The latter is likely to +be occasionally deranged, as in point of epicurism, he has as great a +reputation as our celebrated Quin. + +ADRIEN, who _doubles_ CHÉRON, is an excellent actor; but his means do +not equal his intelligence. He presents himself wonderfully well; all +his movements, all his gestures have dignity, grace, and ease. There +are, for the same employment, other secondary singers, some of whom +are by no means backward in exertion, particularly DUFRESNE; but an +impartial observer can say nothing more in their commendation. + +Let us now examine the qualifications of _Mesdames les cantatrices_. + +The first female singer at the opera is Mademoiselle MAILLARD. By +means of a rather pretty face, a clear voice, and a cabal of +malcontents (for there are some every where and in every line), she +obtained loud applause, when she first appeared some years ago as the +rival of the charming ST. HUBERTI. Since the revolution, France has +lost this celebrated actress, and probably for ever. She emigrated, +and has since married the _ci-devant_ Comte d'Antraigues. Although +she had not a powerful voice, she sang with the greatest perfection; +and her impressive and dignified style of acting was at least equal +to her singing. + +At the present day, Mademoiselle MAILLARD has succeeded Madame ST. +HUBERTI, and is, as I have said, the first singer, in point of rank. +She is become enormous in bulk, and as the Italians express it, +_canta a salti_. Her powerful voice fills the house, but she is not +unfrequently out of tune: her declamation is noisy; while her +masculine person gives her in all her motions the air of a Bacchante. +These qualities, no doubt, recommended her to the notice of +CHAUMETTE, the proclaimer of atheism, under whose auspices she more +than once figured as the goddess of reason. She has, nevertheless, +occasionally distinguished herself as an actress; and those who love +noise, admire the effect of her transitions. But I give the +preference to Mademoiselle LATOUR, who has a melodious pipe, which +you will probably hear, as it is said that she has not retired from +the stage, where she frequently reminded the public of the +fascinating ST. HUBERTI, particularly in the character of _Didon_. + +Since the prolonged absence of Mademoiselle LATOUR, Madame BRANCHU +_doubles_ Mademoiselle MAILLARD. She is of much promise both as a +singer and actress. Her voice is agreeable, but not extensive. + +Mademoiselle ARMAND is another most promising singer, who has a more +powerful organ than Madame BRANCHU, and when she has perfectly +acquired the art of modulating it, will, doubtless, prove a very +valuable acquisition to this theatre. Her voice has much sweetness, +and sometimes conveys to the ear the most flattering sounds, as its +low tones are grave without being harsh, and its high ones sonorous +without being sharp. She seems to execute the most difficult pieces +of music with considerable ease; but she is deficient in action. + +Mademoiselle HENRY is strong as to method, but weak as to means, in +singing. There are several other female singers; but, in my opinion, +their merits do not entitle them to particular mention. + +Twelve or fourteen years ago, the opera was much better provided with +singers than it is at the present moment. Their voices, in every line +of this department, were well-toned and powerful. They easily reached +the highest notes according to the tone given by the diapason. Since +then, the powers of most of the singers who still remain on the stage +have diminished, and those called in to supply the place of such as +are dead or have retired, are not near so rich in voice as their +predecessors. The diapason, however, has remained the same: to this, +in a great measure, may be attributed those shrieks and efforts which +disgust foreigners, unaccustomed to the French method. At the +Parisian comic opera, in consequence of a remonstrance from the +principal singers, their diapason has been lowered half a tone; and +it seems necessary to examine whether the same rule be not applicable +to this theatre. + +The choruses, notwithstanding, are now given here with more effect +and precision than I ever remember at any former period. In these, +the ear is no longer offended by exaggerated extensions of the voice, +and, on the whole, they are sung in a grand and graceful style. + +The orchestra, which is ably led by REY, has also experienced a +manifest improvement. The principal musicians, I understand, have +been recently changed; and the first artists are engaged for the +execution of the solos, and nothing can now be wished for, either as +to the spirit and correctness of the overtures, or to the melody and +taste of the accompaniments. + +The Chief Consul is said to be particularly partial to Italian music. +In consequence, KREUTZER, a capital violin, and also a celebrated +composer, has been dispatched to Italy by the French government, for +the express purpose of selecting and purchasing the finest musical +compositions which can be procured in that land of harmony. Thus, the +advice given by ROUSSEAU, in his _Dictionnaire de Musique_, has at +length been followed. + +So much for the singing department of the opera, which, as you see, +with some exceptions, is but indifferent: in my next, I shall speak +of the dancing. + +[Footnote 1: Since the above letter was written, this Lyric theatre +has changed its name for that of _Théâtre de l'Opéra_. This seems +like one of the minor modifications, announcing the general +retrograde current setting towards the readoption of old habits; for +the denomination of _Théâtre des Arts_ was certainly unobjectionable, +as poetry, music, dancing, painting, and mechanics, concurred in +rendering more pompous and more surprising the effects which a +fertile genius, when governed by reason, might assemble here for the +gratification of the public. The addition of the words _et de la +République_ was probably given to it from patriotic zeal, at the time +when the _Royal Academy of Music_ was abolished by the decree which +annihilated all similar monarchical institutions.] + +[Footnote 2: It appears that, from pique, this old opera-singer +refused to sing on Easter-Sunday last, (1802) at the cathedral of +_Notre-Dame_.] + + + +LETTER XLII + +_Paris, December 30, 1801_. + +Dancing, like the other arts in France, has, during the revolution, +experienced the vicissitudes of this new order of things; but also, +like the other arts, it has made a progress equally astonishing and +rapid. However, it must not thence be inferred that dancing, +particularly theatrical, had not attained a certain degree of +superiority long before the revolution; yet a most evident +improvement has been made in it, not only by the old-established +dancers, who then seemed almost to have done their best, but by the +numerous competitors who have since made their appearance. + +It is not in the power of words to convey an adequate idea of the +effect produced on the senses by some of the ballets. In lieu of +those whimsical capers, forced attitudes, vague and undefined +gestures of a set of dancers whose movements had no signification, +dancing now forms an animated, graceful, and diversified picture, in +which all the human passions are feelingly pourtrayed. Their language +is the more expressive from its being more refined and concentrated. +In the silence of pantomime, recourse is had to every ingenious +gesture, in order to impart to them greater force and energy; and, in +this mute play, restraint seems to kindle eloquence. Every motion has +its meaning; the foot speaks as well as the eye, and the sensations +of the mind are expressed by the attitudes of the body. A delicate +sentiment is rendered with the rapidity of lightning. Love, fear, +hope, and despair, change countenances, and say every thing that they +wish to say, void of deceit, as if falsehood no longer existed as +soon as the mouth ceased to open. + +It should not be forgotten that it was NOVERRE who first brought +about in France this reform in what were till then called ballets, +without deserving the title. He banished wigs, hoop-petticoats, and +other preposterous habiliments, and, by dint of superior genius, +seconded by taste and perseverance, introduced those historical +pictures, replete with grace, expression, and sentiment, in the room +of the flat, insipid, and lifeless caricatures, which had hitherto +usurped admiration. + +But, though NOVERRE, and, after him, the GARDELS, introduced on the +Parisian stage the pantomimic art in all the lustre in which it +flourished on the theatres of Greece and Rome, yet they had been +anticipated by HILWERDING in Germany, and ANGIOLINI in Italy, two +celebrated men, who, in a distinguished manner, laid the foundations +of a species of modern entertainment, before known only by the annals +of ancient history. Those who have trod in their steps have +infinitely surpassed them in attractions, and, by their scientific +compositions, acquired a justly-merited reputation. + +GARDEL, who, for the last fifteen years, has been the first dancer at +the opera, shews himself but seldom. After having, during that long +period, received the warmest and best deserved applause, either in +the execution of the noble style of dancing, or in the composition of +ballets, he seems now to have devoted himself almost exclusively to +the last-mentioned branch of his art, and the perfection to which he +daily carries it, may well compensate the public for the privation of +his talents in the line of execution. + +The most famous pantomimical ballets or _ballets d'action_ (as they +are styled) now represented here, are _Psyché_, _Télémaque_, _Le +Jugement de Paris_, _Mirza_, and _la Dansomanie_. The impression to +which I have before alluded, is particularly observable during the +representation of the first three (composed by GARDEL), the charm of +which would be weakened by any attempt at description. No spectator, +be his disposition ever so cold and indifferent, can behold them +unmoved. Every effort of human skill and invention is exerted to +excite astonishment and admiration. The _ensemble_ of the _spectacle_ +and decorations correspond to the fertile genius of the author. It is +the triumph of the art, and there may be fixed the limits of +pantomime, embellished by dancing. Nothing more perfect than the +rapid change of scenery. Meteors, apparitions, divinities borne on +clusters of clouds or in cars, appear and disappear, as if by +enchantment, exhibiting situations the most picturesque and striking. + +BOULAY, the principal machinist, is, perhaps, the first in his line +in Europe. In the opera of _Armide_, I have seen him raise into the +air nearly one half of the theatre. He executes whatever is proposed +to him, no matter how difficult, and he is well seconded by the +painters and draughtsmen. The new decorations display much taste, and +produce an effect truly wonderful. + +Had I not already made the remark, you might have concluded from the +general tenour of my observations, that the dancing forms the most +brilliant part, of the _spectacle_ at this theatre, or, in other +words, that the accessory prevails over the main subject. It is no +longer, as heretofore, a few capital dancers of both sexes who form +the ornament of the opera. Almost all the competitors in this line +are so many _virtuosi_ who deserve and equally participate the +plaudits of the public. There is not among them any mediocrity. The +establishment of the _école de la danse_ is for this theatre a +nursery, where Terpsichore finds, in great numbers, the most +promising plants for the decoration of her temple. It is saying +little to affirm that nothing equals the superiority of talents of +this description which the opera comprehends at the present moment. +These advantages, I understand, are chiefly due to GARDEL. He has +given the example and the precept, and, through his guidance, the art +of dancing is become doubly captivating. + +After having supplied most of the principal cities in Europe with +capital dancers, this theatre, far from being impoverished, is still +in possession of a numerous train of first-rate _artists_ of both +sexes in every style of dancing. The men are GARDEL, MILON, ST. +AMAND, DESHAIES, GOYON, BEAUPRÉ, BRANCHU, BEAULIEU, AUMER, LÉON, +TAGLIONI, DUPORT, and VESTRIS. + +It is unnecessary to speak of the talents of VESTRIS, as they are as +well known in London as in Paris. I shall therefore content myself +with remarking that he delights in exhibiting feats of agility; but +as his age increases, connoisseurs think that he declines a little. +Nevertheless, he is still, in reality, the first dancer at the opera. +It is said that his son, ARMAND VESTRIS, will, in time, be able to +supply his place; in the mean while, DUPORT bids fair to fill it, in +case the "_Dieu de la danse_" should retire; not to mention DESHAIES, +who has lately met with an accident which has disabled him for the +present; but who, when on the stage in the presence of Vestris, has +shewn that he could also astonish and delight the spectators. Without +having the boldness of his rival, he exhibits more certainty and +_à-plomb_. In the character of _Télémaque_, he appears with all the +grace of Apollo. If excellence in dancing be allowed to consist less +in the efforts of the dancer, than in the ease and gracefulness of +his attitudes, and the lightness and precision of his steps, DESHAIES +may he classed in the first rank of his profession. + +In this exercise, as in every thing else, there is a just medium, and +this is more particularly observed by the principal female dancers. +The names of these are GARDEL, CLOTILDE, CHEVIGNY, PÉRIGNON, COLLOMB, +CHAMEROI,[1] SAULNIER, VESTRIS, DELISLE, MILLIÈRE, LOUISE, FÉLICITÉ, +DUPORT, TAGLIONI, ALINE, ÉTIENNE, JACOTOT, FLORINE, ADÈLE, to whom +may be added two most promising _débutantes_, LA NEUVILLE and +BIGOTINI, whose first appearance I witnessed. + +Though Madame GARDEL, wife of the principal ballet-master, shines in +_demi-caractère_, her talents, in the different parts in which she is +placed, are above all panegyric. As NOVERRE has said somewhere of a +famous dancer, "she is always tender, always graceful, sometimes a +butterfly, sometimes a zephyr, at one moment inconstant, at another +faithful; always animated by a new sentiment, she represents with +voluptuousness all the shades of love." To sum up her merits, she is +really in her art the female Proteus of the lyric scene. Mademoiselle +CLOTILDE is a tall, elegant woman, who dances in the serious style. +All her movements, made with precision, exhibit the beautiful +proportion of her finely-modelled figure; but, owing to her stature, +she appears to most advantage in pantomime, particularly in the +character of _Calypso_ in the ballet of _Télémaque_. In the same +ballet, MILLIÈRE, in the part of _Eucharis_, displays her playful +graces and engaging mien. CHEVIGNY is full of expression in +pantomime, and dances in great perfection, notwithstanding her +_embonpoint_. PÉRIGNON and COLLOMB are superior in the comic style, +and all the others are not without some peculiar exellence.[2] + +I should never finish, were I to attempt to particularize the merits +of all these fascinating women, who, as well as the men, have, of +late, alternately interchanged the characters they performed in the +ballets of action. Even those introduced occasionally in the fêtes +given and received by the heroes in the different operas, present a +real contest, in which the first-rate dancers of both sexes exert +themselves to snatch the palm from their rivals. When a theatre +possesses such a richness, variety, and assemblage of talents in the +same art, it may boldly stylo itself the first in Europe. But I must +confess that an innovation has been introduced here which detracts +much from what has always been considered as fine dancing. I mean the +mania of _pirouettes_. This, however, seems less to be attributed to +a decided _penchant_ of the dancers than to that of a new public, not +yet familiarized to what constitutes true taste. + +During a revolution, every thing changes, every thing assumes a new +face. What was entitled to please yesterday in times of tranquillity, +is to-day, during the jar of public opinion, and will be to-morrow +subject to all the variations of caprice. The marvellous and gigantic +usurp the place of the natural, and claim alone the right to +entertain. True it is that the dancers have found means to render +this new manner interesting, while they have enjoyed the sweets of +it. The pleasure of being applauded is so great, that it is no easy +matter to withstand the powerful allurement of the plaudits of a +numerous audience. Boileau has said, "_Aimez-vous la muscade? On en a +mis par tout_." The French dancers, following his example, have said, +"_Aimez-vous les pirouettes?_" The public have answered _oui_; and +_pirouettes_ are all the rage. + +When a certain king of Bisnagar sneezes, the court, the town, the +provinces, all the subjects of his empire, in short, sneeze in +imitation of their monarch. Without departing from my subject, I +shall only observe that _pirouettes_, like this sneezing, have found +their way from the opera-stage into the circles of every class of +society in Paris. There lies the absurdity. The young Frenchmen have +been emulous to dance like dancers by profession; the women have had +the same ambition; and both men and women have, above all, been +desirous to shine like them in _pirouettes_. Thence most of the +dances, formerly practised in society, in which simple and natural +grace was combined with a certain facility and nobleness of +execution, have been entirely laid aside. It must be acknowledged, +that, among the dancers in private company, there are many, indeed, +who, by dint of imitation and study, have attained a great degree of +perfection. But I now perceive that people here no longer dance for +their amusement; they dance to gratify their vanity, and many a +person who has not practised some hours in the morning under the +tuition of his master, excuses himself in the evening, pretends to be +lame, and declines dancing. + +The taste and elegance of the dresses of the opera-dancers, like +those of the heroes and heroines of the sock and buskin, leave +nothing to be wished for. In lieu of drawers, which all women, +without exception, were formerly obliged to wear on the stage[3], +those who dance have now substituted silk pantaloons, woven with +feet, in order to serve also as stockings. In some particular +characters, they wear these of flesh colour, and it is not then easy, +at first sight, to distinguish whether it be or be not the clothing +of nature. + +The French opera having been long considered as the grand national +theatre, it has ever been the pride of the government, whether +monarchical or republican, to support it in a manner worthy of the +nation. In fact, the disbursements are so great, that it would be +impossible for the receipts to cover them, though the performances +are seldom suspended for more than two days in the week, and the +house is generally crowded. This theatre is managed by the +government, and on its account. The Minister of the Interior appoints +a commissioner to superintend its operations, and managers to conduct +them. During the old _régime_, the opera cost the crown annually from +one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand livres. What the +extraordinary expenses of this house are, under the present +government, is not so easily ascertained; but, from the best +information that I have been able to procure, their amount is from +three to four hundred thousand francs a year. Here is a considerable +increase; but it must be remembered that the price of several +articles is now greatly augmented, if not doubled. + +The receipt of the opera, on an average, used to be from twelve to +fifteen thousand livres a night; what it is at this day, is not +positively known. Formerly, the produce of the boxes, let by the +year, was such, that nine thousand livres were paid, in a manner, +before the doors were thrown open. That resource is almost void at +present; nevertheless, this house being more spacious than the old +one, the prices of admission higher, and the performance, perhaps, +more constantly attended, the money taken at the door cannot well be +less than it was formerly. It then cost much less than it does now to +bring out a new piece. Thirty or forty thousand livres were +sufficient for the production of the most magnificent opera; while +the disbursements to be made for _Tamerlan_ will, it is thought, +amount to upwards of eighty thousand francs. At this rate, the first +representation of the _Mystères d'Isis_, of which so much has been +said, must have been attended with an expense of more than a hundred +thousand. Scandal whispers, that the managers of the opera are rather +partial to expensive pieces; but as they are accountable for their +conduct to the Minister of the Interior, I should presume that they +must act as honourable men. + +The salaries are not considerable at this theatre. The first +performers have not more than twelve thousand francs a year, +exclusively of the _feux_, which is the sum given to each of them, +when they perform. This, I understand, does not exceed a louis a +night. Those who have a name, indemnify themselves by going, from +time to time, to play in the great commercial towns of the +departments, such as Bordeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, &c. where they +generally collect a rich harvest. It is said that VESTRIS has +received from the government a gratification to prevent him from +visiting the British metropolis; and it is also reported that DIDELOT +and LABORIE have made vain efforts to return to the Parisian opera; +but that the managers, faithful to their instructions, refuse to +readmit such of the old performers as have voluntarily quitted it. +What attaches performers to the opera-house is the _pension de +retraite._ They all eventually obtain it, even the chorus-singers. + +The remuneration of authors, that is, of the poet and composer of the +music, is to each three hundred francs for every representation, when +the piece is not less than three acts. This is the most common +division. I know of no operas in one act; those in two are paid in +the above proportion.[4] + +[Footnote 1: GARDEL has lately added another sprig of laurel to his +brow, by the production of a new pantomimical ballet, called _Daphnis +et Pandrose, ou la vengeance de l'amour_. He has borrowed the subject +from a story of Madame DE GENLIS, who took it from fable. Every +resource of his inexhaustible genius has been employed to give the +happiest effect to this charming work, to enumerate the beauties of +which is, by general report, beyond the powers of language. All the +first-rate dancers of both sexes are placed in the most advantageous +point of view throughout this ballet. Madame GARDEL performs in it +the part of Cupid, with all the charms, wiles, and graces which poets +ascribe to the roguish deity. The other characters are represented in +a manner no less interesting. In short, music, dancing, pantomime, +dress, decoration, every thing in this piece, concurs to stamp it as +one of the most wonderful productions of the kind ever exhibited to +the admiration of the public.] + +[Footnote 2: In a preceding note, VESTRIS has been mentioned as the +reputed lover of Mademoiselle CHAMEROI, and from this instance of +illicit intercourse, it might, perhaps, be erroneously inferred that +most of the Parisian female opera-dancers had overleaped the pale of +virtue. Without pretending to enter the lists as the champion of +their character, though I admire their talents as warmly as any +amateur, truth induces me to observe that many of these ladies enjoy +an unblemished reputation. Madame VESTRIS, in particular, is +universally represented as a young and pretty woman, much attached to +her faithless husband, and, notwithstanding his improper example, a +constant observer of the most exemplary conduct.] + +[Footnote 3: Many years ago, a Parisian actress, coming on the stage +in the part of _Mérope_, in the tragedy of that name, her petticoats +somehow happened to catch in the side-scene, and, in her hasty +endeavours to disentangle them, she exhibited to the audience the +hind part of her person. In consequence of this accident, a _sentence +de police_ enjoined every woman, whether actress or dancer, not to +appear on the boards of any theatre, without drawers.] + +[Footnote 4: The refusal made by the Rector of St. Roch to admit into +that church the corpse of Mademoiselle CHAMEROI, has informed us in +England of the loss which this theatre has sustained in that young +and accomplished dancer. She died, generally regretted, in +consequence of being delivered of a child of which VESTRIS considered +himself as the real father. However, M. DE MARKOFF, the Russian +ambassador at Paris, stood sponsor to the infant, and, according to +the scandalous chronicle, was not contented with being only a +spiritual father. The Parisian public have consoled themselves for +this loss by talking a great deal about the scene to which it gave +rise. It seems that the Rector was decidedly in the wrong, the +dancers of the opera never having been comprised in the papal +excommunication which involved players. The persons composing the +funeral procession were also in the wrong to go to St. Roch, since +the Rector had positively declared that the corpse of Mademoiselle +CHAMEROI should not enter the church.] + + + +LETTER XLIII. + +_Paris, January 1, 1802._ + +Fast locked in the arms of Morpheus, and not dreaming of what was to +happen, as Lord North said, when the king caused him to be awakened, +in the dead of the night, to deliver up the seals, so was I roused +this morning by a message from an amiable French lady of my +acquaintance, requesting me to send her some _bonbons_. "_Bonbons_!" +exclaimed I, "in the name of wonder, Rosalie, is your mistress so +childishly impatient as to send you trailing through the snow, on +purpose to remind me that I promised to replenish her +_bonbonnière_?"--"Not exactly so, Monsieur," replied the _femme de +chambre_, "Madame was willing to be the first to wish you a happy new +year."--"A new year!" said I, "by the republican calendar, I thought +that the new year began on the 1st of Vendémiaire."--"Very true," +answered she; "but, in spite of new laws, people adhere to old +customs; wherefore we celebrate the first of January."--"As to +celebrating the first of January, _à la bonne heure_, Rosalie," +rejoined I, "I have no sort of objection; but I wish you had adhered +to some of your other old customs, and, above all, to your old hours. +I was not in bed till past six o'clock this morning, and now, you +wake me at eight with your congratulations."--"Never mind, Monsieur," +said she, "you will soon drop asleep again; but my mistress hopes +that you will not fail to make one of her party on the _Fête des +Rois_."--"Good heaven!" exclaimed I again, "what, is a +counterrevolution at hand, that the _Fête des Rois_ must also be +celebrated?"--"'Tis," interrupted Rosalie, "only for the pleasure of +drawing for king and queen."--"Tell Madame," added I, "that I will +accept her invitation."--Dismissing the _soubrette_ with this +assurance, at the same time not forgetting to present her with a new +year's gift, she at once revealed the secret of her early visit, by +hinting to me that, among intimate friends, it was customary to give +_étrennes_. This, in plain English, implies nothing more nor less +than that I must likewise make her mistress a present, on the +principle, I suppose, that _les petits cadeaux entretiennent +l'amitié_. + +My reflection then turned on the instability of this people. After +establishing a new division of time, they return to the old one, and +celebrate, as formerly, the first of January. Now, it is evident that +the former accords better with the order of nature, and that autumn +was the first season which followed the creation. Why else should +apples of irresistible ripeness and beauty have presented themselves +to the eye of our first parents in the garden of Eden? This would not +have been the case, had the world commenced in winter. + +Besides, a multitude of advantages would accrue to the French from an +adherence to the 1st of Vendémiaire, or 23d of September of the +Gregorian calendar, as the first day of the year. The weather, after +the autumnal equinox, is generally settled, in consequence of the air +having been purified by the pre-existing gales, the ordinary +forerunners of that period: and the Parisians would not be obliged to +brave the rain, the wind, the cold, the frost, the snow, &c. in going +to wish a happy new year to their fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, +cousins, and other relations. For to all this are they now exposed, +unless they choose to ruin themselves in coach-hire. The consequence +is that they are wet, cold, and dirty for two or three successive +days, and are sure to suffer by a sore throat, rheumatism, or fever, +all which entail the expensive attendance of the faculty; whereas, +did they celebrate the 23d of September as new year's day, they +might, in a quiet, unassuming manner, pay all their visits on foot, +and, in that season, this exercise would neither be prejudicial to +their purse nor their health. + +I do not immediately recollect whether I have spoken to you of the +long-expected account of the French expedition to Egypt, by DENON: +yet I ought not to have omitted to inform you that, upwards of two +months ago, I set down your name for a copy of this splendid work. It +will cost you 360 francs; but you will have one of the proof +impressions. I have seen a specimen of the letter-press, which is to +consist of a folio volume, printed by Didot. The plates, amounting to +upwards of one hundred and forty in number, are entirely engraved +from DENON'S original drawings, without any reduction or enlargement, +with the exception of that representing the Battle of the Pyramids, +the size of which has been increased at the express desire of +BONAPARTE. I have often amused myself on a morning in contemplating +these drawings; but the crowd of curious persons being generally +great, I determined to seize the opportunity of examining them more +at leisure to-day, when the French are entirely engaged in +interchanging the compliments of the season. I found DENON himself +diligently employed on some of the engravings; and so anxious is he +for the publication of the work, that he toils early and late to +forward its appearance. + +Notwithstanding the anxiety he feels on that account, this estimable +artist takes a real pleasure in explaining the subject of his +drawings; and, by means of his obliging communications, I am now +become tolerably well acquainted with Egypt. What country, in fact, +has a better claim to fix attention than that which served as a +cradle to human knowledge, and the history of which goes back to the +first ages of the world; a country, where every thing seems to have +commenced? Laws, arts, sciences, and even fables, which derive their +origin from nature, whose attributes they immortalize, and which, at +a subsequent period, formed the ground-work of the ingenious fictions +of mythology. + +What idea must we not conceive of the industry and civilization of a +people who erected those celebrated monuments, anterior to the annals +of history, to the accounts even of tradition, those pyramids which +have unalterably withstood all the ravages of time? + +When we look back on the ancients, the Greeks and Romans almost +exclusively divide our attention. The former, it is true, carried +farther the love and the culture of the fine arts; while the latter +are more remarkable for the great traits of their character; though +both acquired that renown which mankind have so improperly attached +to the success of arms. + +But, in allowing to Greece all the interest which she claims, in so +many respects, we cannot forget that she was originally peopled by +Egyptian colonies; that it was Egyptians who, in later times, carried +thither the knowledge of the arts, the most necessary and the most +indispensable to society; and that, at the epoch which preceded the +splendid days of Greece, it was also into Egypt that the sages went +to acquire that knowledge of a superior kind, which constituted their +glory, and rendered their country illustrious. + +What keeps up a sort of rivalship between Greece and Egypt is that, +independently of the priority of knowledge, the former had the +eminent advantage of opening her arms to philosophy and the sciences, +which, forsaking their adoptive country, and not being able to +survive the loss of liberty, fled back to their natal soil, and +found, in the Museum of Alexandria, an asylum, which neither the +Lyceum, the Portico, nor the Academy, could longer afford them at +Athens. Thus, to the reign of the Ptolemies are we, unquestionably, +indebted for the preservation of the knowledge acquired by the +ancients. + +Apropos, I forgot to mention to you that BERTHOLET, a Senator and +Member of the Institute, communicated to that society, in one of its +sittings last month, a letter from FOURIER, the geometrician, and +member of the late Institute of Egypt. This _savant_, in the +researches he made in Upper Egypt, discovered and delineated several +zodiacs, which, he says, fully confirm the theory of DUPUIS, +respecting the origin and antiquity of the figures of the zodiac. As +far back as the year 1781, DUPUIS published a memoir, since reprinted +in his large work, entitled _De l'Origine des Cultes_, in which he +presumes that the zodiac, such as it has been transmitted to us by +the Greeks, is of Egyptian origin, and that it goes back to fifteen +thousand years, at least, before the era of the French revolution. + + + +LETTER XLIV. + +_Paris, January 3, 1802._ + +An almost uninterrupted succession of wet weather has, of late, +precluded me from the regular enjoyment of a morning walk. But, with +the new year, we had a heavy fall of snow, which has since been +succeeded by a severe frost. I gladly availed myself of this +opportunity of taking exercise, and yesterday, after viewing the +skaiters in that part of the _Champs Elysées_ which had been +inundated, and is now frozen, I immediately proceeded to the + +HÔTEL DES INVALIDES. + +This majestic edifice was projected by Henry IV, and executed, by +order of Lewis XIV, after the designs of BRUANT, who laid the +foundation on the 30th of November, 1671. It is composed of five +courts, surrounded by buildings. The middle court is as large as all +the other four. + +A spacious esplanade planted with trees, an outer court surrounded by +a wall newly-built, form the view towards the river, and lead to the +principal façade, which is twelve hundred feet in extent. This façade +has, within these few years, been entirely polished anew: the details +of sculpture have, perhaps, gained by the operation; but the +architecture has certainly lost that gloomy tint which gave to this +building a manly and respectable character. In the middle of this +façade, in the arched part above the great gate, was a bas-relief of +Lewis XIV on horseback. + +This gate leads to the great court, which is decorated by two rows of +arcades, the one above the other, forming, on the two stories, +uniform galleries which give light to the apartments of the +circumference. The windows, which serve to light the upper apartments +of the façade, are remarkable from their being placed in cuirasses, +as those of the great court are in trophies of arms. + +From this court, you enter the church, now called the _Temple of +Mars_. It is ornamented with the Corinthian order, and has the form +of a Greek cross. The pulpit no longer exists. The altar, which was +magnificently decorated, is likewise destroyed. + +The chapels, to the number of six, were each ornamented by a cupola +painted in fresco, and statues in marble by the greatest masters, +which, after being left for some time exposed to the injuries of the +air in the court looking towards the country, are at length deposited +in the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS. + +To the arches of this temple are suspended the standards and colours +taken from the enemy. Two British flags only contribute to augment +the number. The oldest of these trophies have been removed from +_Notre-Dame_. When they were formerly displayed in that cathedral, a +general, who was constantly victorious, was called by the people the +_upholsterer of Notre-Dame_; an energetic appellation which spoke +home to the feelings. But, however calculated these emblems of +victory may be to foster heroism in the mind of youth, and rekindle +valour in the heart of old age, what a subject of reflection do they +not afford to the philanthropist! How can he, in fact, contemplate +these different flags, without regretting the torrents of blood which +they have cost his fellow-creatures? + +In this _Temple of Mars_ is erected the monument of TURENNE, whose +body, after various removals, was conveyed hither, in great pomp, on +the 1st of Vendémiaire, year IX (23d of September, 1800) conformably +to a decree of the Consuls, and immediately deposited in the inside +of this tomb. + +The present government of France seems to have taken the hint from +St. Foix, who expresses his astonishment that Lewis XIV never +conceived the idea of erecting, in the _Hôtel des Invalides_, +mausolea, with the statues of the generals who had led with the +greatest glory the armies of the nation. "Where could they be more +honourably interred," says he, "than amidst those old soldiers, the +companions of their fatigues, who, like themselves, had lavished +their blood for their country?"[1] + +At the age of sixty-four, TURENNE was killed by a cannon-ball, while +reconnoitring the enemy's batteries near the village of Salzbach in +Germany, on the 27th of July, 1675. No less esteemed for his virtues +as a man, than honoured for his talents as a general, he at last fell +a victim to his courage. His soldiers looked up to him as to a +father, and in his life-time always gave him that title. After his +death, when they saw the embarrassment in which it left the generals +who succeeded him in the command of the army: "_Let loose old +Piebald_," said they, "_he will guide us_."[2] The same ball which +(to borrow a line from Pope) laid + + "The _god-like_ TURENNE prostrate in the dust," + +likewise took off the arm of ST. HILAIRE, Lieutenant-general of +artillery: his son, who was beside him at the moment, uttered a cry +of grief. "_'Tis not me, my son, that you must bewail_," said ST. +HILAIRE; "_'tis that great man._" + +The Marshal was as much lamented by the enemy as he was by his own +countrymen; and MONTECUCULLI, the general opposed to him, when he +learned the loss which France had sustained in the person of TURENNE, +exclaimed: "Then a man is dead who was an honour to human nature!" + +The Germans, for several years, left untilled the field where he was +killed; and the inhabitants shewed it as a sacred spot. They +respected the old tree under which, he reposed a little time before +his death, and would not suffer it to be cut down. The tree perished +only, because soldiers of all nations carried away pieces of it out +of respect to his memory. + +TURENNE had been interred in the abbey of St. Denis, and at the time +of the royal vaults being opened in 1793, by order of the National +Convention, the remains of that great captain were respected amid the +general destruction which ensued. From the eagerness of the workmen +to behold them, his tomb was the very first that was opened. When the +lid of the coffin was removed, the Marshal was found in such a state +of preservation that he was not at all disfigured: the features of +his face, far from being changed, were perfectly conformable to the +portraits and medallions of TURENNE in our possession. + +This monument, now placed in the _Temple of Mars_, had been erected +to that warrior in the abbey of St. Denis, and was preserved through +the care of M. LENOIR; after being seen for five years in the MUSEUM +OF FRENCH MONUMENTS, of which he is the director, it was removed +hither by the before-mentioned decree of the Consuls. LE BRUN +furnished the designs from which it was executed. The group, composed +of TURENNE in the arms of Immortality, is by TUBY; the accessory +figures, the one representing Wisdom, and the other, Valour, are by +MARSY. The bas-relief in bronze in the middle of the cenotaph is +likewise by TURY, and represents TURENNE charging the enemy at the +battle of Turckheim, in 1675. + +The dome forms a second church behind the large one, to which it +communicates. Its exterior, entirely covered with lead, is surrounded +by forty pillars of the Composite order, and ornamented with twelve +large gilt coats of mail, crowned with helmets, which serve as +skylights, and with a small lantern with pillars which support a +pyramid, surmounted by a large ball and a cross. + +All the architecture of the dome, which is called the new church, is +from the design of MANSARD. Its elevation, from the ground-floor, is +three hundred feet; and its diameter, fifty. It has the character of +elegance. The beauty of its proportion, its decoration, and +especially all the parts which concur in forming the pyramid, render +it a master-piece of architecture. But nothing commands admiration +like the interior, though it may be said to be three-fourths damaged. +The twelve windows, by which it is lighted, but which the observer +below cannot perceive, are ornamented with coupled piasters, resting +on a continued pedestal. On the broad band, which was formerly +adorned with flower-de-luces, and at this day with emblems of +liberty, were the medallions of twelve of the most famous kings of +France: namely, Clovis, Dagobert, Childebert, Charlemagne, Lewis the +Debonair, Charles the Bald, Philip Augustus, St. Lewis, Lewis XII, +Henry IV, Lewis XIII, and Lewis XIV. The first arch, distributed into +twelve equal parts, presented the twelve apostles, painted in fresco +by JOUVENET. The second arch, painted by LA FOSSE, represented the +apotheosis of St. Lewis, offering to God his sword and crown. The +pavement, which alone has not suffered, is in compartments of +different marbles of great value. + +The portal, which looks towards the country, is thirty toises in +extent. Of all the figures which decorated this façade, those of the +Four Virtues; namely, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence, +are the only ones that have been suffered to remain in their places. +They are by COYZEVOX. + +The other objects most worthy of notice in this spacious, building, +which, together with its precincts, occupies seventeen _arpens_, are +the refectories and kitchens, which are very extensive. Formerly, +neither of these were kept in such high order as they are at present. +The tables of the private soldiers are now better supplied; sirloins +of beef and legs of mutton being no longer roasted for the officers +only. In the four refectories, where the soldiers dine, twelve in a +mess, they are regularly served with soup, bouilli, a plate of +vegetables, and a pint of unadulterated wine. When Peter the Great +visited this establishment, the Invalids happened to be at dinner, +the czar, on entering the first refectory, poured out a bumper of +wine, and drank it off in a military style to the health of the +veterans, whom he termed his comrades. + +The halls are ornamented with paintings representing the conquests of +Lewis XIV. During the reign of terror the features of the _Grand +Monarque_, who made a conspicuous figure in these pictures, were +concealed by a coat of dark paint, which answered the purpose of a +mask. BONAPARTE has ordered this mask to be removed, so that the +ambitious monarch now reappears in all his former glory. + +Whatever may be said in praise of establishments of this description, +for my part, I see nothing in them but the gratification of national +pride. The old soldiers, are, in a manner, without a comrade, though +living in the midst of their brother warriors. The good fellowship +which they have witnessed in camps no longer subsists. The danger of +battles, the weight of fatigues, and the participation of privations +and hardships, no longer form the tie of common interest, by which +they were once united. This, being dissolved, they seek in vain that +reciprocity of little kindnesses which they used to find in their own +regiments and armies. All hope of promotion or change being at an +end, their only consolation is to enjoy the present by indulging in +reveries concerning the past. + +Instead of being doomed to end their days in this sort of stately +confinement, subject to restrictions which render life so dull and +monotonous, how different would these veterans feel, could they +retire to the bosom of their families and friends! Then, indeed, +would they dwell with delight on the battles and sieges in which they +had served, enumerating their many hair-breadth escapes, and +detailing the particulars of the fight in which they lost their +deficient leg or arm. After a pause, the sense of their country's +gratitude operating powerfully on their mind, would soothe every +painful recollection. Their auditors, impressed with admiration, +would listen in silence to the recital of the well-fought day, and, +roused by the call of national honour, cheerfully step forth to +emulate these mutilated heroes, provided they were sure of a _free_ +asylum, when reduced to their helpless condition. + +Whether I enter the _Hôtel des Invalides_, or _Chelsea Hospital_, +such are the reflections which never fail to occur to me, when I +visit either of those establishments, and contemplate the dejected +countenances of the maimed beings that inhabit them. + +Experience tells us that men dislike enjoyments, regularly prepared +for them, if under restraint, and prefer smaller gratifications, of +which they can partake without control. Policy, as well as prudence, +therefore dictates a departure from the present system of providing +for those maimed in fighting the battles of their nation. + +In a word, I am fully persuaded that the sums expended in the +purchase of the ground and construction of this magnificent edifice, +together with the charges of maintaining the establishment, would +have formed a fund that might have enabled the government to allow +every wounded soldier a competent pension for life, in proportion to +the length of his services, and the injuries which he might have +suffered in defence of his country. + +From the _Hôtel des Invalides_ are avenues, planted with trees, +which, on one side, communicate to the _New Boulevards_, and, on the +other, to the + +CHAMP DE MARS. + +This extensive inclosure was originally intended for the exercises of +the _École Militaire_, in front of which it is situated, as you will +perceive by referring to the Plan of Paris. Its form is a +parallelogram of four hundred and fifty toises in length by one +hundred and fifty in breadth. It is surrounded by ditches, faced with +masonry, which are bordered on each side by a double row of trees, +extending from the façade of the _ci-devant École Militaire_ to the +banks of the Seine. That building, I shall observe _en passant_, was +founded in 1751, by Lewis XV, for the military education of five +hundred young gentlemen, destitute of fortune, whose fathers had died +in the service. It stands on the south side of the _Champ de Mars_, +and serves at present as barracks for the horse-grenadiers of the +consular guard. On the third story of one of the wings is a national +observatory, which was constructed at the instigation of Lalande, the +celebrated astronomer. + +The various scenes of which the _Champ de Mars_ has successively been +the theatre, are too interesting to be passed over in silence. +Indeed, they exhibit the character of the nation in such striking +colours, that to omit them, would be like omitting some of the +principal features in the drawing of a portrait. Often have they been +mentioned, it is true; but subsequent events have so weakened the +remembrance of them, that they now present themselves to the mind +more like dreams than realities. However, I shall touch on the most +remarkable only. + +In 1790, a spacious arena, encompassed by a mound of earth, divided +into seats so as to accommodate three hundred thousand spectators, +was formed within this inclosure. To complete it speedily for the +ceremony of the first federation, required immense labour. The slow +progress of twenty-five thousand hired workmen could not keep pace +with the ardent wishes of the friends of liberty. But those were the +days of enthusiasm: concord and harmony then subsisted among the +great majority of the French people. What other sentiments, in fact, +could daily bring together, in the _Champ de Mars_, two hundred and +fifty thousand persons of every class, without distinction of age or +sex, to work at the necessary excavation? Thus, at the end of a week, +the amphitheatre was completed as if by enchantment. + +Never, perhaps, since the time of the Spartans, was seen among any +people such an example of cordial union. It would be difficult for +the warmest imagination to conceive a picture so varied, so original, +so animated. Every corporation, every society was ambitious of the +honour of assisting in the erection of the altar of the country: all +wished to contribute, by individual labour, to the arrangement of the +place where they were to swear to defend the constitution. Not a man, +woman, or child remained an idle spectator. On this occasion, the +aged seemed to have recovered the vigour of youth, and women and +children to have acquired the strength of manhood. In a word, men of +all trades and professions were confounded, and cheerfully handled +the pickaxe and shovel: delicate females, sprucely dressed, were seen +here and there wheeling along barrows filled with earth; while long +strings of stout fellows dragged heavy loads in carts and waggons. As +the electric matter runs along the several links of an extensive +chain, so patriotism seemed to have electrified this whole mass of +people. The shock was universal, and every heart vibrated in unison. + +The general good order which prevailed among this vast assemblage, +composed indiscriminately of persons of every rank and condition, was +truly surprising. No sort of improper discourse, no dispute of any +kind occurred. But what is still more singular and more worthy of +remark is, that the mutual confidence shewn by so many people, +strangers to each other, was in no one instance abused. Those who +threw off their coats and waistcoats, leaving them to the fate of +chance, during the time they were at work elsewhere, on their return +to the same spot found them untouched. Hence, as Paris is known to +abound with _filoux_, it may be inferred that the _amor patriæ_ had +deadened in them the impulse of their ordinary vocation. + +Franklin, when promoting the emancipation of America, during his +residence in Paris, probably did not foresee that the French would +soon borrow his favourite expression, and that it would become the +burden of a popular air. Yet so it happened; and even Lewis XVI +himself participated in the patriotic labours of the _Champ de Mars_, +while different bands of military music made the whole inclosure +resound with _ça ira_. + +To these exhilarating scenes succeeded others of the most opposite +nature. Hither the guillotine was transported for the execution of +the greatest astronomer of the age, and this with no other view than +to prolong his punishment. Bailly, as every one knows, was the first +mayor of Paris after the revolution. Launched into the vortex of +politics, he became involved in the proscriptions which ensued during +the reign of terror, and was dragged from prison to the _Champ de +Mars_, where, though exposed to the most trying insults, he died, +like a philosopher, with Socratic calmness. + +In no one of the numerous victims of the revolution was the +instability of popular favour more fully exemplified than in Bailly. +In this _Champ de Mars_, where he had published martial law in +consequence of a decree of the Convention, in the very place where he +had been directed by the representatives of the people to repel the +factions, he expired under the guillotine, loaded with the execration +of that same people of whom he had been the most venerated idol. + +Since those sanguinary times, the _Champ de Mars_ has chiefly been +the site chosen for the celebration of national fêtes, which, within +these few years, have assumed a character more distinguished than any +ever seen under the old _régime_. These modern Olympics consist of +chariot-races and wrestling, horse and foot races, ascensions of +balloons, carrying three or four persons, descents from them by means +of a parachute, mock-fights and aquatic tilting. After the sports of +the day, come splendid illuminations, grand fire-works, pantomimes +represented by two or three hundred performers, and concerts, which, +aided by splendid decorations, are not deficient in point of effect: +the evening concludes with dancing. + +During the existence of the directorial government, the number of +national fêtes had been considerably increased by the celebration of +party triumphs. They are at present reduced to the two great epochs +of the revolution, the taking of the Bastille on the 14th of July, +1789, and the foundation of the Republic on the 23d of September, +1792. On the anniversary of those days, the variety of the +exhibitions always attracted an immense concourse. The whole of this +mound, whose greatest diameter is upwards of eight hundred yards, was +then covered with spectators; but were the _Champ de Mars_ now used +on such occasions, they would be compelled to stand, there being no +longer any seats for their accommodation. + +The subject of national fêtes has, in this country, employed many +pens, and excited much discussion. Some say that they might be +rendered more interesting from the general arrangement; while others +affirm that they might be made to harmonize more with the affections +and habits of the people. In truth, this modern imitation of the +Greek festivals has fallen far short of those animating, +mirth-inspiring scenes, so ably described by the learned author of +Anacharsis, where, to use his own words, "every heart, eagerly bent +on pleasure, endeavoured to expand itself in a thousand different +ways, and communicated to others the impression which rendered it +happy." Whatever exertions have hitherto been made to augment the +splendour of these days of festivity, it seems not to admit of a +doubt that they are still susceptible of great improvement. If the +French have not the wine of _Naxos_, their goblets may at least +sparkle with _vin de Surenne_; the _Champs Elysées_ may supply the +place of the shady bowers of _Delos_; and, in lieu of the name of the +ill-fated NICIAS, the first promoter of the sports formerly +celebrated in that once-happy island, the air may be made to ring +with the name of the more fortunate BONAPARTE. + +[Footnote 1: _Essais historiques sur Paris_.] + +[Footnote 2: This was the name given by the soldiers to the Marshal's +favourite charger.] + + + +LETTER XLV. + +_Paris, January 6, 1802._ + +In speaking of the interior of the _Louvre_, in one of my former +letters, I think I mentioned the various learned and scientific +societies, which, under the name of Academies, formerly held their +sittings in that palace. For the sake of facilitating a comparison +between the past and the present, it may be necessary to state the +professed object of those different institutions. + +_French Academy_. The preservation of the purity of the French +language, its embellishment and augmentation. + +_Academy of Sciences_. The progress of the sciences, the +encouragement of researches and discoveries, as well in physics, +geometry, and astronomy, as in those sciences which are applicable to +the daily wants of society. + +_Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres_. The composition of +inscriptions, of the subjects of medals, and their mottos, the +research of the manners, habits, customs, and monuments of antiquity, +as well as all literature relating to history. + +_Academy of Painting and Sculpture_. +_Academy of Architecture_. +The titles of these are a sufficient explanation. + +All these academies were founded by Lewis XIV, at the instigation of +his minister Colbert; with the exception of the French Academy, which +owed its origin to Cardinal Richelieu. This was a misfortune for that +society; for custom had established it as a law that every new +member, on the day of his reception, should not only pronounce a +panegyric on him whom he succeeded, but also on the founder of the +institution. It certainly was not very philosophical for men of +enlightened understanding, and possessing even a common portion of +sensibility, to make an eulogium on a minister so cruel, a man of a +spirit so diabolically vindictive, that he even punished the innocent +to revenge himself on the guilty. De Thou, the celebrated author of +the _History of his own time_, had told some truths not very +favourable to the memory of the Cardinal's great uncle. In +consequence, the implacable minister, under false pretences, caused +the philosophic historian's eldest son to be condemned and +decapitated, saying: "De Thou, the father, has put my name into his +history, I will put the son into mine." + +It is well known, from their memoirs, that these academies included +among their members men of eminent talents. The Academy of Sciences, +in particular, could boast of several first-rate geniuses in the +different branches which they respectively cultivated, and the +unremitting labours of some of them have, no doubt, greatly +contributed to enlarge the sphere of human knowledge. During the +early part of the revolution, all these monarchical institutions were +overthrown, and on their ruins rose the + +NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES.[1] + +This establishment was formed, agreeably to a decree of the National +Assembly passed on the 3d of Brumaire, year IV (25th of October, +1796). By that decree, it appears that the Institute belongs to the +whole Republic, though its point of union is fixed in Paris. Its +object is to extend the limits of the arts and sciences in general, +by an uninterrupted series of researches, by the publication of +discoveries, by a correspondence with the learned societies of +foreign countries, and by such scientific and literary labours as +tend to general utility and the glory of the Republic. + +It is composed of one hundred and forty-four members, resident in +Paris, and of an equal number scattered over the departments. The +number of its foreign associates is twenty-four. It is divided into +three classes, and each class into several sections, namely: + +Mathematical and Physical Sciences. +Moral and Political Sciences. +Literature and the Fine Arts. +The Mathematical Class is divided into ten sections; each of which +consists of six members. Of this class, there are sixty members in +Paris, and as many in the departments, where they are divided, in the +same manner, into ten sections, each of six members. + +The first section comprehends Mathematics. +The second, Mechanical Arts. +The third, Astronomy. +The fourth, Experimental Physics. +The fifth, Chemistry. +The sixth, Natural History and Mineralogy. +The seventh, Botany and vegetable Physics. +The eighth, Anatomy and Zoology. +The ninth, Medicine and Surgery. +The tenth, Rural Economy and the Veterinary Art. + +The Moral and Political Class is divided into six sections, each +consisting of six members, making in all thirty-six members in Paris, +and an equal number in the departments. + +The first section comprises the Analysis of Sensations and Ideas. +The second, Morals. +The third, Social Science and Legislation. +The fourth, Political Economy. +The fifth, History. +The sixth, Geography. + +The Class of Literature and Fine Arts is divided into eight sections, +each of six members, forty-eight of whom reside in Paris, and as many +in the departments. + +The first section includes Grammar. +The second, Ancient Languages. +The third, Poetry. +The fourth, Antiquities and Monuments. +The fifth, Painting. +The sixth, Sculpture. +The seventh, Architecture. +The eighth, Music and Declamation. + +Twice in every decade, each class holds a meeting: that of the first +class takes place on the first and sixth days; that of the second, on +the second and seventh days; and that of the third, on the third and +eighth days. Every six months each class elects its president and two +secretaries, who continue in office during that interval. + +On the fifth day of the first decade of every month is held a general +meeting of the three classes, the purpose of which is to deliberate +on affairs, relating to the general interests of the Institute. The +chair is then taken by the oldest of the three presidents, who, at +these meetings, presides over the whole society. + +The National Institute has four public quarterly meetings, on the +15th of the months of Vendémiaire, Nivôse, Germinal, and Messidor. +Each class annually proposes two prize questions, and in the general +meetings, the answers are made public, and the premiums distributed. +The united sections of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture nominate +the pupils who are to visit Rome, and reside there in the national +palace, at the expense of the Republic, in order to study the Fine +Arts. Conformably to the decree by which the Institute was organised, +six of its members were to travel at the public charge, with a view +of collecting information, and acquiring experience in the different +sciences; and twenty young men too were to visit foreign countries +for the purpose of studying rural economy: but the expenses of the +war and other matters have occasioned such a scarcity of money as, +hitherto, to impede these undertakings. + +The apartments of the Institute are on the first floor of the +_Louvre_, or, as it is now styled, the _Palais Nationial des Sciences +et des Arts_. These apartments, which were once inhabited by Henry +IV, are situated on the west side of that building. Before you arrive +at the hall of the Institute, you pass through a handsome +antichamber, in which are the statues of Molière, Racine, Corneille, +La Fontaine, and Montesquieu. This hall, which is oblong and +spacious, formerly served for the meetings of the Academy of +Sciences. Its sides are adorned with colonnades, and the ceiling is +richly painted and decorated. In the intercolumniations are fourteen +marble statues (seven on each side) of some of the most celebrated +men that France has produced: namely, Condé, Tourville, Descartes, +Bayard, Sully, Turenne, Daguessau, Luxembourg, L'Hôpital, Bossuet, +Duquesne, Catinat, Vauban, and Fenelon. Parallel to the walls, tables +are set, covered with green cloth, at which the members take their +places. + +At the upper end of the hall is the chair of the President, and on +each side below him are seated the two Secretaries. A little on one +side again is the tribune, from which the members who speak address +the assembly, after having asked leave of the President, who never +quits the chair during the whole meeting. The space appropriated to +the members is inclosed by a railing, between which and the walls, +the hall is surrounded by benches for the spectators, among whom +there are generally many of the fair sex. + +The library of the Institute consists of three spacious apartments, +which are said to contain about sixteen thousand volumes. On one side +of the hall is an apartment, destined for the communications of +correspondents. There is also an apartment for the secretary and his +deputies, and a large room containing a collection of machines and +models, (among which are several of shipping), as well as every +apparatus necessary for chemical and physical experiments. + +Although I have several times attended the private meetings of the +three classes, I have thought that the printed accounts of their +proceedings, which I subjoin, would be more satisfactory than a hasty +sketch from my pen. However, as I promised to describe to you one of +the public sittings of the Institute, I shall now inform you of what +passed at that held yesterday, the 15th of Nivôse, year X, (5th of +January, 1802), at which I was present. + +On this occasion, BIGOT-PRÉAMENEU, one of the members of the class of +Moral and Political Sciences, was the President. The sitting was +opened by proclaiming the nomination of three foreign associates, +elected by the Institute in its general sitting of the 5th of Nivôse; +namely, Mr. JEFFERSON, Sir JOSEPH BANKS, and HAYDN, the celebrated +musical composer. A prize was then awarded to Citizen Framery, a +literary character residing in Paris, for having solved the following +question proposed by the class of Literature and Fine Arts. "To +analyze the relations existing between music and declamation, and +determine the means of applying declamation to music, without +detracting from the charms of melody." + +DELAMBRE read an account of the life and works of Cousin. + +DÉGÉRANDO, an account of the education which the young savage of +Aveyron receives from Itard, physician to the Institution of the Deaf +and Dumb. + +PRONY, the result of observations made with a French instrument and +an English one, for the purpose of determining the relation between +the French metre and the English foot. + +Next were heard notes, by CAMUS, on the public exhibitions of the +productions of French Industry, which took place in the years VI and +IX of the Republic. + +Then, the report of the restoration of the famous picture known by +the name of the _Madonna di Foligno_, which I have already +communicated to you. + +BUACHE, the celebrated geographer, read some observations on the +ancient map of the Romans, commonly called Peutinger's map, as well +as on the geography of the anonymous writer of Ravenna. The sitting +was terminated by an account of the life and works of Dumoustier, +read by COLIN D'HARLEVILLE. + +The members of the Institute have a full-dress and a half-dress. The +former consists of a suit of black, embroidered in dark green silk, +with a cocked hat. The latter is the same, but the embroidery is +confined to the collar and cuffs of the coat, which is trimmed with a +cord edging, + +P.S. Yesterday evening was married Mademoiselle Beauharnois, +daughter-in-law of the First Consul, to Louis Bonaparte, one of his +younger brothers. + +[Footnote 1: At the end of this volume will be found the new +organization of the Institute, conformably to a decree of the +government, dated the 3d of Pluviôse, year XI.] + + + +LETTER XLVI. + +_Paris, January 7, 1802._ + +Knowing you to be an amateur of Italian music, I am persuaded that +you will wish to be made acquainted with the theatre where you may +enjoy it in full perfection. It is distinguished by the appellation +of + +OPÉRA BUFFA. + +This establishment is not new in the French metropolis. In 1788, +Paris was in possession of an excellent company of Italian comedians, +who then performed in the _Théâtre de Monsieur_, in the palace of the +_Tuileries_, which is now converted into a hall for the sittings of +the Council of State. The success of this company had a rapid +influence on the taste of the discerning part of the French public. +This was the less extraordinary as, perhaps, no Italian sovereign had +ever assembled one composed of so many capital performers. In Italy, +there are seldom more than two of that degree of merit in a company; +the rest are not attended to, because they are not worth the trouble: +but here every department was complete, and filled by persons +deservedly enjoying a high reputation in their own country; such as +MANDINI, RAFFANELLI, SIMONI, MENGOZZI, VIGANONI, ROVEDINO, and +Signoras MORICHELLI and BALETTI. + +The events of 1792 banished from Paris this admired assemblage. A new +company of Italian comedians has been formed here within these few +months: they at first occupied a charming little theatre constructed +for the use of a society, called _La Loge Olympique_; but are lately +removed to the _Théâtre Favart_, on the Boulevard. Before the +revolution, this was called _le Théâtre Italien_. The façade is +decorated with eight very large Ionic pillars. The house is of an +oval form, and the interior distribution deserving of praise, in as +much as it is far more commodious than that of any other theatre in +Paris. The audience here too is generally of a more select +description. Among the female amateurs, Madame Tallien is one of its +most constant visiters, and, in point of grace and beauty, one of its +greatest ornaments. + +At the head of this new company, may be placed RAFFANELLI, the same +whom I have just mentioned. He is a consummate comedian, and more to +be commended in that point of view than as a singer. RAFFANELLI has a +countenance to which he gives any cast he pleases: his features, from +their wonderful pliability, receive every impression: his eye is +quick; his delivery, natural and correct; and his action, easy. +Sometimes he carries his buffooneries too far, merely to excite +laughter; but as he never fails in his object, this defect may be +overlooked. His best characters are _Taddeo_ in _Il Rè Theodora_, _il +Governatore_ in _La Molinara_, the Father in _Furberia e Puntiglio_, +and the Deaf Man in _Il Matrimonio Secreto_. It is necessary to see +him in these different operas to form a just idea of the truth and +humour with which he represents them. Although he is but an +indifferent singer, his method is good, and he seizes the spirit of +the composer with perfect discrimination. In _morceaux d'ensemble_, +he is quite at home, and when he dialogues with the orchestra, he +shews much energy and feeling. Independently of these gifts, Nature +has granted to RAFFANELLI another most valuable privilege. She seems +to have exempted him from the impression of time. In 1788 and 89, I +saw him frequently, both on and off the stage; after a lapse of +upwards of twelve years, he appears again to my eyes exactly the same +man. I cannot perceive in him the smallest change. + +The tenor of the new company is LAZZARINI. His method too is very +good; he sings with taste, expression, and feeling; but his voice is +extremely weak: his powers appear exhausted; and it is only by dint +of painful efforts that he succeeds in giving to his singing those +embellishments which his taste suggests, but which lose their grace +and charm when they are laboured. In short, LAZZARINI communicates to +the audience an unpleasant sensation in proving that he has real +talents. + +Neither the same reproaches nor the same praises can be bestowed on +PARLAMAGNI. He is a good counter-tenor, but has a harshness in the +high tones, which he does not always reach with perfect justness. He +is also deficient in ease and grace. PARLAMAGNI, however, having an +advantageous person, and the air of a Frenchman, is a great favourite +with the Parisian _dilettanti_. He is a tolerably good comedian, and +in some scenes of buffoonery, his acting is natural, and his manner +free and unaffected. + +The _prima donna_ of the Italian company is Signora STRINA-SACCHI. +She possesses a fine voice, and no small share of taste, joined to +great confidence and a perfect acquaintance with the stage. Sometimes +she is rather apt to fatigue the ear by sounds too shrill, and thus +breaks the charm produced by her singing. As for her acting, it is as +extraordinary as can well be imagined; for her vivacity knows no +bounds; and her passion, no restraint. She appears to conceive +justly, to feel very warmly, and she plays in the same manner. In +her, Nature commands every thing; Art, nothing. The parts in which +she shines most, are _La Molinara_ and _Gianina_; in these, she +literally follows the impulse given her by her situation, without +concerning herself in the least, whether it is _secundum artem_; but +certain that it is natural and conformable to the character and +habits of the personage she represents. _Anima in voce_ is the +characteristic of her singing: the same epithet may be applied to her +recitative and her acting: in these she displays no less spirit and +animation. + +After Signora SACCHI, comes Signora PARLAMAGNI. She is a young, and +rather pretty woman, not unlike a French actress in her manner. Her +voice is free and clear, and her method by no means to be disdained. +She wants habit and confidence. This is evident in her performance of +a part new to her; for it is only after a few representations that +she feels herself at her ease. Then the public appreciate her powers, +which she exhibits to advantage; and her exertions are rewarded by +reiterated marks of their satisfaction. + +Unfortunately it is the nature of an Italian opera-house to have its +shelf poorly furnished. It cannot, however, be denied that the +managers of the _Opera Buffa_ take every pains to vary and increase +their stock. The following are the pieces which I have seen at this +theatre. + +_Furberia e Puntiglio_, which is a second-hand imitation of GOLDONI. +The music, by Signor MARCELLO DI CAPUA, is agreeable, particularly a +quartetto and a cavatina. RAFFANELLI shines in this piece as a +first-rate actor. + +_Il Matrimonio Secreto_, the chef-d'oeuvre of CIMAROSA, and of its +kind, perhaps, the most charming opera extant. Throughout it, the +composer has lavished beauties; there is not to be found in it an air +of inferior merit, or which, of itself alone, would not sustain the +reputation of a piece. What then can be said of a work in which they +are all united? Nothing can surpass the variety, spirit, grace, and +originality of the duos, terzettos, quartettos, &c. with which this +opera abounds. CIMAROSA has here combined the strength of German +harmony with the grace which constitutes the charm of Italian melody. +He is particularly famous for the brilliancy of his ideas, the +fecundity of his genius, the richness of his style, and, above all, +for the finish of his pictures. + +The certain effect of such a production is to eclipse every thing put +in competition with it. This effect is particularly conspicuous at +the representation of other pieces, the music of which is by the same +composer. + +_Gianina e Bernadone_, another of CIMAROSA'S productions, makes less +impression, though it is in the graceful style, what _Il Matrimonio +Secreto_ is in the serio-comic. + +_La Molinara_, however, upholds the reputation of that celebrated +composer, PAËSIELLO. This opera requires no eulogium. Selections from +it are daily repeated in the public and private concerts in Paris. +_Il Matrimonio Secreto_ is a masterpiece of spirit and originality, +while _La Molinara_ is a model of grace, melody, and simplicity. + +To the great regret of the lovers of Italian music, CIMAROSA died not +long since, just as he was preparing to visit Paris. But his fame +will long survive, as his works bear the stamp of true genius, +combined with taste and judgment. His _Italiana in Londra_ is just +announced for representation. + +_Il Matrimonio Inaspettato_, a composition of PAËSIELLO, is likewise +in rehearsal, as well as _Le Nozze di Dorina_, by SARTI, and _La +Vilanella Rapita_, by BIANCHI. MOZART too will soon enter the lists; +his _Dom Giovanni_ is to be speedily brought forward. + +The orchestra of the _Opéra Buffa_, though far from numerous, is +extremely well-composed. It accompanies the singers with an +_ensemble_, a grace, and precision deserving of the highest encomium. +BRUNI, a distinguished Italian composer, is the leader of the band, +and PARENTI, a professor, known also by several admired productions, +presides at the piano-forte. + +NEUVILLE, the manager of this theatre, is gone to Italy for the +purpose of completing the company by the addition of some eminent +performers.[1] In its present state, the _Opéra Buffa_ maintains its +ground. It is thought that the French government will assist it in +case of necessity, and even make it a national establishment; a +commissary or agent having been appointed to superintend its +proceedings. + +[Footnote 1: The _Opéra Buffa_, the constant object of the jealousy +of the other lyric theatres, because it constitutes the delight of +real amateurs of music, has, during the year 1802, acquired several +new performers. Two of these only, Madame BOLLA and MARTINELLI, +deserve particular mention. Madame BOLLA is a good figure on the +stage, and though her features are not regular, yet they are +susceptible of the most varied expression. Her voice, which is a +species of feminine _tenore_, astonishes by the purity and firmness +of its grave tones; while her brilliant and sure method easily +conceals its small extent in the higher notes. MARTINELLI is a +species of counter-tenor. His voice has already lost much of its +strength, and has not that clearness which serves as an excuse for +every thing; but connoisseurs find that he takes care to calculate +its effects so as to make amends, by the art of transitions, for that +firmness in which it is deficient. He is much applauded in the +_cantabile_, which he sings with uncommon precision, and he +particularly shines in the counter-parts which charm in the Italian +_finales_. As an actor, MARTINELLI, though inferior to RAFFANELLI, is +also remarkable. His manner is easy and natural, and his countenance +capable of assuming the most comic expression.] + + + +LETTER XLVII. + +_Paris, January 9, 1802._ + +The exaggerated accounts of the interior state of France which have +reached us, through various channels, during the late obstinate +struggle, have diffused so many contradictions, that it is by no +means surprising we still continue so ill-informed in England on many +points most intimately connected with the morals of the French +nation. Respecting none of these, have we been more essentially +mistaken than the + +PRESENT STATE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. + +I am given to understand, from unquestionable authority, that there +are at this moment, and have been for the last four years, no less +than from thirty-five to forty thousand churches where divine service +has been regularly performed throughout the different departments of +the Republic. It is therefore a gross error to suppose that the +christian religion was extinguished in France. The recent +arrangements made between the French government and the See of Rome +will consolidate that religion, which was, in a great measure, +re-established long before his Holiness occupied the papal chair. I +shall illustrate this truth by a summary of the proceedings of the +constitutional clergy. + +The last general assembly of the clergy of France, held in 1789, the +account of which has never been printed, already presented facts +which announced that the necessity of reforming abuses was felt, and +the epoch when that reform would take place was foreseen. In this +assembly several bishops spoke with much force on the subject. + +The disastrous state of the finances, brought about by the shameful +dilapidations of the court, occasioned a deficit which it was +necessary to make good. This consideration, joined to the spirit of +cupidity, jealous of the estates of the clergy, immediately caused +every eye to turn towards that mortmain property, in order to employ +it in the liquidation of the national debt. + +In the _Moniteur_, and other journals of the time, may be seen what +successive steps gradually led to the abolition of tythes, and the +decision which placed the estates of the clergy at the disposal of +the nation. + +The civil constitution of the clergy was a severe check given to the +many existing abuses. It really brought back the Gallican church to +the discipline of the first ages. It snatched from the Pope the power +of giving the canonical institution to bishops. Those who have +thought proper to tax with novelty this constitution, have only to +look into history. They will see that, during twelve hundred years, +bishops received the canonical institution from the metropolitans, +and not from the Pope. Thus to tax with intrusion the constitutional +bishops, and condemn them because they have received that institution +from the metropolitans, is to condemn the first twelve centuries of +christianity. + +This civil constitution served as a pretext to the dignified clergy, +irritated at the loss of their estates, for concerting a combined +resistance to the new laws, in the hope that this resistance would +lead to a subversion which would restore to them their riches. Thence +the refusal of the oath "to be faithful to the nation, to the law, +and to the king, to guide faithfully the flock intrusted to their +care, and to maintain with all their power the constitution decreed +by the assembly, and sanctioned by the king." Thence the line of +division between the clergy who had taken the oath and those who had +not. + +The Constituent Assembly, who had decreed the above oath, declared, +that the refusal of giving this pledge of fidelity should be +considered as a voluntary resignation. The royal sanction had +rendered the above decree a law of the State. Almost the whole of the +bishops, a great number of rectors, and other ecclesiastics, refused +to take this oath, already taken by several among them who were +deputies to the assembly. + +They were, in consequence, declared to have resigned; and measures +were taken for supplying their place. The people proceeded to effect +this by electors authorized by law. A respectable number of +ecclesiastics, who had already submitted to the law, accepted the +elections. These priests thought that obedience to the national +authority which respected and protected religion, was a catholic +dogma. What resistance could be made to legitimate power, which +neither attacked the dogma, nor morality, nor the interior and +essential discipline of the church? It was, say they, resisting God +himself. They thought that the pastor was chosen, and sent solely for +the care of the flock intrusted to him; that, when difficult +circumstances, flight, for instance, voluntary or forced, the +prohibition from all functions, pronounced by the civil power, +rendered the holy ministry impossible, or that the pastor could not +exericise it, without declaring himself in open insurrection, the +pretended unremoveable rights then ceased with the sacred duties +which they could not discharge, without being accused of rebellion. + +The dissentient bishops drew many priests into their party. Most of +them spread themselves over Europe, where they calumniated at their +ease the patriotic clergy. Those of their adherents who had remained +in the interior of this country, kindled a civil war, tormented +people's consciences, and disturbed the peace of families, &c. This +conduct, which engendered the horrible scenes in La Vendée, provoked +repressive measures, emanated from legislative authority. + +Enemies without and within, say the constitutional clergy, wished to +create a disgust to liberty, by substituting to it licentiousness. +And, indeed, the partisans of the dissentient clergy were seen to +coalesce with the unbelievers, in order to produce the sacrilegious +disorders which broke out every where in the year 1793. + +The clergy who had taken the oath had organized the dioceses; the +bishops, in general, had bestowed great pains in spreading in every +parish the word of the gospel; for they preached themselves, and this +was more than was done by their predecessors, who, engaged only in +spending, frequently in a shameful manner, immense revenues, seldom +or never visited their dioceses. The constitutional clergy followed a +plan more conformable to the gospel, which gained them the affection +of the well-disposed part of the nation. + +These priests were of opinion that the storm which threatened +religion, required imperiously the immediate presence of the pastor, +and that, in the day of battle, it was necessary to be in person at +the breach. They were of opinion that the omission or impossibility +of fulfilling minute and empty formalities, imposed by a Concordat, +rejected from the beginning by all the public bodies and the church +of France, and annihilated at the moment by the will of the +representatives of the nation, sanctioned by royal authority, could +not exempt them from accepting holy functions presented by all the +constituted authorities, and on which evidently depended the +preservation of religion, the salvation of the faithful, and the +peace of the State. + +But, when persecution manifested itself, the clergy who had taken the +oath, became equally the victims of persecuting rage. Some failed in +this conjuncture; but the greater number remained intrepid in their +principles. Accordingly several constitutional bishops and priests +were dragged to the scaffold. If, on the one hand, the dastardly +GOBEL was guillotined, the same fate attended the respectable +EXPILLY, bishop of Quimper, AMOURETTE, bishop of Lyons, and GOUTTES, +bishop of Autun, &c. + +The dissentient clergy reproach some constitutional priests with +having married, and even with having apostatized; but they say not +that, among the dissentient, there are some who; have done the same. +If the number of the latter is smaller, it is because the greater +part of them were out of France; but what would they have done, if, +like the constitutional clergy, they had either had the axe suspended +over their head, or the guillotine accompanying all their steps? + +In England, where the French priests were not thus exposed, there are +some who have likewise married, and even some who have apostatized. + +It is well known that, amidst the terrors of impiety, GRÉGOIRE, +bishop of Blois, declared that he braved them, and remained attached +to his principles and duties, as a christian and bishop. He firmly +believed that, in doing so, he was pronouncing his sentence of death, +and, for eighteen months, he was in expectation of ascending the +scaffold. The same courage animated the majority of the +constitutional bishops and priests. They exercised secretly their +ministry, and consoled the faithful. As soon as the rage for +persecution began to abate, GRÉGOIRE and some other bishops, who had +kept up a private correspondence with the clergy of various dioceses +for the purpose of encouraging them, concerted together in order to +reorganize worship. In Nivôse year III (January 1795), GRÉGOIRE +demanded this liberty of worship of the National Convention. He was +very sure of meeting with outrages, and he experienced some; but to +speak in the tribune, was speaking to France and to all Europe, and, +in the then state of things, he was almost certain of staggering +public opinion, which would force the Convention to grant the free +exercise of religion. Accordingly, some time after having refused the +liberty of worship on the demand of GRÉGOIRE, that assembly granted +it, though with evident reluctance, on a Report of BOISSY D'ANGLAS, +which insulted every species of worship. + +The constitutional bishops had already anticipated this moment by +their writings and their pastoral letters, &c. They then compiled two +works, entitled _Lettres Encycliques_, to which the bishops and +priests of the various dioceses adhered. The object of these works, +which are monuments of wisdom, piety, and courage, was to reorganize +public worship in all the dioceses, according to the principles of +the primitive church. They pronounced a formal exclusion from +ecclesiastical functions against all prevaricating priests or married +ones, as well as all those who had the cowardice to deliver up their +authority for preaching, and abdicate their functions. Some +interested persons thought this too severe. Those bishops persisted +in their decision, and, by way of answer, they reprinted a +translation of the celebrated treatise of St. Cyprian de Lapsis. On +all sides, they reanimated religions zeal, caused pastors for the +various sees to be elected by the people, and consecrated by the +metropolitan bishops. They held synods, the arts of which form a +valuable collection, equally honourable to their zeal and knowledge. +They did more. + +For a long time past the custom of holding councils had fallen into +disuse. They convoked a national council, notwithstanding the +unfavourableness of a silent persecution; and, in spite of the penury +which afflicted the pastors, the latter had the courage to expose +themselves in order to concur in it. This council was opened with the +greatest solemnity on the 15th of August, 1797, the day of the +Assumption of the Virgin. It sat for three months. The canons and +decrees of this assembly, which have been translated into Italian and +German, have been printed in one volume. + +This council was published in the different dioceses, and its +regulations were put into force. During this time, the government, +ever hostile to religion, had not abandoned the project of +persecuting and perhaps of destroying it. The voice of the public, +who called for this religion, and held in esteem the constitutional +clergy as religious and patriotic, checked, in some respects, the +hatred of the Directory and its agents. Then the spirit of +persecution took a circuitous way to gain its end: this was to cry +down religion and its ministers, to promote theophilanthropy, and +enforce the transferring of Sunday to the _décade_, or tenth day of +every republican month. + +The bishops, assembled at Paris, again caused this project to +miscarry, and, in their name, GRÉGOIRE compiled two consultations +against the transferring of Sunday to the _décade_. The adhesion of +all the clergy was the fruit of his labour; but all this drew on him +numerous outrages, the indigence to which he was at that time +reduced, and multiplied threats of deportation. The functions which +he had discharged, and the esteem of the friends of religion, formed +around him a shelter of opinion that saved him from deportation, to +which were condemned so many unfortunate and virtuous constitutional +priests, who were crowded, with the refractory among others, into +vessels lying in the road of Rochefort. + +GRÉGOIRE remonstrated against this grievance, and obtained an +alleviation for his brethren; but it is to be remarked that, in +giving an account of their enlargement, the dissentient priests have +taken good care not to mention to whom they were indebted for having +provoked in their behalf this act of humanity and justice. + +The constitutional clergy continued their labours, struggling +incessantly against calumny and libels, either from their dissentient +brethren or from the agents of the directorial government. This +clergy convoked a second national council for the year 1801. It was +preceded by a vast number of synods, and by eight metropolitan +councils. + +This second national council was opened at Paris on St. Peter's day +of the same year. Several decrees had already been carried, one of +which renewed, in the face of the whole church, the example of the +bishops of Africa, by a solemn invitation of the dissentients to +conferences for the grand affair which separated them from the +constitutional clergy. The different congregations were on the point +of presenting to the general meeting their labours on the dogma, +morality, and discipline. A report on the liturgy by GRÉGOIRE, bishop +of Blois and vice-president of the council; and a similar report on +the plan of education for ecclesiastics, occupied the members of this +assembly, when all at once the government manifested its wish to see +the council closed, on account of the Concordat which it had just +arranged with the Pope. + +Notwithstanding this proceeding, which trenched on the rights of a +national church, the fathers of the council suspended their +remonstrances, in order not to afford any pretext to those who might +have wished to perpetuate religious troubles. Wherefore, after having +sat six weeks and pronounced the suspension of the national council, +&c. they separated quietly without quitting Paris. + +Their presence was necessary for the execution of the decree of the +conferences. The eighteen members destined for that purpose by the +council, after having held several meetings, presented themselves at +the Cathedral of _Notre-Dame_, the place appointed and proclaimed by +the council throughout all the extent of France. For three successive +days, morning and evening, they there assembled. At the expiration of +that time, on seeing that the dissentient kept themselves concealed, +the members of the constitutional clergy took for witnesses of this +generous and open proceeding the vast body of people who had repaired +to _Notre-Dame_, and by two energetic and moving discourses, +delivered by BELMAY, bishop of Carcassonne, and GRÉGOIRE, bishop of +Blois, terminated the council after the accustomed prayers. + +M. SPINA, archbishop of Corinth, charged by the court of Rome with +part of the affairs to be transacted with the First Consul, about the +middle of September, sent to the constitutional bishops a brief which +he announced to come from Pius VII, in order to induce them on the +part of the Pope to give up the episcopal sees they had occupied, and +return to unity. An invitation so insulting, received by all these +bishops, drew on M. SPINA energetic answers, which made the Pope and +himself sensible how wrong they were to accuse of intrusion and +schism bishops, whose canonical institution was conformable to that +of the bishops of the first twelve centuries, and who had always +professed the warmest love for catholic unity. + +But as there was little good to be expected from M. SPINA, some +bishops made their complaints to the government in a spirited and +well-composed memorial, denouncing the Pope's brief as an attack on +the liberties of the Gallican church and the rights of the Republic. +This measure had its effect. The government passed a decree for +prohibiting the publication of the Rescripts of Rome, if they should +not be found conformable to the rules and usages observed in France. + +During these transactions, the Cardinal Legate, CAPRARA, arrived in +Paris. The Concordat had just been signed. The constitutional +bishops, without remonstrating against it, no sooner learnt that the +government wished them to resign, than they hastened to do so, the +more willingly, as they had a thousand times made the promise +whenever the good of religion and of the country should require it. A +similar generosity was expected on the part of the emigrated bishops. +Have they been to blame in refusing? This question may, in a great +measure, depend on the arrangement of the Concordat, and the +imperious and menacing tone of the court of Rome which demanded of +them the resignation of their former sees.[1] + +[Footnote 1: For the gratification of the reader is here annexed an +account of the Pope's conduct in regard to the constitutional clergy, +since the promulgation of the Concordat. + +At length the nominations took place. A small number of those +appointed to the sixty new dioceses, were taken from the +constitutional clergy. The others were taken from the mass of the +refractory and those who had retracted, and the greater number formed +the most eloquent apology of the constitutional bishops. They all +received the institution from the Pope, who announced it with an air +of triumph to the college of Cardinals, in his collocution of the +24th of May, 1802. He had good reason to congratulate himself at this +epoch, the more so as he had been made to believe that the re-elected +constitutional clergy had made a retraction, and received penitence +and absolution. The author of this calumny was BERNIER, who had been +charged by the Cardinal Legate with a step so worthy of his former +military exploits. It was solemnly contradicted. After the decree of +absolution which BERNIER had ventured to present to these bishops was +thrown with indignation into the fire of PORTALIS, the counsellor of +state charged by the government with religious affairs, who was +witness to the transaction. Indeed, he had in this encouraged the +bishops to imitate his own example in getting rid, by the same means, +of a brief which the Legate had transmitted to him in order to +absolve him from the guilt he might have incurred by taking part in +the revolution. + +The government wished to pacify religious troubles; but the majority +of the dissentient bishops began to foment new disputes, by requiring +retractations from the constitutional clergy, who, for the most part, +have stood firm amidst privations of every description. However, the +mischief made not the progress which there was every reason to +apprehend: the government pronounced its opinion thereon by +prohibiting bishops from requiring any thing more than submission to +the Concordat, and obedience to the new bishops. Notwithstanding the +wise intentions of the government, sincerely desirous of peace and +concord, it is only in the dioceses fallen to the constitutional +bishops that a good understanding prevails. Most of the disentient +clergy continue to promote discord, and torment their constitutional +brethren. BOISCHOLLET, bishop of Séez, MONTAULT, bishop of Angers, +and some others, have been sent for to Paris, in order to be +reprimanded and cautioned to behave better. + +It is proper to mention the documents which Cardinal CAPRARA has +distributed to all the bishops. They form a collection of thirteen +papers, which might not improperly be called an analysis of the +decretals of Isidorus. On these, no doubt, good canonists will debate +at some future day, in order to shame the court of Rome, by pointing +out its absurdities and blunders; and certainly the respect which +catholics owe to the Holy See ought not to prevent then from +resisting the pretensions of the Pope.] + + + +LETTER XLVIII. + +_Paris, January 10, 1802._ + +Going the other day to call on M. S----i, I stopped by the way, to +examine an edifice which, when I first visited Paris in 1784, engaged +no small share of public attention. It was, at that time, one of the +principal objects pointed out to the curiosity of strangers. At one +period of the revolution, you will, doubtless, recollect the frequent +mention made of the + +PANTHEON. + +Conceive my surprise, on learning that this stately building, after +having employed the hands of so many men, for the best part of half a +century, was not only still unfinished; but had threatened +approaching ruin. Yes--like the Gothic abbey at Fonthill, it would, +by all accounts, have fallen to the ground, without the aid of +vandalism, had not prompt and efficacious measures been adopted, to +avert the impending mischief. + +This monument, originally intended for the reception of the shrine of +St. Geneviève, once the patroness of the Parisians, is situated on an +eminence, formerly called _Mont St. Étienne_, to the left of the top +of the _Rue St. Jacques_, near the _Place de l'Estrapade_. It was +begun under the reign of Lewis XV, who laid the first stone on the +6th of September, 1764. During the American war, the works were +suspended; but, early in the year 1784, they were resumed with +increasing activity. The sculpture of this church already presented +many attributes analogous to its object, when, in 1793, it was +converted into a Pantheon. + +The late M. SOUFFLOT furnished the plan for the church, which, in +point of magnificence, does honour both to the architect and to the +nation. + +Its form is a Greek cross, three hundred and forty feet in length by +two hundred and fifty in breadth. The porch, which is an imitation of +that of the Pantheon at Rome, consists of a peristyle of twenty-two +pillars of the Corinthian order. Eighteen of these are insulated, and +are each five feet and a half in diameter by fifty-eight in height, +including their base and capital. They support a pediment, which +combines the boldness of the Gothic with the beauty of the Greek +style. This pediment bears the following inscription: + + "AUX GRANDS HOMMES, + LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE." + +In the delirium of the revolutionary fever, when great crimes +constituted great men, this sanctuary of national gratitude was +polluted. MARAT, that man of blood, was, to use the modern +phraseology, _pantheonized_, that is, interred in the Pantheon. When +the delirium had, in some measure, subsided, and reason began to +resume her empire, he was _dispantheonized_; and, by means of +quick-lime, his canonized bones were confounded with the dust. +This apotheosis will ever be a blot in the page of the history of +the revolution. + +However, it operated as a check on the inconsiderate zeal of +hot-brained patriots in bestowing the honours of the Pantheon on +the undeserving. MIRABEAU was, consequently, _dispantheonized_; and, +in all probability, this temple will, in future, be reserved for the +ashes of men truly great; legislators whose eminent talents and +virtues have benefited their fellow-citizens, or warriors, who, by +distinguishing themselves in their country's cause, have really +merited that country's gratitude. + +The interior of this temple consists of four naves, in whose centre +rises an elegant dome, which, it is said, is to be painted in fresco +by DAVID. The naves are decorated by one hundred and thirty fluted +pillars, also of the Corinthian order, supporting an entablature, +which serves as a base for lofty _tribunes_, bordered by stone +balustrades. These pillars are three feet and a half in diameter by +nearly twenty-eight feet in height. + +The inside of the dome is incircled by sixteen Corinthian pillars, +standing at an equal distance, and lighted by glazed apertures in +part of the intercolumniations. They support a cupola, in the centre +of which is an opening, crowned by another cupola of much more +considerable elevation. + +To survey the interior of the Pantheon, in its present state, is +rather a matter of eager curiosity than of pleasing enjoyment. The +precautions taken to prevent the fall of the whole building, which +was apprehended from the almost tottering state of the dome, have +necessitated the erection of such a quantity of scaffolding, that it +is no easy task to gain an uninterrupted view of its majestic +pillars, of the delicate and light foliage of its capitals, and of +its proud and triple canopy. I mounted the ladders, and braved the +dust of stone and plaster, amidst the echoing sound of saws, chisels, +and mallets, at work in different directions. + +Mercier is said to have offended several of the partisans of Voltaire +by observing that, through a strange inconsistency, the constant +flatterer not only of royalty in general, but of kings in particular, +and of all the great men and vices of the age in which he lived, here +shares the gratitude of a republic with the _man of nature and +truth_, as Jean-Jacques is styled on his sepulchral monument. Thus, +in the first instance, says he, a temple, consecrated to stern +republican virtue, contains the remains of a great poet who could not +strike superstition, without wounding morals.--Unquestionably, the +_Pucelle_ is a work, which, like a blight on a promising crop, has +committed incalculable ravage among the rising generation. +Notwithstanding the numerous inscriptions which now adorn the tomb of +Voltaire, perhaps, at some future distant period, he may experience +the fate of Mirabeau, and be _dispantheonized_. + +But why meddle with the cold remains of any great genius? Would it +not have been more rational to inscribe the name of Rousseau in this +national temple, and leave his corpse to rot undisturbed, in the _Ile +des Peupliers_, at Ermenonville. + +Though circumstances prevented me from ascending to the dome, you +will, no doubt, expect me to say something of its exterior +architecture. It represents a circular temple, formed by thirty-four +pillars, like those of the interior, of the Corinthian order, and +each, base and capital included, thirty-four feet in height by three +feet and one third in diameter. This colonnade is supported by a +circular stylobate, which rests on an octagon base, and is surrounded +by a gallery, bordered by an iron balustrade. The cupola, rising +above the attic, would appear crushed, were not a stranger apprised +that the pedestal on the top is to be surmounted by a bronze figure +of Fame, twenty-eight feet in height, and weighing fifty-two thousand +pounds. The pedestal is encircled by a second gallery at an elevation +of one hundred and sixty-six feet, to reach which you ascend a flight +of four hundred and sixty stone steps. As the Pantheon itself stands +on a considerable eminence, the prospect from this gallery is +extensive and commanding. + +This sumptuous edifice may truly be said to exhibit a monument of the +weakness of man. Like him, before arrived at maturity, it is attacked +by indisposition. The architects, like so many physicians, were not +for some time agreed as to the seat of the evil. Each proposed his +means of cure as the most infallible; But all coincided in one +opinion, that the danger was imminent. Their skill has been exerted, +and, no doubt, with effect; for all apprehension of further mischief +is now removed. + +When I was taking a last look at this proud temple, I could not help +regretting that one half of the money already expended on it, had not +been appropriated to the erection of airy hospitals in the different +quarters of this populous city. Any one who had formerly visited the +_Hôtel-Dieu_ in Paris would, I am confident, have participated in +this sentiment. + +What strange fatality impels men to persevere in such unprofitable +erections? This was the first question which suggested itself to me, +on getting fairly out of the Pantheon. Is it to gratify an excess of +national vanity, or create a superior degree of admiration in the +mind of foreigners? If so, the aim is missed: for, as majesty, fallen +from the pinnacle of power, becomes more interesting, so do ruins +inspire greater veneration than the most pompous structure, towering +in the splendour of its perfection. Experience tells us that every +truncated pillar, every remnant, in short, of past grandeur, rouses +attention, and speaks home to the contemplative mind; while these +modern edifices, however firmly erect on their base, excite, +comparatively speaking, but a feeble interest. In future ages, +perhaps, when the Pantheon of Paris shall be prostrate on the ground, +and the wreck of its stately dome be overrun with moss and ivy, it +may, probably, attract as much notice as the far-tamed temple of +Jupiter-Ammon. + +P.S. On the evening of the 8th, BONAPARTE left Paris for Lyons, where +TALLEYRAND, Minister for foreign affairs, has been for some days +preparing for the great event which is expected to take place. When a +public measure is in agitation, the result is generally anticipated +by the eagerness of mankind; and whispers the least audible are +magnified into authentic information. Those even who may be presumed +to derive their intelligence from the best sources, not unfrequently +misconceive what they have heard, and consequently mislead others. I +will not, however, mislead you, by repeating any of the rumours in +circulation here: in a short time, the _Moniteur_ will, no doubt, +explain the real object of this journey. + + + +LETTER XLIX. + +_Paris, January 12,1802._ + +As no city in Europe presents so many advantages as this for the +cultivation of literature, arts, and sciences, it is not surprising +that it should contain great numbers of literati, artists, and men of +science, who form themselves into different associations. +Independently of the National Institute, Paris can boast of several +other + +SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. + +The following are the names of those held in most esteem. + +SOCIÉTÉ PHILOTECHNIQUE. +SOCIÉTÉ LIBRE DES SCIENCES, LETTRES, ET ARTS. +ATHÉNÉE (_ci-devant_ LYCÉE) DES ARTS. +SOCIÉTÉ PHILOMATIQUE. +SOCIÉTÉ ACADÉMIQUE DES SCIENCES. +SOCIÉTÉ GALVANIQUE. +SOCIÉTÉ DES BELLES-LETTRES. +ACADÉMIE DE LÉGISLATION. +OBSERVATEURS DE L'HOMME. +ATHÉNÉE DE PARIS, _ci-devant_ LYCÉE RÉPUBLICAIN. + +Though, in all these societies, you may meet with a great number of +estimable men, many of whose names may be found in the major part of +them, yet that which holds the first rank in the public esteem, as +well from the respectability of the members of whom it is composed, +as from the proofs of talents which are necessary in order to be +admitted into it, is the + +SOCIÉTÉ PHILOTECHNIQUE. + +Indeed, almost all its members are men whose works hove rendered them +celebrated throughout Europe. Hitherto, with the exception of the +National Institute, this is the only society to which the government +has granted the honour of receiving it as a body, or by deputation, +on solemn occasions; and by that alone, it has _nationalized_, at +least tacitly, its institution. It is also the only one which, to the +present moment, has preserved the right of holding its public and +private sittings in the _Louvre_, since that palace has been ordered +to be wholly evacuated. A report has been spread that the hall of the +_ci-devant_ French Academy is destined for it; but as yet nothing is +determined in this respect. + +Its number is confined to sixty resident members, and twenty free +associates or veterans. It is necessary to have been ten years among +the resident members, in order to have a right to be admitted into +the number of the twenty free associates, who enjoy prerogatives, +without being bound to take a part in the labours of the society. +This favour, however, may be granted to those who are for a time +called from Paris by public functions, such as embassies, +prefectures, &c. + +This society meets on the 2nd, 12th and 22nd of every month at seven +o'clock in the evening. Its various committees have their particular +days for assembling. Its officers consist of a President, a +Vice-President, a general and perpetual Secretary, a temporary +Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Keeper of the records. + +It holds its public sittings at noon on the last Sunday of the second +month of every _trimestre_, or quarter of the republican year, +namely, Brumaire, Pluviôse, Floréal, and Thermidor. + +It is composed of men of science, literati, and artists; but, +resembling a family rather than a society, its principles of +friendship admit of no classes. On the 19th of every month, it +celebrates its foundation by an entertainment, at which its members +have the liberty of introducing their friends. + +It reckons among its members, in the Sciences, LACÉPÈDE, FOURCROY, +CUVIER, GEOFFROY, ROTROU, RUEL, LE CLERC, GAUTHEROT, GINGEMBRE, &c. + +In Literature, BOUFFLERS, LEGOUVÉ, ANDRIEUX, JOSEPH LAVALLÉE, MARIUS +ARNAUD, SICARD, GUILLARD, GUICHARD, FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHÂTEAU, +MARGOURIT, RENAUD DE ST. JEAN-D'ANGELY, AMAURY and ALEXANDRE DUVAL, +SAY, DESPRÉS, MARSOLIER, BROUSSE, DES FAUCHERETS, PIGAULT LE BRUN, +POUGENS, FRAMERY, COLIN D'HARLEVILLE, LA CHABEAUSSIÈRE, &c. + +In the Arts, viz. Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, +Declamation, and Dancing, REGNAULT, VALENCIENNES, SILVESTRE the +Father, BARBIER the elder, BARTHELEMY, SAUVAGE, LETHIERS, PAJOU, +CHAUDET, NORRY, LEGRAND, BIENAIMÉ, DECOTTE, director of the medals, +FOUBERT, honorary administrator of the Central Museum, LA RIVE the +tragedian, GOSSEC, MARTINI, LE SUEUR, GAVAUX, KALKBRUMER, ADRIEN the +elder, GARDEL, &c. + +The general and perpetual Secretary is JOSEPH LAVALLÉE. + +SOCIÉTÉ, LIBRE DES. SCIENCES, LETTRES, ET ARTS. + +It is composed of the junction of the old _Museum of Paris_ and of +the Society called that of the _Nine Sisters_. It is divided into +classes, is unlimited in the number of its members, admits associated +correspondents and foreigners, holds its private sittings at the +_Oratoire_ in the _Rue St. Honoré_, every Thursday, and its public +ones at six o'clock in the evening on the 9th of the first months of +the _trimestre_; namely, Vendémiaire, Nivôse, Germinal, and Messidor. +Its officers consist of a President, taken alternately from the three +classes, of two temporary Secretaries, a Treasurer, and a Keeper of +the records. + +This Society is modelled a little too much after the Institute, and +it is easy to see that the former aims at rivaling the latter. This +_esprit de corps_, which cannot well be perceived but by nice +observers, has this advantage; it inspires a sort of emulation. But +the society having neglected to limit the number of its members, and +having thereby deprived itself of the means of appearing difficult as +to admission, it thence results that its labours are not equally +stamped with the impression of real talent; and if, in fact, it be +ambitious, that is a great obstacle to its views. + +ATHENÉE (_ci-devant_ LYCÉE) DES ARTS.[1] + +In imitation of our Royal Society, it comprises not only the +sciences, literature, and the arts, but also arts and trades, +mechanics, inventions, &c. Its members are not idle, and they are a +useful body, as they excite emulation by medals, civic crowns, +premiums, and rewards. Their number is considerable and unlimited; a +condition which is an evil in the last-mentioned society, and a good +in this, whose nature is not so much to shine as to encourage +industry. + +It was for a while in disrepute, because DESAUDRAY, the director who +founded it, exercised over it a tyrannic sway; it has succeeded in +getting rid of him, and, since then, several persons of merit, who +had before kept aloof, aspire to the honour of being admitted into +it. + +For some time past it has adopted a custom, too obsequious and +absurd, of choosing none but ministers for its Presidents. By this, +it exposes its liberty and its opinion, and gives itself chains, the +weight of which it will feel some day, when too late to shake them +off. + +It holds its general sittings at the _Oratoire_ every Monday, when it +hears the reports of its numerous committees, who have their +particular days for meeting. Its public sittings are held at the same +place, but at no fixed periods. + +Its officers consist of a President, a Vice-President, two +Secretaries, three Conservators, a Treasurer, and a Keeper of the +records. + +It has associated correspondents throughout Europe. + +SOCIÉTÉ PHILOMATIQUE. + +It is wholly devoted to natural, physical, and mathematical sciences. +It assembles on Fridays, in the _Rue d'Anjou_, _Faubourg St. +Germain_. It has no public sittings; but is merely a private meeting +of men of learning, who publish once a month a _bulletin_ very +important to the sciences, and to be commended, besides, for its +composition, perspicuity, and conciseness. This publication is of a +4to size, consists of a single sheet of print, and has for its title +_Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomatique_. + +SOCIÉTÉ ACADÉMIQUE DES SCIENCES. + +This Society is recently formed: It employs itself on the Sciences +only; has not yet held any public sittings, nor published any +memoirs. Consequently, nothing can yet be said of its labours, or +interior regulation. + +SOCIÉTÉ GALVANIQUE. + +Its name indicates the sole object of its labours. It is newly +formed, and composed of men eminently distinguished in Medicine and +Physics. It has called in a few literati. Its officers are the same +in the other Societies. It holds its sittings at the _Oratoire_ every +Tuesday at eleven o'clock in the morning. Its labours are pursued +with ardour and it has already made several important experiments. It +announces zeal, and talents, as well as-great defects, and aspires to +fame, perhaps, a little too much; but it may still maintain its +ground. + +SOCIÉTÉ DES BELLES-LETTRES. + +It is somewhat frivolous. Public sittings every month. Half poetry, +half music. It meets at the _Oratoire_ every Wednesday at seven +o'clock in the evening. It arose from a small emigration of the +_Lycée des Arts_, at this day _l'Athénée_, during the tyranny of +DESAUDRAY, and originally bore the title of _Rosati_. A few men of +merit, a great number of youths, and some useless members. Too many +futile readings, too many fugitive verses, too many little +rivalships. It is faulty on account of its regulations, the basis of +which is weak, and it exhibits too much parsimony in its expenses. It +has not enough of that public consideration which perpetuates +establishments of this description. Under such circumstances, it is +to be apprehended that it will not support itself. + +ACADÉMIE DE LÉGISLATION. + +This is a fine institution, recently founded. It is composed of the +most celebrated lawyers, and a few distinguished literati. It meets +on the first of every month, gives every day courses of lectures on +all the branches of jurisprudence to a great number of pupils; has +established conferences, where these pupils form themselves to the +art of speaking, by pleading on given points of law. It publishes two +periodical works every month, the one entitled, _Bulletin de +Jurisprudence_ and the other, _Annales de Jurisprudence._ The +preliminary discourse of the first volume of the latter is by JOSEPH +LAVALLÉE, and has done him considerable credit. He is, however, a +literary character, and not a lawyer. + +This academy has officers of the same description as those of the +other Societies. Senator LANJUINAIS is the President at this moment. +It occupies the _Hôtel de la Briffe_, _Quai Voltaire_. + +SOCIÉTÉ DES OBSERVATEURS DE L'HOMME. + +It assembles at the _Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld_, _Rue de Seine_, +_Faubourg St. Germain,_ and is composed of very estimable men. Its +labours, readings, and discussions are too metaphysical. In point of +officers, it is formed like the other Societies. Citizen JUAFFRET is +perpetual Secretary. + +ATHÉNÉE DE PARIS, _ci-devant_ LYCÉE RÉPUBLICAIN. + +This society has survived the revolutionary storm, having been +established as far back as the year 1787. According to the +_programme_ published for the present year 1802, its object is to +propagate the culture of the sciences and literature; to make known +the useful improvements in the arts; to afford pleasure to persons of +all ages, by presenting to every one such attractions as may suit his +taste, and to unite in literary conferences the charms of the mildest +of human occupations. + +To strangers, the _Athénée_ holds out many advantages. On being +presented by one of the founders or a subscriber, and paying the +annual subscription of 96 francs, you receive an admission-ticket, +which, however, is not transferrable. This entitles you to attend +several courses of lectures by some of the most eminent professors, +such as FOURCROY, CUVIER, LA HARPE, DÉGÉRANDO, SUË, HASSENFRATZ, +LEGRAND, &c. The subjects for the year are as follows: + +Experimental Physics, Chymistry, Natural History, Anatomy and +Physiology, Botany, Technology or the application of sciences to arts +and trades, Literature, Moral Philosophy, Architecture, together with +the English, Italian, and German languages. + +The lectures are always delivered twice, and not unfrequently thrice +a day, in a commodious room, provided with all the apparatus +necessary for experiments. On a Sunday, an account of the order in +which they are to be given in the course of the following week, is +sent to every subscriber. There is no half-subscription, nor any +admission _gratis_; but ladies pay no more than 48 francs for their +annual ticket. + +Independently of so many sources of instruction, the _Athénée_, as is +expressed in the _programme_, really affords to subscribers the +resources and charms of a numerous and select society. The +apartments, which are situated near the _Palais du Tribunat_, in the +_Rue du Lycée_, are open to them from nine o'clock in the morning to +eleven at night. Several rooms are appropriated to conversation; one +of which, provided with a piano-forte and music, serves as a +rendezvous for the ladies. The subscribers have free access to the +library, where they find the principal literary and political +journals and papers, both French and others, as well as every new +publication of importance. A particular room, in which silence is +duly observed, is set apart for reading. + +[Footnote 1: This Society has laid aside the title of _Lyceum_ since +the decree of the government, which declares that this denomination +is to be applied only to the establishments for public instruction.] + + + +LETTER L. + +_Paris, January 13, 1802._ + +I have spoken to you of palaces, museum, churches, bridges, public +gardens, playhouses, &c. as they have chanced to fall under my +observation; but there still remain houses of more than one +description which I have not yet noticed, though they are certainly +more numerous here than in any other city in Europe. I shall now +speak of + +COFFEEHOUSES. + +Their number in Paris has been reckoned to exceed seven hundred; but +they are very far from enjoying a comparative degree of reputation. +Celebrity is said to be confined to about a dozen only, which have +risen into superior consequence from various causes. Except a few +resorted to by the literati or wits of the day, or by military +officers, they are, in general, the rendezvous of the idle, and the +refuge of the needy. This is so true, that a frequenter of a +coffeehouse scarcely ever lights a fire in his own lodging during the +whole winter. No sooner has he quitted his bed, and equipped himself +for the day, than he repairs to his accustomed haunt, where he +arrives about ten o'clock in the morning, and remains till eleven at +night, the hour at which coffeehouses are shut up, according to the +regulation of the police. Not unfrequently persons of this +description make a cup of coffee, mixed with milk, with the addition +of a penny-roll, serve for dinner; and, be their merit what it may, +they are seldom so fortunate as to be consoled by the offer of a rich +man's table. + +Here, no person who wishes to be respected, thinks of lounging in a +coffeehouse, because it not only shews him to be at a loss to spend +his time, which may fairly be construed into a deficiency of +education or knowledge, but also implies an absolute want of +acquaintance with what is termed good company. Certain it is that, +with the exceptions before-mentioned, a stranger must not look for +good company in a coffee-house in Paris; if he does, he will find +himself egregiously disappointed. + +Having occasion to see an advertisement in an English newspaper, I +went a few evenings ago to one of the most distinguished places of +this sort in the _Palais du Tribunat_: the room was extremely +crowded. In five minutes, one of the company whom I had seen taking +out his watch on my entrance, missed it; and though many of the +by-standers afterwards said they had no doubt that a person of +gentlemanly exterior, who stood near him, had taken it, still it +would have been useless to charge that person with the fact, as the +watch had instantly gone through many hands, and the supposed +accomplices had been observed to decamp with uncommon expedition. +What diverted me not a little, was that the person suspected coolly +descanted on the imprudence of taking out a valuable watch in a crowd +of strangers; and, after declaiming the most virulent terms against +the dishonesty of mankind; he walked away very quietly. +Notwithstanding his appearance and manner were so much in his favour, +he had no sooner affected his retreat than some subalterns of the +police, not thief-takers, but _mouchards_ or spies, some of whom are +to be met with in every principal coffeehouse, cautioned the master +of the house against suffering his presence in future, as he was a +notorious adventurer. + +You must not, however, imagine from this incident, that a man cannot +enter a coffeehouse in Paris, without being a sufferer from the +depredations of the nimble-fingered gentry. Such instances are not, I +believe, very frequent here; and though it is universally allowed +that this capital abounds with adventurers and pickpockets of every +description, I am of opinion that there is far less danger to be +apprehended from them than from their archetypes in London. Everyone +knows that, in our refined metropolis, a lady of fashion cannot give +a ball or a rout, without engaging Mr. Townsend, or some other Bow +street officer, to attend in her ball, in order that his presence may +operate as a check on the audacity of knavish intruders. + +The principle coffeehouses here are fitted up with taste and +elegance. Large mirrors form no inconsiderable part of their +decoration. There are no partitions to divide them into boxes. The +tables are of marble; the benches and stools are covered with Utrecht +velvet. In winter, an equal degree of warmth is preserved in them by +means of a large stove in the centre, which, from its figure, is an +ornamental piece of furniture; while, in summer, the draught of air +which it maintains, contributes not a little to cool the room. In the +evening, they are lighted by _quinquets_ in a brilliant manner. + +Formerly, every coffeehouse in Paris used to have its chief orator; +in those of the more remote part of the suburbs you might, I am +informed, hear a journeyman tailor or shoemaker hold forth on various +topics. With the revolution, politics were introduced; but, at the +present day, that is a subject which seems to be entirely out of the +question. + +In some coffeehouses, where literati and critics assemble, authors +and their works are passed in review, and to each is assigned his +rank and estimation. When one of these happens to have been checked +in his dramatic career by an _undiscerning_ public, he becomes, in +his turn, the most merciless of critics. + +In many of these places, the "busy hum" is extremely tiresome; +German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Russ, together with English +and French, all spoken at the same time and in the same room, make a +confusion of tongues as great almost as that which reigned at Babel. +In addition to the French newspapers, those of England and Germany +may be read; but as they are often bespoke by half a dozen persons in +succession, it requires no small degree of patience to wait while +these quidnuncs are conning over every paragraph. + +Independently of coffee, tea, and chocolate, ices, punch and liqueurs +may be had in the principal coffeehouses; but nothing in the way of +dinner or supper, except at the subterraneous ones in the _Palais du +Tribunat_, though there are many of a rather inferior order where +substantial breakfasts in the French style are provided. Whether +Voltaire's idea be just, that coffee clears the brain, and stimulates +the genius, I will not pretend to determine: but if this be really +the case, it is no wonder that the French are so lively and full of +invention; for coffee is an article of which they make an uncommon +consumption. Indeed, if Fame may be credited, the prior of a +monastery in Arabia, on the word of a shepherd who had remarked that +his goats were particularly frisky when they had eaten the berries of +the coffee-tree, first made a trial of their virtue on the monks of +his convent, in order to prevent them from sleeping during divine +service. + +Be this as it may, Soliman Aga, ambassador of the Porte to Lewis XIV, +in 1669, was the first who introduced the use of coffee in Paris. +During a residence of ten years in the French capital, he had +conciliated the friendship of many persons of distinction, and the +ladies in particular took a pleasure in visiting him. According to +the custom of his country, he presented them with coffee; and this +beverage, however disgusting from its colour and bitterness, was well +received, because it was offered by a foreigner, in beautiful china +cups, on napkins ornamented with gold fringe. On leaving the +ambassador's parties, each of the guests, in the enthusiasm of +novelty, cried up coffee, and took means to procure it. A few years +after, (in 1672) one Paschal, an Armenian, first opened, at the +_Foire St. Germain_, and, afterwards on the _Quai de l'École_, a shop +similar to those which he had seen in the Levant, and called his new +establishment _café_. Other Levantines followed his example; but, to +fix the fickle Parisian, required a coffeeroom handsomely decorated. +PROCOPE acted on this plan, and his house was successively frequented +by Voltaire, Piron, Fontenelle, and St. Foix. + +As drinking, which was then in vogue, was pursued less on account of +the pleasure which it afforded, than for the sake of society, the +French made no hesitation in deserting the tavern for the +coffeehouse. But, in making this exchange, it has been remarked, by +the observers of the day, that they have not only lost their taste +for conviviality, but are become more reserved and insincere than +their forefathers, whose hearts expanded by the free use of the +generous juice of the grape; thus verifying the old maxim, _in vino +veritas._ + +No small attraction to a Parisian coffeehouse is a pretty female to +preside in the bar, and in a few I have seen very handsome women; +though this post is commonly assigned to the mistress or some +confidential female relation. Beset as they are from morn to night by +an endless variety of flatterers, the virtue of a Lucretia could +scarcely resist such incessant temptation. In general, they are +coquetish; but, without coquetry, would they be deemed qualified for +their employment? + +Before the revolution, I remember, in the _ci-devant Palais Royal_, a +coffeehouse called _Le café mécanique_. The mechanical contrivance, +whence it derived its name, was of the most simple nature. The tables +stood on hollow cylinders, the tops of which, resembling a salver +with its border, were level with the plane of the table, but +connected with the kitchen underneath. In the bar sat a fine, showy +lady, who repeated your order to the attendants below, by means of a +speaking-trumpet. Presently the superficial part of the salver, +descended through the cylinder, and reascending immediately, the +article called for made its appearance. This _café méchanique_ did +not long remain in being, as it was not found to answer the +expectation of the projector. But besides six or seven coffeehouses +on the ground-floor of the _Palais du Tribunat_, there are also +several subterraneous ones now open. + +In one of these, near the _Théâtre Français,_ is a little stage, on +which farces, composed for the purpose, are represented _gratis_. In +another, is an orchestra consisting entirely of performers belonging +to the National Institution of the Blind. In a third, on the north +side of the garden, are a set of musicians, both vocal and +instrumental, who apparently never tire; for I am told they never +cease to play and sing, except to retune their instruments. Here a +female now and then entertains the company with a solo on the French +horn. To complete the sweet melody, a merry-andrew habited _à la +sauvage_, "struts his hour" on a place about six feet in length, and +performs a thousand ridiculous antics, at the same time flogging and +beating alternately a large drum, the thunder-like sound of which is +almost loud enough to give every auditor's brain a momentary +concussion. + +A fourth subterraneous coffeehouse in the _Palais du Tribunat_ is +kept by a ventriloquist, and here many a party are amused by one of +their number being repeatedly led into a mistake, in consequence of +being ignorant of the faculty possessed by the master of the house. +This man seems to have no small share of humour, and exercises it +apparently much to his advantage. In three visits which I paid to his +cellar, the crowd was so great that it was extremely difficult to +approach the scene of action, so as to be able to enjoy the effect of +his ludicrous deceptions. + +A friend of mine, well acquainted with the proper time for visiting +every place of public resort in Paris, conducted me to all these +subterraneous coffeehouses on a Sunday evening, when they were so +full that we had some difficulty to find room to stand, for to find a +seat was quite impossible. Such a diversity of character I never +before witnessed in the compass of so small a space. However, all was +mirth and good-humour. I know not how they contrive to keep these +places cool in summer; for, in the depth of winter, a more than +genial warmth prevails in them, arising from the confined breath of +such a concourse. On approaching the stair-case, if the orchestra be +silent, the entrance of these regions of harmony is announced by a +heat which can be compared only to the true Sirocco blast such as you +have experienced at Naples. + + + +LETTER LI. + +_Paris, January 15, 1802._ + +As after one of those awful and violent convulsions of nature which +rend the bosom of the earth, and overthrow the edifices standing on +its surface, men gradually repair the mischief it has occasioned, so +the French, on the ruins of the ancient colleges and universities, +which fell in the shock of the revolution, have from time to time +reared new seminaries of learning, and endeavoured to organize, on a +more liberal and patriotic scale, institutions for + +PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. + +The vast field which the organization of public instruction presents +to the imagination has, as may be, supposed, given birth to a great +number of systems more or less practicable; but, hitherto, it should +seem that political oscillations have imprinted on all the new +institutions a character of weakness which, if it did not absolutely +threaten speedy ruin, announced at least that they would not be +lasting. When the germs of discord prevailed, it was not likely that +men's minds should be in that tranquil state necessary for the +reestablishment of public seminaries, to lay the foundations of +which, in a solid and durable manner, required the calm of peace and +the forgetfulness of misfortune. + +After the suppression of the colleges and universities existing under +the monarchy, and to which the _Collège de France_ in Paris is the +sole exception, the National Convention, by a decree of the 24th of +Nivôse, year III (14th of January 1795) established _Normal_ Schools +throughout the Republic. Professors and teachers were appointed to +them; and it was intended that, in these nurseries, youth should be +prepared for the higher schools, according to the new plan of +instruction. However, in less than a year, these _Normal_ Schools +were shut up; and, by a law of the 3d of Brumaire, year IV (25th of +October, 1796) Primary, Secondary, and Central Schools were ordered +to be established in every department. + +In the Primary Schools, reading, writing, and arithmetic formed the +chief part of the instruction. Owing to various causes, the Secondary +Schools, I understand, were never established. In the Central +Schools, the internal regulation was to be as follows. + +The whole of the instruction was divided into three classes or +sections. In the first, were taught drawing, natural history, and +ancient and modern languages. In the second, mathematics, physics, +and chymistry. In the third, universal grammar, the fine arts, +history, and legislation. Into the first class the pupils were to be +received at the age of twelve; into the second, at fourteen; and into +the third, at sixteen. In each Central School were to be a public +library, a botanic garden, and an apparatus of chymical and physical +instruments. The professors were to be examined and chosen by a _Jury +of Instruction_, and that choice confirmed by the administration of +the department. + +The government, in turning its attention to the present state of the +public schools, and comparing them with the wants and wishes of the +inhabitants of the Republic, has found that the Primary Schools have +been greatly neglected, and that the Central Schools have not been of +so much utility as was expected. Alarmed at the consequences likely +to be produced by a state of things which leaves a great part of the +present generation destitute of the first rudiments of knowledge, the +government has felt that the reorganization of these schools is +become an urgent duty, and that it is impossible to delay longer to +carry it into execution. + +The _Special_ Schools of Arts and Sciences are mostly confined to +Paris. The other rich and populous cities of the Republic have +undoubtedly a claim to similar institutions. There is at present no +School of Jurisprudence, and but one of Medicine. + +The celebrated FOURCROY[1] has been some time engaged in drawing up a +plan for the improvement of public instruction. In seeking a new mode +of teaching appropriate to the present state of knowledge and to the +genius of the French nation, he has thought it necessary to depart +from the beaten track. Enlightened by the past, he has rejected the +ancient forms of the universities, whose philosophy and acquirements, +for half a century past, called for reformation, and no longer kept +pace with the progress of reason. In the Central Schools he saw +institutions few in number, and too uniformly organized for +departments varying in population, resources, and means. He has, +nevertheless, taken what was good in each of these two systems +successively adopted, and removed their abuses. Without losing sight +of the success due to good masters and skilful professors, he has, +above all, thought of the means of insuring the success of the new +schools by the competition of the scholars. He is of opinion that to +found literary and scientific institutions on a solid basis, it is +necessary to begin by attaching to them pupils, and filling the +classes with students, in order not to run the risk of filling them +with professors. Such is the object which FOURCROY wishes to attain, +by creating a number of national pensions, so considerable that their +funds, when distributed in the Lyceums, may be sufficient for their +support. + +Agreeably to these ideas, the following is said to be the outline of +the new organization of public instruction. It is to be divided into +four classes; viz. Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Lyceums, and +Special Schools. + +PRIMARY SCHOOLS. + +A Primary School may belong to several _communes_ at a time, +according to the population and the locality of these _communes_. + +The teachers are to be chosen by the mayors and municipal councils. + +The under-prefects are to be specially charged with the organization +of these schools, and give an account of their state, once a month, +to the prefects. + +SECONDARY SCHOOLS. + +Every school established in the _commune_ or kept by private +individuals, in which are taught the Latin and French languages, the +first principles of geography, history and mathematics, is to be +considered as a Secondary School. + +The government promises to encourage the establishment of Secondary +Schools, and reward the good instruction that shall be given in them, +either by granting a spot for keeping them, or by the distribution of +gratuitous places in the Lyceums, to such of the pupils as shall have +distinguished themselves most, and by gratifications to the fifty +masters who shall have qualified most pupils for the Lyceums. + +No Secondary School is to be established without the authority of the +government. The Secondary Schools and private schools, whose +instruction is found superior to that of the Primary Schools, are to +be placed under the superintendance and particular inspection of the +prefects. + +LYCEUMS. + +There is to be one Lyceum at least in the district of every tribunal +of appeal. + +Here are to be taught ancient languages, rhetoric, logic, morality, +and the elements of the mathematical and physical sciences. To these +are to be added drawing, military exercises and the agreeable arts. + +Instruction is to be given to the pupils placed here by the +government, to those of the Secondary Schools admitted through +competition, to those whose parents may put them here as boarders, +and also to day-scholars. + +In each Lyceum is to be a director, who is to have immediately under +him a censor of studies, and an administrator who are all to be +nominated by the First Consul. + +In the former institutions, which are to be replaced by these new +ones, a vigilant eye was not constantly kept on the state of the +schools themselves, nor on that of the studies pursued in them. +According to the new plan, three inspectors-general, appointed by the +First Consul, are to visit them carefully, and report to the +government their situation, success, and defects. This new +supervisorship is to be, as it were, the key-stone of the arch, and +to keep all the parts connected. + +The fourth and highest degree of public instruction is to be acquired +in the + +SPECIAL SCHOOLS. + +This is the name to be applied to those of the upper schools, where +are particularly taught, and in the most profound manner, the useful +sciences, jurisprudence, medicine, natural history, &c. But schools +of this kind must not be confounded with the Schools for Engineers, +Artillery, Bridges and Highways, Hydrography, &c. which, _special_ as +they are essentially, in proportion to the sciences particularly +taught in them, are better described, however, by the name of +_Schools for Public Services_, on account of the immediate utility +derived from them by the government. + +In addition to the _Special_ Schools now in existence, which are to +be kept up, new ones are to be established in the following +proportion: + +Ten Schools of Jurisprudence. These useful institutions, which have +been abolished during the last ten years, are, by a new organization, +to resume the importance that they had lost long before the +revolution. The pupils are to be examined in a manner more certain +for determining their capacity, and better calculated for securing +the degree of confidence to be reposed in those men to whose +knowledge and integrity individuals are sometimes forced to intrust +their character and fortune. + +Three new Schools of Medicine, in addition to the three at present in +being. These also are to be newly organized in the most perfect +manner. + +The mathematical and physical sciences have made too great a progress +in France, their application to the useful arts, to the public +service, and to the general prosperity, has been too direct, says +FOURCROY, for it not to be necessary to diffuse the taste for them, +and to open new asylums where the advantages resulting from them may +be extended, and their progress promoted. There are therefore to be +four new _Special_ Schools of Natural History, Physics, and +Chymistry, and also a _Special_ School devoted to transcendent +Mathematics. + +The mechanical and chymical arts, so long taught in several +universities in Germany under the name of _technology_, are to have +two _Special_ Schools, placed in the cities most rich in industry and +manufactures. These schools, generally wished for, are intended to +contribute to the national prosperity by the new methods which they +will make known, the new instruments and processes which they will +bring into use, the good models of machines which they will +introduce, in a word, by every means that mechanics and chymistry can +furnish to the arts. + +A School of Public Economy, enlightened by Geography and History, is +to be opened for those who may be desirous to investigate the +principles of governments, and the art of ascertaining their +respective interests. In this school it is proposed to unite such an +assemblage of knowledge as has not yet existed in France. + +To the three principal schools of the arts dependent on design, which +are at present open, is to be added a fourth, become necessary since +those arts bring back to France the pure taste of the beautiful +forms, of which Greece has left such perfect models. + +In each of the observatories now in use is to be a professor of +astronomy, and the art of navigation is expected to derive new +succour from these schools, most of which are placed in the principal +sea-ports. A knowledge of the heavens and the study of the movements +of the celestial bodies, which every year receives very remarkable +augmentations from the united efforts of the most renowned +geometricians and the most indefatigable observers, may have a great +influence on the progress of civilization. On which account the +French government is extremely eager to promote the science of +astronomy. + +The language of neighbouring nations, with whom the French have such +frequent intercourse, is to be taught in several Lyceums, as being a +useful introduction to commerce. + +The art of war, of which modern times have given such great examples +and such brilliant lessons, is to have its _special_ school, and this +school, on the plan which it is intended to be established by +receiving as soldiers youths from the Lyceums, will form for the +French armies officers equally skilful in theory as in practice. + +This new Military School must not be confounded with the old _école +militaire_. Independently of its not being destined for a particular +class, which no longer exists in this country, the mode of +instruction to be introduced there will render it totally different +from the establishment which bore the same name. + +It is to be composed of five hundred pupils, forming a battalion, and +who are to be accustomed to military duty and discipline; it is to +have at least ten professors, charged to teach all the theoretical, +practical, and administrative parts of the art of war, as well as the +history of wars and of great captains. + +Of the five hundred pupils of the Special Military School, two +hundred are to be taken from among the national pupils of the +Lyceums, in proportion to their number in each of those schools, and +three hundred from among the boarders and day-scholars, according to +the examination which they must undergo at the end of their studies. +Every year one hundred of the former are to be admitted, and two +hundred of the latter. They are to be maintained two years in the +Special Military School, at the expense of the Republic. These two +years are to be considered as part of their military service. + +According to the report made of the behaviour and talents of the +pupils of the Military School, the government is to provide them with +appointments in the army. + +NATIONAL PUPILS. + +There are to be maintained at the expense of the Republic six +thousand four hundred pupils, as boarders in the Lyceums and Special +Schools. + +Out of these six thousand four hundred boarders, two thousand four +hundred are to be chosen by the government from among the sons of +officers and public functionaries of the judicial, administrative, or +municipal order, who shall have served the Republic with fidelity, +and for ten years only from among the children of citizens belonging +to the departments united to France, although they have neither been +military men nor public functionaries. + +These two thousand four hundred pupils are to be at least nine years +of age, and able to read and write. + +The other four thousand are to be taken from double the number of +pupils of the Secondary Schools, who, according to an examination +where their talents are put in competition, are to be presented to +the government. + +The pupils, maintained in the Lyceums, are not to remain there more +than six years at the expense of the nation. At the end of their +studies, they are to undergo an examination, after which a fifth of +them are to be placed in the different Special Schools according to +their disposition, in order to be maintained there from two to four +years at the expense of the Republic. + +The annual cost of all these establishments is estimated at near +eight millions of francs, (_circa_ £336,000 sterling) which exceeds +by at least two millions the amount of the charges of the public +instruction for the few preceding years; but this augmentation, which +will only take place by degrees, and at soonest in eighteen months, +appears trifling, compared to the advantages likely to result from +the new system. + +Whenever this plan is carried into execution, what hopes may not +France conceive from the youth of the rising generation, who, chosen +from among those inclined to study, will, in all probability, rise to +every degree of fame! The surest pledge of the success of the measure +seems to consist in the spirit of emulation which is to be +maintained, not only among the pupils, but even among the professors +in the different schools; for emulation, in the career of literature, +arts and sciences, leads to fame, and never fails to turn to the +benefit of society; whereas jealousy, in the road of ambition and +fortune, produces nothing but hatred and discord. + + "Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave, + Is emulation in the learn'd and brave." + +So much for the plan.[2] In your last letter, you desire that I will +afford you some means of appreciating the essential difference +between the old system of education pursued in France, and the basis +on which public instruction is now on the point of being reorganised +and established. You must be sensible that the comparison of the two +modes, were I to enter deeply into the question, would far exceed the +limits of a letter. But, though I have already extended this to a +certain length, I can, in a few more lines, enable you to compare and +judge, by informing you, from the best authority, what has been the +spirit which has dictated the new organization. + +There are very few men who know how to confine themselves within just +bounds. Some yield to the mania of innovation, and imagine that they +create only because they destroy and change. Others bend under the +yoke of old habits. Some, solely because they have remained strangers +to the sciences, would wish that youth should be employed only in the +study of languages and literature. Others who, no doubt, forget that +every learned man, who aims at a solid reputation, ought to sacrifice +to the Muses, before he penetrates into the sanctuary of science, +would wish education to be confined to the study of the exact +sciences, and that youth should be occupied on things, before they +are acquainted with words. + +For the sole reason that the old system of instruction bore too +exclusively on the study of the learned languages, it was to be +feared that the new one, through a contrary excess, would proscribe +the Greek and Latin. The study of these two languages, as FOURCROY +has observed to me, is not merely useful to those who wish to acquire +a thorough knowledge of the French, which has borrowed from them no +small number of words, but it is only from the perusal of the great +writers of antiquity, on whom the best among the moderns have formed +themselves, that we can imbibe the sentiment of the beautiful, the +taste, and the rectitude of mind equally necessary, whether we feel +ourselves attracted towards eloquence or poetry, or raise ourselves +to the highest conceptions of the physical or mathematical sciences. + +At no time can the instruction given to a youth be otherwise +considered than as a preparatory mean, whose object is to anticipate +his taste and disposition, and enable him to enter with more firmness +into the career which he is intended to follow. + +From an attentive perusal of the plan, of which I have traced you the +leading features, you will be convinced that the study of the +sciences will gain by the new system, without that of literature +being in danger of losing. The number of professors is increased, and +yet the period of education is not prolonged. A pupil will always be +at liberty to apply himself more intensely to the branch to which he +is impelled by his particular inclination. He may confine himself to +one course of lectures, or attend to several, according to his +intellectual means. He will not be compelled to stop in his career, +merely because the pupils of his class do not advance. In short, +neither limits nor check have been put to the progress that may be +made by talent. + +I here give you only a principal idea, but the application of it, +improved by your sagacity and knowledge, will be sufficient to answer +all the objections which may be started against the new plan of +instruction, and which, when carefully investigated, may be reduced +to a single one; namely, that literature is sacrificed to the +sciences. + +[Footnote 1: Counsellor of State, now charged with the direction and +superintendance of public instruction.] + +[Footnote 2: The new organization of public instruction was decreed +by the government on the 11th of Floréal, year X.] + + + +LETTER LII. + +_Paris, January 18, 1802._ + +Of all the private lodgings in Paris, none certainly can be more +convenient for the residence of a single man than those of + +MILLINERS. + +I have already said that such is the profession of my landlady. +Whenever I am disposed for a little lively chitchat, I have only to +step to the next door but one into her _magazin de modes_, where, +like a favourite courtier, under the old _régime_, I have both _les +grandes et les petites entrées_, or, in plain English, I may either +introduce myself by the public front entrance, or slip in by the +private back-door. + +Here, twenty damsels are employed in making up head-dresses which are +hourly produced and varied by fashion. Closely confined to the +counter, with a needle in their hand, they are continually throwing +their eyes towards the street. Not a passenger escapes their notice. +The place the nearest to the window is in the greatest request, as +being most favourable for catching the transient homages of the +crowds of men continually passing and repassing. It is generally +occupied by the beauty of the _magazin_ or warehouse; for it would be +resented as an almost unpardonable offence to term this emporium of +taste a _boutique_ or shop. + +Before each of them is a block, on which they form and adjust the +gallant trophy destined to heighten the loveliness of some ambitious +fair who has set her heart on surpassing all her rivals at an +approaching ball. Montesquieu observes, in his Persian letters, that +"if a lady has taken it into her head to appear at an assembly in a +particular dress, from that moment fifty persons of the working class +must no longer sleep, or have time to eat and drink. She commands, +and is obeyed more expeditiously than the king of Persia, because +interest has greater sway than the most powerful monarch on earth." + +In the morning, some of these damsels wait on the ladies with +bandboxes of millinery. Obliged by their profession to adorn the +heads of other women, they must stifle the secret jealousy of their +sex, and contribute to set off the person of those who not +unfrequently treat them with hauteur. However, they are now and then +amply revenged: sometimes the proud rich lady is eclipsed by the +humble little milliner. The unadorned beauty of the latter destroys +the made up charms of the coquette: 'tis the triumph of nature over +art. + +If, perchance, the lover drops in, fatal consequences ensue. His +belle cannot but lose by the comparison: her complexion appears still +more artificial beside the natural bloom of the youthful _marchande_. + +In a word, the silent admirer all at once becomes faithless. + +Many a young Parisian milliner has made a jump from behind the +counter into a fashionable carriage, even into that of an English +peer. Strange revolution of fortune! In the course of a few days, she +returns to the same shop to make purchases, holding high her head; +and exulting in her success. Her former mistress, sacrificing her +rage to her interest, assumes a forced complaisance; while her +once-dear companions are ready to burst with envy. + +Millinery here constitutes a very extensive branch of trade. Nothing +short of the creative genius of the French could contrive to give, +again and again, a new form to things the most common. In vain do +females of other countries attempt to vie with them; in articles of +tasteful fancy they still remain unrivaled. + +From Paris, these studious mistresses of invention give laws to the +polished world. After passing to London, Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna, +their models of fashion are disseminated all over Europe. These +models alike travel to the banks of the Neva and the shores of the +Propontis. At Constantinople, they find their way into the seraglio +of the Grand Signior; while, at Petersburg, they are servilely copied +to grace the Empress of Russia. Thus, the fold given to a piece of +muslin or velvet, the form impressed on a ribband, by the hand of an +ingenious French milliner, is repeated among all nations. + +A fashion here does not last a week, before it is succeeded by +another novelty; for a French woman of _bon ton_, instead of wearing +what is commonly worn by others, always aims at appearing in +something new. It is unfortunately too true, that the changeableness +of taste and inconstancy of fashion in France furnish an aliment to +the luxury of other countries; but the principle of this +communication is in the luxury of this gay and volatile people. + +You reproach me with being silent respecting the _bals masqués_ or +masquerades, mentioned in my enumeration of the amusements of Paris. +The fact is that a description of them will scarcely furnish matter +for a few lines, still less a subject for a letter. However, in +compliance with custom, I have been more than once to the + +BAL DE L'OPÉRA. + +This is a masquerade frequently given in the winter, at the theatre +of the grand French opera, where the pit is covered over, as that is +of our opera-house in the Haymarket. From the powerful draught of +air, which, coming from behind the scenes, may well be termed _vent +de coulisse_, the room is as cold as the season. + +Since the revolution, masquerades were strictly forbidden, and this +prohibition continued under the directorial government. It is only +since BONAPARTE'S accession to the post of Chief Magistrate, that the +Parisians have been indulged with the liberty of wearing disguises +during the carnival. + +Of all the amusements in Paris, I have ever thought this the most +tiresome and insipid. But it is the same at the _Bal de l'Opéra_ as +at _Frascati_, _Longchamp_, and other points of attraction here; +every one is soon tired of them, and yet every one flocks thither. In +fact, what can well be more tiresome than a place where you find +persons masked, without wit or humour? Though, according to the old +French saying, "_I faut avoir bien peu d'esprit pour ne pas en avoir +sous le masque?_" + +The men, who at a masquerade here generally go unmasked, think it not +worth while to be even complaisant to the women, who are elbowed, +squeezed, and carried by the tide from one end of the room to the +other, before they are well aware of it. Dominos are the general +dress. The music is excellent; but it is not the fashion to dance; +and _les femmes de bonne compagnie_, that is, well-bred women, are +condemned to content themselves with the dust they inhale; for they +dare not quit their mask to take any refreshment. But, +notwithstanding these inconveniences, it is here reckoned a fine +thing to have been at a _bal masqué_ when the crowd was great, and +the pressure violent; as the more the ladies have shared in it, the +more they congratulate themselves on the occasion. + +Before the revolution, the _grand ton_ was for gentlemen to go to the +_Bal de l'Opéra_ in a full-dress suit of black, and unmasked. Swords +were here prohibited, as at Bath. This etiquette of dress, however, +rendered not the company more select. + +I remember well that at a masked ball at the Parisian opera, in the +year 1785, the very first beau I recognized in the room, parading in +a _habit de cour_, was my own _perruquier_. As at present, the +amusement of the women then consisted in teazing the men; and those +who had a disposition for intrigue, gave full scope to the impulse of +their nature. The _fille entretenue_, the _duchesse_, and the +_bourgeoise_, disguised under a similar domino, were not always +distinguishable; and I have heard of a certain French marquis, who +was here laid under heavy contribution for the momentary +gratification of his caprice, though the object of it proved to be no +other than his own _cara sposa_. + + + +LETTER LIII. + +_Paris, January 19, 1802._ + +When you expressed your impatience to be informed of the dramatic +amusements in Paris, I promised to satisfy you as soon as I was able; +for I knew that you would not be contented with a superficial +examination. Therefore, in reviewing the principal scenic +establishments, I shall, as I have done before, exert my endeavours +not only to make you acquainted with the _best_ performers in every +department, but also with the _best_ stock-pieces, in order that, by +casting your eye on the _Affiches des Spectacles_, when you visit +this capital, you may at once form a judgment of the quality and +quantity of the entertainment you are likely to enjoy at the +representation of a particular piece, in which certain performers +make their appearance. Since the revolution, the custom of printing +the names of the actors and dancers in each piece, has been +introduced. Formerly, amateurs often paid their money only to +experience a disappointment; for, instead of seeing the hero or +heroine that excited their curiosity, they had a bad duplicate, or, +as the French term it, a _double_, imposed on them, more frequently +through caprice than any other motive. This is now obviated; and, +except in cases of sudden and unforeseen indisposition, you may be +certain of seeing the best performers whenever their name is +announced. + +In speaking of the theatres, the pieces represented, and the merits +of the performers, I cannot be supposed to be actuated by any +prejudice or partiality whatever. I have, it is true, been favoured +with the oral criticism of a man of taste, who, as a very old +acquaintance, has generally accompanied me to the different +_spectacles_; but still I have never adopted his sentiments, unless +the truth of them had been confirmed by my own observation. From him +I have been favoured with a communication of such circumstances +respecting them as occurred during the revolution, when I was absent +from Paris. You may therefore confidently rely on the candour and +impartiality of my general sketch of the theatres; and if the stage +be considered as a mirror which reflects the public mind, you will +thence be enabled to appreciate the taste of the Parisians. Without +forgetting that + + "_La critique est aisée, mais l'art est difficile_," + +I shall indulge the hope that you will be persuaded that truth alone +has guided my pen in this attempt to trace the attractions of the + +THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE. + +The house, now occupied by the performers of this theatre, was built +at the beginning of the revolution by the late duke of Orleans, who, +according to the opinion of those best acquainted with his schemes of +profit, intended it for the representation of the grand French opera, +for which, nevertheless, it is not sufficiently spacious. + +It stands adjoining to the south-west angle of the _Palais du +Tribunat_, with its front entrance in the _Rue de la Loi_. Its façade +presents a row of twelve Doric columns, surmounted by as many +Corinthian pilasters, crowned by their entablature. On the first +story is an exterior gallery; ornamented by an iron balustrade, which +runs the whole length of the façade, and communicates with the lobby. +On the north side, and at the back of the theatre, on the +ground-floor, are several covered galleries, bordered by shops, +which communicate with the _Rue St. Honoré_ and the _Palais du +Tribunat_. + +The vestibule, where four stair-cases terminate, is of an elliptic +form, surrounded by three rows of Doric pillars. Above the vestibule, +which is on the ground-floor, are the pit and lobby. The inside of +the house, which is immoderately lofty, presents seven tiers of +boxes, and, in the circumference, six Corinthian pillars. The +ornaments, numerously scattered, are in relief. At a certain +elevation, the plan of the house is changed by a recess made facing +the stage. Two angels, above the stage-boxes, shock the eye by their +enormous size. The boxes to the number of two hundred and twenty-two, +are said to contain thirteen hundred persons; and the pit, including +the _orchestre_,[1] seven hundred and twenty-four, making in all two +thousand and twenty persons. The construction of this house is +remarkable for iron only being employed in lieu of wood. The +architect was LOUIS. + +This theatre, which was begun in 1787, was finished in 1790, when, +all privileges having been done away, it was first opened by a +company of French comedians, who played tragedy and comedy. It then +took the name of _Théâtre Français de la Rue de Richelieu_, which +street was afterwards and is now called _Rue de la Loi_. Being opened +at the commencement of the revolution, it naturally adopted its +principles; and, when the National Convention had proclaimed the +Republic, it assumed the pompous name of _Théâtre de la République_. +The greater part of the actors who performed here, rendered +themselves remarkable for their _revolutionary_ ardour, and, during +the reign of terror, it became a privileged theatre. + +The _Comédie Française_ in the _Faubourg St. Germain_, which, in its +interior, presented the handsomest playhouse in Paris, was called +_l'Odéon_ a few years ago, and, since then, has been reduced by fire +to a mere shell, the walls only being left standing. In 1789, this +theatre appeared to follow the torrent of the revolution, and changed +its name for that of _Théâtre de la Nation_. Nevertheless, the actors +did not, on that account, relinquish the title of _Comédiens +ordinaires du Roi_. Shortly after, they even became, in general, the +declared partisans of the old _régime_, or at least of the court. +Their house was frequently an _arena_ where the two parties came to +blows, particularly on the occasion of the tragedy of _Charles Neuf_, +by CHÉNIER, and of the comedy of _L'Ami des Loix_. The former of +these pieces, represented in the first ebullition of the revolution, +was directed against the court; and the comedians refused to bring it +on the stage, at the time of the assemblage of the national guards in +Paris, on the 14th of July, 1790, known by the title of _Federation_. +The latter was played after the massacres of September 1792, and had +been composed with the laudable view of bringing back the public mind +to sentiments of humanity, justice, and moderation. The maxims which +it contained, being diametrically opposite to those of the plunderers +who then reigned, that is, the members of the _commune_ of Paris, the +minority of the National Convention, the Jacobins, Cordeliers, &c. +they interrupted the representation, and, after a great uproar, the +piece was prohibited. + +This minority of which I have just spoken, having succeeded in +subduing the majority, nothing now stopped the rage of the +revolutionary party. All those who gave them umbrage were imprisoned, +and put to death with the forms of law. The comedians of the French +theatre were thrown into prison; it appears that they were, both men +and women, partly destined for the scaffold, and that if they +escaped, it was through the address of a clerk of one of the +Committees of Public Welfare or of Public Safety, who repeatedly +concealed the documents containing the charges brought against them. +It is said that the comedians purpose to prove their gratitude, so +long delayed, to this young man, without putting themselves to any +expense, by giving for his benefit an extraordinary +representation.[2] + +At length the happy 9th of Thermidor arrived; the prisons were thrown +open; and, as you may well imagine in such a nation as this, the +French comedians were not the last to be set at liberty. However, +their theatre was not immediately restored to them. It was occupied +by a sort of bastard _spectacle_, with the actors of which they were +then obliged to form an association. This did not last long. The +French comedians were received by the manager of the lyric theatre of +the _Rue Feydeau_, whom they afterwards ruined. The actors of comedy, +properly so called, contrived to expel those of tragedy, with whom +they thought they could dispense; and, shortly, they themselves, +notwithstanding their reputation, were deserted by the public. The +heroes and heroines, with Mademoiselle RAUCOURT at their head, took +possession of the theatre of the _Rue de Louvois_, and there +prospered. But, after the 18th of Fructidor, (5th of September, 1797) +the Directory caused this house to be shut up: the reason assigned +was the representation given here of a little comedy, of ancient date +however, and of no great importance, in which a knavish valet is +called MERLIN, as was the Minister of Justice of that day, who since +became director, not of the theatre, but of the republic. +Mademoiselle RAUCOURT, who was directress of this theatre, returned +with her company to the old theatre of the _Faubourg St. Germain_, +which then took the name of _l'Odéon_. + +In the mean time, the theatre of the _Rue de Richelieu_ had +perceptibly declined, after the fall of Robespierre, and the public +appeared to have come to a positive determination to frequent it no +longer. The manager of the _Théâtre Feydeau_, M. SARGENT, formerly a +banker, who was rich, and enjoyed a good reputation, succeeded in +uniting all the actors of the _Comédie Française_ and those of the +_Théâtre de la République_. This effected his own ruin. When he had +relinquished the management of the undertaking, the government took +it in hand, and definitively organized this tragic and comic +association, to superintend which it appointed a special +commissioner. + +The _repertoire_ (or list of pieces which are here played habitually, +or have been acted with applause) is amazingly well furnished, and +does infinite honour to French literature. It may be divided into two +parts, the ancient and the modern. It is the former that deserves the +encomium which I have just bestowed. In the line of Tragedy, it is +composed of the greater part of the pieces of the four principal +pillars of the temple of the French Melpomene: namely CORNEILLE[3], +RACINE, CRÉBILLON, and VOLTAIRE, to whom may be added DU BELLOY, as +well as of some detached pieces, such as _Iphigénie en Tauride_ by +GUIMOND DE LA TOUCHE, _Le Comte de Warwick_ and _Philoctète_ by LA +HARPE. The modern _repertoire_, or list of stock-pieces, is formed of +the tragedies of M. M. DUCIS, CHÉNIER, ARNAULT, LEGOUVÉ, and LE +MERCIER. + +In the line of Comedy, it is also very rich. You know that, at the +head of the French comic authors, stands MOLIÈRE, who, in this +country at least, has no equal, either among the ancients or the +moderns. Several of his pieces are still represented, though they are +not numerously attended; as well because manners are changed, as +because the actors are no longer able to perform them. Next to +MOLIÈRE, but at a great interval, comes REGNARD, whom the French +comedians have deserted, for much the same reason: they no longer +give any plays from the pen of this author, who possessed the _vis +comica_, except _Les Folies Amoureuses_, a pretty little comedy in +three acts. We no longer hear of his _Joueur_ and his _Légataire +Universel_, which are _chefs d'oeuvre_. There are likewise the works +of DESTOUCHES, who has written _Le Glorieux, Le Dissipateur_, and _La +Fausse Agnès_, which are always played with applause. _Le Méchant_, +by GRESSET, is a masterpiece in point of style, and _La Métromanie_, +by PIRON, the best of French comedies, next to those of MOLIÈRE and +REGNARD. Then come the works of LA CHAUSSÉE, who is the father of the +_drame_, and whose pieces are no longer represented, though he has +composed several, such as _La Gouvernante_, _L'École des Mères_, _Le +Préjugé à la Mode_, which, notwithstanding, their whining style, are +not destitute of merit, and those of DANCOURT, who has written +several little comedies, of a very lively cast, which are still +played, and those of MARIVAUX, whose old metaphysical jargon still +pleases such persons as have their head full of love. I might augment +this list by the name of several other old authors, whose productions +have more or less merit. + +The number of modern French comic authors is very limited; for it is +not even worthwhile to speak of a few little comedies in one act, the +title of which the public scarcely remember. According to this +calculation, there is but one single comic author now living. That is +COLIN D'HARLEVILLE, who has written _L'Inconstant_, _Les Châteaux en +Espagne_, _Le Vieux Célibataire_, and _Les Moeurs du Jour_, which are +still represented. _Le Vieux Célibataire_ is always received with +much applause. In general, the pieces of M. COLIN are cold, but his +style is frequently graceful: he writes in verse; and the whole part +of _L'Inconstant_ is very agreeably written. Indeed, that piece is +the best of this author. + +FABRE D'EGLANTINE is celebrated as an actor in the revolution (I mean +on the political stage), and as the author who has produced the best +piece that has appeared since _La Métromanie_. It is the _Philinte de +Molière_, which, in some measure, forms a sequel to the comedy of the +_Misanthrope_. Nevertheless, this title is ill chosen; for the +character of the _Philinte_ in the piece of MOLIÈRE, and that of +FABRE'S piece scarcely bear any resemblance. We might rather call it +the _Égoiste_. Although the comic part of it is weak, the piece is +strongly conceived, the fable very well managed, the style nervous +but harsh, and the third act is a _chef-d'oeuvre_. + +Since the death of FABRE, another piece of his has been acted, +entitled _Le Précepteur_. In this piece are to be recognized both his +manner and his affected philosophical opinions. His object is to +vaunt the excellence of the education recommended by J. J. ROUSSEAU, +though the revolution has, in a great measure, proved the fallacy of +the principles which it inculcates. As these, however, are presented +with art, the piece had some success, and still maintains its ground +on the stage. It was played for the first time about two years ago. +The surname of EGLANTINE, which FABRE assumed, arose from his having +won the prize at the Floral games at Toulouse. The prize consisted of +an _eglantine_ or wild rose in gold. Before he became a dramatic +author, he was an actor and a very bad actor. Being nominated member +of the National Convention, he distinguished himself in that +assembly, not by oratorical talents, but by a great deal of villainy. +He did not think as he acted or spoke. When the _montagnards_[4] or +mountaineers, that is, those monsters who were always thirsting for +blood, divided, he appeared for some time to belong to the party of +DANTON, who, however, denied him when they were both in presence of +each other at the bar of the revolutionary tribunal. DANTON insisted +that he who had been brought to trial for a just cause, if not a just +motive, ought not to be confounded with stealers of port-folios.[5] +They were both sentenced to die, and accordingly executed. + +Among the comic authors of our age, some people would reckon +DUMOUSTIER, whose person was held in esteem, but whose works are +below mediocrity. They are _Le Conciliateur_, a comedy in five acts, +and _Les Femmes_, a comedy in three acts. The latter appears to be +the picture of a brothel. They are both still played, and both have +much vogue, which announces the total decline of the art. + +There is a third species of dramatic composition, proscribed by the +rules of good taste, and which is neither tragedy nor comedy, but +participates of both. It is here termed _drame_. Although LA CHAUSSÉE +is the father of this tragi-comic species of writing, he had not, +however, written any _tragédies bourgeoises_, and the French declare +that we have communicated to them this contagion; for their first +_drame_, _Beverley, ou le Joueur Anglais_ is a translation in verse +from the piece of that name of our theatre. The celebrated LEKAIN[6] +opposed its being acted, and affirmed with reason that this mixture +of the two species of drama hurt them both. MOLÉ, who was fond of +applause easily obtained, was the protector of the piece, and played +the part of _Beverley_ with success; but this _drame_ is no longer +performed on the Parisian stage. Next to this, comes _Le Père de +Famille_, by DIDEROT. It is a long sermon. However, it presents +characters well drawn. This species of composition is so easy that +the number of _drames_ is considerable; but scarcely any of them are +now performed, except _Eugénie_ and _La Mère Coupable_, by +BEAUMARCHAIS,[7] which are frequently represented. I shall not finish +this article without reminding you that MERCIER has written so many +_drames_ that he has been called _Le Dramaturge_. All his are become +the prey of the little theatres and the aliment of the provincial +departments. This circumstance alone would suffice to prove the +mediocrity of the _drame_. MONVEL, of whom I shall soon have occasion +to speak, would well deserve the same title. + +[Footnote 1: This is a place, so called in French theatres, +comprising four or five rows of benches, parted off, between the +place where the musicians are seated and the front of the pit.] + +[Footnote 2: It is not mentioned whether these sons and daughters of +Thespis, who have since gained a great deal of money, have offered +any _private_ remuneration to their benefactor, rather to their +guardian-angel.] [TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The scan of this footnote was +imperfect. Some of the text was interpolated.] + +[Footnote 3: Of course, PIERRE CORNEILLE is here meant. THOMAS +CORNEILLE, who was surnamed the Great, must not, however be +forgotten. THOMAS is the author of _Ariane_ and _le Comte d'Essex_, a +tragedy much esteemed, and which is deserving of estimation.] + +[Footnote 4: Thus called, because they formed a very close and very +elevated group at one of the extremities of the hall of the National +Convention.] + +[Footnote 5: FABRE D'EGLANTINE was tried for having, in concert with +certain stock-jobbers, proposed and caused the adoption of decrees +concerning the finances.] + +[Footnote 6: LEKAIN said humourously that to play the _drame_ well, +it was sufficient to know how to make a summerset.] + +[Footnote 7: Every one is acquainted with the two comedies written by +this author, _Le Barbier de Seville_ and _Le Mariage de Figaro_. The +astonishing run of the latter, which was acted one hundred and fifty +succeeding nights, was greatly owing to BEAUMARCHAIS having there +turned into ridicule several persons of note in the ministry and the +parliament: _La Mère Coupable_, which is often given, is the sequel +to _Le Mariage de Figaro_, as that piece is to _Le Barbier de +Seville_.] + + + +LETTER LIV. + +_Paris, January 20, 1802._ + +Let us now examine the merits of the principal performers belonging +to the _Théâtre Français_. + + +TRAGEDY. + + +_Noble Fathers, or characters of Kings_. + +VANHOVE, MONVEL, ST. PRIX, and NAUDET. + +VANHOVE. This king of the _Théâtre Français_ neither has majesty nor +nobleness of manner. His countenance is mean, and his make common. +His monotonous and heavy utterance is sometimes intermingled with +yelping sounds. He possesses no sensibility, and substitutes noise +for expression. His mediocrity caused him to be received at the old +_Comédie Française_; for the first or principal actors of that +theatre were rather fond of receiving persons of weak talents, merely +that they might be set off. He _doubled_ BRIZARD, whom nature had +endowed with the happiest gifts for tragedy. + +VANHOVE was the first player ever called for by a Parisian audience +after the representation, in order to express to him their +satisfaction. However, it may be proper to observe that, in such +cases, it is always some friend of the author who takes the lead. +VANHOVE no longer obtains this favour at present, and is seldom +applauded. He also plays the parts of fathers in comedy. + +MONVEL. This actor is not near so old as VANHOVE; but the decay of +his person is such that, when he plays, he seems a skeleton +bestirring itself, or that is set in motion. It is a misfortune for +him that his physical means betray his talents. MONVEL is a man of +genius. Thus gifted, it is not astonishing that he has a just +diction, and is not deficient in intelligence. Some persons doubt +whether he has real sensibility; but he at least presents the +appearance of it. He, in some measure, breaks his voice, and vents +mournful accents which produce much effect. With a constitution +extremely weak, it is impossible that he should perform characters +which require energy and pride. He therefore confines himself to +those in which the pathetic is predominant, or which do not +imperiously demand great efforts, such as _Auguste_ in _Cinna_, +_Burrhus_ in _Britannicus_, _Brutus_ in the tragedy of that name (now +no longer played), _Lusignan_ in _Zaire_, _Zopire_ in _Mahomet_, +_Fénélon_[1] and _l'Abbé de l'Epée_ in the two pieces of that name. +His stock of characters then is by no means extensive. We may also +add to it the part of _Ésope à la cour_, in the comedy of that name +by BOURSAULT, which he plays or recites in great perfection, because +it is composed of fables only. MONVEL delivers them with neatness and +simplicity. For this part he has no equal in France.[2] + +MONVEL is author as well as actor. He has composed several comic +operas and _drames_; and his pieces, without being good, have always +obtained great applause. His _drames_ are _l'Amant Bourru_, +_Clémentine et Désormes_, _Les Amours de Bayard_, _Les Victimes +Cloitrées_, &c. You will find in them forced situations, but set off +by sentiment. He is lavish of stage-effect and that always pleases +the multitude. _L'Amant Bourru_ has alone remained as a stock-piece. + +By his zeal for the revolution, he alienated from him a great part of +the public. When every principle of religion was trodden under foot, +and, under the name of festivals of reason or of the goddess of +reason, orgies of the most scandalous nature were celebrated in the +churches, MONVEL ascended the pulpit of the parish of St. Roch, and +preached _atheism_ before an immense congregation. Shortly after, +Robespierre caused the National Convention to proclaim the following +declaration: "_The French people acknowledge the Supreme Being and +the immortality of the soul." MONVEL trembled; and it is probable +that, had not that sanguinary tyrant been overthrown, the atheistical +preacher would have descended from the pulpit only to ascend the +scaffold.[3] + +ST. PRIX. He has no fixed employment. Sometimes he plays the parts of +kings, sometimes those of lovers; but excels in none. He would be a +very handsome man, were it possible to be so with a face void of +expression. Nature has given him a strong but hollow voice; and he +recites so coldly, that he makes the public yawn, and seems sometimes +to yawn himself. When he means to display warmth, he screams and +fatigues the ear without mercy. + +NAUDET. This man, who is great only in stature, quitted the rank of +serjeant in the _Gardes Françaises_ to become a bad player. In the +character of kings, he scarcely now appears but to personate tyrants. +He is very cold, and speaks through his nose like a Capuchin friar, +which has gained him the appellation of the Reverend Father NAUDET. + + +_First parts or principal lovers, in Tragedy_. + +TALMA, and LAFOND. + +TALMA. The great reputation which circumstances and his friends[4] +have given to this actor has, probably, rendered him celebrated in +England. His stature and his voice (which, in theatrical language, is +called _organ_), should seem to qualify him for the parts of _jeunes +premiers_ only, of which I shall say more hereafter. Accordingly he +made his _début_ in that line about fifteen or sixteen years ago. +Without being brilliant, his first appearances were successful, and +he was received on trial. He soon caused himself to be remarked by +the correctness of his dress.[5] But what fixed attention on TALMA, +was the part of _Charles Neuf_, which he plays in the tragedy of that +name.[6] In the riots to which this piece gave rise in 1790, TALMA +figured as a patriot. Having fallen out with the comedians who had +behaved ill to him, and no longer placed him in any other parts than +those of confidants, he was engaged at the new _Théâtre Français_ of +the _Rue de Richelieu_, where it was proposed to him to perform the +characters which pleased him best, that is, the best in each piece. +Thus he was seen alternately personating young princes, heroes, and +tyrants. + +TALMA is now reduced to those of the old stock. The characters he at +present represents are _Cinna_ in the tragedy of that name by +CORNEILLE, _Oreste_ in the _Andromaque_ of RACINE, _Néron_ in the +_Britannicus_ of the same, _OEdipe_ in the tragedy of that name by +VOLTAIRE, and _Faïel_ in _Gabrielle du Vergy_ by DU BELLOY, _Oreste_ +in _Iphigénie en Tauride_ by GUIMOND DE LA TOUCHE, and _Ægisthe_ in +the _Agamemnon_ of LE MERCIER. TALMA also plays many other parts, +but, in these, he makes no great figure. He had a great aversion to +old pieces, and as long as he preserved his sway at the theatre, very +few, if any were performed. In fact, there are many in which he is +below mediocrity. + +You will certainly expect that I should tell you what constitutes the +talent of this performer. He is small in stature, thin in person, and +rather ill-made; his arms and legs being bowed, which he takes care +to conceal by the fulness of his garments. He has a fine eye, and his +features are regular, but too delicate for the perspective of the +theatre. He has long since adopted the antique head-dress,[7] and has +contributed to bring it into fashion. He distinguished himself +formerly in Paris by wearing clothes of a strange form. As an actor, +he has no nobleness of manner, and not unfrequently his gestures are +aukward. His deportment is always ungraceful, though he often +endeavours to imitate the posture of the antique statues; but even +then he presents only a caricature. His countenance has little or no +expression, except in moments of rage or terror. In pourtraying the +latter sentiment, all the faculties of his soul appear absorbed; yet, +though his distraction seems complete, there is a sort of silliness +blended with his stupor, which certain persons take for truth, and +which is much more perceptible in the rest of his characters. In +rage, he is a tiger mangling his prey, and sometimes you might +believe that you heard that animal drawing his breath. TALMA has +never expressed well a tender, generous, or noble sentiment. His soul +is neither to be softened nor elevated; and, to produce effect, he +must be in a terror or in a rage; but then he makes a great +impression on the majority of the public. His utterance is slow, +minced, and split into syllables. His voice is hollow; but, in +moments of rage, it is strong, yet without being of a considerable +volume. He is generally reproached with being deficient in +sensibility: I think, however, that, by dint of labour, he might +paint feeling; for I have heard him render delicate passages happily +enough. He is accused here of having adopted the English style of +acting, though, as far as my opinion goes, with little or no +foundation. Be this as it may, he passed the early part of his youth +in London, where his father resides, and follows the profession of a +dentist. The son may now be about thirty-eight years of age. + +TALMA preserves the reputation of being a zealous partisan of the +revolution; but I am confidently assured that he never injured any +one, and held in horror the assassinations which have left an +indelible stain on that event. He was intimately connected with the +deputies, styled _Girondists_ or _Brisotins_, who perished on the +scaffold, after their party was overcome, on the 31st of May, 1793, +by that of the ferocious mountaineers. The latter warmly reproached +TALMA with having, in the year 1792, after the retreat of the +Prussians, given a _fête_ or grand supper to the famous DUMOURIEZ, +with whom they were beginning to fall out, and whom they accused of +treason for not having taken the king of Prussia prisoner. The +hideous MARAT, I am told, went to call on that general at TALMA'S, +where the company received him very cavalierly, and when he was gone, +DUGAZON the actor, hot-headed revolutionist as he was, by way of +pleasantry, pretended to purify the room by burning sugar in a +chaffing-dish. All this amounted to more than was necessary for being +condemned by the revolutionary tribunal; and TALMA, being detested by +ROBESPIERRE, would, in all probability, have been delivered over to +that tribunal, but for the protection of DAVID, the celebrated +painter, who was concerting with him about changing the form of dress +of the French people. During all the reign of terror, TALMA and his +wife were in continual fear of the scaffold. + +LAFOND. TALMA reigned, and was in possession of the first cast of +parts. Of these, he played whatever suited him, and rejected what he +disliked, when about a year ago, there appeared in the same line a +young actor of a rather tall and well-proportioned stature, and whom +Nature had, besides, gifted with an agreeable countenance and a +tolerably good voice. He had played in the provincial theatres; but, +in order to overcome every obstacle which might be opposed to his +_début_, he became a pupil of DUGAZON, an actor of comedy, and what +is more singular, of one more frequently a buffoon than a comedian. +The latter, however, is said to possess a knowledge of the style of +playing of the actors who, thirty years ago, graced the French stage, +and consequently may be capable of giving good advice. + +By means of this powerful protection, LAFOND got the better of every +difficulty. This actor made his first appearance in the character of +_Achille_ in the tragedy of _Iphigénie en Aulide_ by RACINE. He was +not the Achilles of Homer, nor even that of the piece, or at best he +represented him in miniature. However, his diction generally just, +his acting, some grace, and, above all, the fatigue and _ennui_ which +TALMA impressed on many of the spectators, procured this rival a +decisive success. As is customary in such cases, the newspapers were +divided in opinion. The majority declared for LAFOND, and none of the +opposite side spoke unfavourably of him. It was not so with TALMA. +Some judged him harshly, calling him a detestable actor, while others +bestowed on him the epithet of _sublime_, which, at the present day, +has scarcely any signification; so much is it lavished on the most +indifferent performers. This instance proves the fact; for if TALMA +has reached the _sublime_, it is _le sublime de la Halle_. + +These two rivals might live in peace; the parts which suit the one, +being absolutely unfit for the talents of the other. TALMA requires +only concentered rage, sentiments of hatred and vengeance, which +certainly belong to tragedy, but which ought not to be expressed as +if they came from the mouth of a low fellow, unworthy of figuring in +an action of this kind; and LAFOND is little qualified for any other +than graceful parts, bordering on knight-errantry or romance. His +best character is _Achille_. I have also seen him perform, if not in +a manner truly tragic, at least highly satisfactory, _Rodrigue_ in +_Le Cid_ of CORNEILLE, and the part of _Tancrède_ in VOLTAIRE'S +tragedy of that name. LAFOND obtains the preference over TALMA in the +character of _Orosmane_ in the tragedy of _Zaïre_; a character which +is the touchstone of an actor. Not that he excels in it. He has not a +marked countenance, the dignity, the tone of authority, the energy, +and the extreme sensibility which characterize this part. He is not +the Sultan who commands. He is, if you please, a young _commis_ very +amorous, a little jealous, who gets angry, and becomes good-humoured +again; but at least he is not a ferocious being, as TALMA represents +_Orosmane_, in moments of rage and passion, or an unfeeling one in +those which require sensibility. + +LAFOND is reproached sometimes with a bombastic and inflated tone. +Feeling that he is deficient in the necessary powers, he swells his +voice, which is prejudicial to truth, and without truth, there is no +theatrical illusion. Nature had intended him for the parts of young +lovers, of which I shall presently speak. His features are too +delicate, his countenance not sufficiently flexible, and his person +bespeaks too little of the hero, for great characters. But when he +first appeared, there was a vacancy in this cast of parts, and none +in the other. + + +Jeunes Premiers, _or parts of young Lovers_. + + +ST. FAL, DAMAS, and DUPONT. + +ST. FAL. This performer, who is upwards of forty-five, has never had +an exterior sufficiently striking to turn the brain of young +princesses. Every thing in his person is common, and his acting is +really grotesque. However, not long since he frequently obtained +applause by a great affectation of sensibility and a stage-trick, +which consists in uttering loud, harsh, and hoarse sounds after +others faint and scarcely articulated. He has, besides, but a trivial +or burlesque delivery, and no dignity, no grace in his deportment or +gestures. + +DAMAS. He is much younger than ST. FAL, but his gait and carriage are +vulgar. He is not deficient in warmth; but all this is spoiled by a +manner the most common. He first played at the theatres on the +_Boulevard_, and will never be able to forget the lessons he imbibed +in that school. It is with him as with the rabbits of which BOILEAU +makes mention, in one of his Satires where he describes a bad dinner, + + "-------- et qui, nés dans Paris, + Sentaient encore le chou dont ils furent nourris." + +The _drame_ is the style in which DAMAS best succeeds. There is one +in particular, _Le Lovelace Français_, where he personates an +upholsterer of the _Rue St. Antoine_, who has just been cornuted by +the young Duke of Richelieu. This part he performs with much truth, +and _avec rondeur_, as the critics here express it, to signify +plain-dealing. But DAMAS is no less ignoble in comedy than in +tragedy. + +DUPONT. This young actor, who is of a very delicate constitution, has +never had what we call great powers on the stage; and a complaint in +his tongue has occasioned a great difficulty in his articulation. +Without having a noble air, he has something distinguishing in his +manner. His delivery is correct; but the defect of which I have +spoken has rendered him disagreeable to the public, who manifest it +to him rather rudely, though he has sometimes snatched from them +great applause. + +After all the actors I have mentioned, come the confidants, a dull +and stupid set, of whom one only deserves mention, not as an actor, +but as an author. This is DUVAL. He has written that pretty comic +opera, entitled _Le Prisonnier_, as well as _Maison à vendre_, and +several _drames_, among which we must not forget _Le Lovelace +Français, ou la Jeunesse du Duc de Richelieu_, the piece +before-mentioned. + + +_January 20, in continuation_. + +Next follow the daughters of Melpomene, or those heroines who make +the most conspicuous figure in Tragedy. + + +_Characters of Queens_. + + +Mesdames RAUCOURT and VESTRIS. + +Mademoiselle RAUCOURT. Never did _début_ make more noise than that of +this actress, who appeared for the first time on the French stage +about thirty years ago, and might then be sixteen or seventeen years +of age. She was a pupil of Mademoiselle CLAIRON, who had a numerous +party, composed of Encyclopædists, French academicians, and almost +all the literati of Paris. The zeal of her friends, the youth, tall +stature, and person of the _débutante_ supplied the place of talent; +and her instructress has recorded in her memoirs that all her labour +was lost. The success, however, of Mademoiselle RAUCOURT was such, +that there were, it is said, several persons squeezed to death at the +door of the playhouse. What increased enthusiasm in favour of the +young actress was, that a reputation for virtue was granted to her as +great and as justly merited as that for talent. Her father declared +in the public lobby that he would blow out her brains if he suspected +her of having the smallest intrigue. He kept not his word. Besides, +it is well known that his daughter always took care to conduct +herself in such a manner as to set the foresight even of jealousy at +defiance. Her _penchant_ not leaving her the resource to which women +of her profession generally recur, and her expenses being +considerable, her debts increased; and to avoid the pursuit of her +creditors she took refuge in Germany with her tender friend, +Mademoiselle SOUK, who has since been mistress to the late king of +Prussia. They both travelled over that country, and a thousand +reports are circulated to their shame; but the most disgraceful of +these are said to be unfounded. The protection of the queen of +France, who paid her debts repeatedly, at length restored her to the +_Comédie Française_. Such inconsiderate conduct did no small injury +to that unfortunate princess, whom I mention with concern on such an +occasion. + +The stature of Mademoiselle RAUCOURT is colossal, and when she +presents herself, she has a very imposing look. Her face, however, is +not so noble; she has small eyes, and her features have not that +flexibility necessary for expressing the movements of the passions. +Her voice was formerly very full in the _medium_ of level-speaking; +but it seemed like that of a man. When you heard it for the first +time, you thought that, in impassioned sentences, she was going to +thunder; but, on the contrary, she assumed a very extensive +_falsetto_, which formed the most singular contrast with the dull +sounds that had preceded it. That defect, perhaps, is somewhat less +striking at the present day; but the voice of this actress is become +hoarse, like that of persons who make a frequent use of strong +liquors. The delivery of Mademoiselle RAUCOURT is, in general, just +and correct; for she is allowed to have understanding; yet, as she +neither has warmth nor sensibility, she produces scarcely any effect. +Plaudits most frequently burst forth when she appears; but, though +these are obtained, she never touches the feelings of the spectator, +she never reaches his heart, even in the parts, where she has had the +most vogue. That of _Médée_, in which she has begun to reestablish +her declining reputation, was neither better felt nor better +expressed. She was indebted for the success she obtained in it only +to the magician's robe, to the wand, and to a stage-trick which +consists in stooping and then raising herself to the utmost height at +the moment when she apostrophizes the sun. In the scene of Medea with +her children, a heart-rending and terrible scene, there was nothing +but dryness and a total absence of every maternal feeling. + +The characters of queens, which Mademoiselle RAUCOURT performs, are +the first cast of parts at the theatre. It consists of those of +mothers and a few parts of enraged or impassioned lovers. In the +works of CORNEILLE, the principal ones are _Cléopatre_ in _Rodogune_, +and _Cornélie_ in the _Mort de Pompée_. In RACINE'S, the parts of +_Athalie_ and of _Phèdre_ in the tragedies of the same name, of +_Agrippine_ in _Britannicus_, of _Clitemnestre_ in _Iphigénie en +Aulide_, and of _Roxane_ in _Bajazet_. In VOLTAIRE'S, those of +_Mérope_ and _Sémiramis_; and, lastly, that of _Médée_ in the tragedy +by LONGEPIERRE. + +Like all the performers belonging to the _Théâtre Français_, +Mademoiselle RAUCOURT was imprisoned during the reign of terror. The +patriots of that day bore her much ill-will, and it is asserted that +Robespierre had a strong desire to send her to the guillotine. When +she reappeared on the stage, the public compensated her sufferings, +and to this circumstance she owes the rather equivocal reputation she +has since enjoyed. + +Madame VESTRIS. Although she has been a very long time on the +Parisian stage, this actress is celebrated only from the famous +quarrel she had twenty years ago with Mademoiselle SAINVAL the elder. +Through the powerful protection of the Marshal de DURAS,[8] her +lover, she prevailed over her formidable rival, who, however, had on +her side the public, and the sublimity of her talent. This quarrel +arose from Madame VESTRIS wishing to wrest from Mademoiselle SAINVAL +the parts for which she was engaged. A memoir, written by an +indiscreet friend, in favour of the latter, which she scorned to +disavow, and in which the court was not spared, caused her to be +banished from the capital by a _lettre de cachet_. The public, +informed of her exile, called loudly for Mademoiselle SAINVAL. No +attention was paid to this by the higher powers, and the guard at the +theatre was tripled, in order to insure to Madame VESTRIS the +possibility of performing her part. Nevertheless, whenever she made +her appearance, the public lavished on her hisses, groans, and +imprecations. All this she braved with an effrontery, which +occasioned them to be redoubled. But, as all commotions subside in +time, Madame VESTRIS remained mistress of the stage; while +Mademoiselle SAINVAL travelled over the provinces, where the +injustice of the court towards her caused no less regret than the +superiority of her talent excited admiration. + +Madame VESTRIS was rather handsome, and this explains the whole +mystery. She had, above all, a most beautiful arm, and paid no small +attention to her toilet. She delivers her parts with tolerable +correctness, but her tone is heavy and common. The little warmth with +which she animates her characters, is the production of an effort; +for she neither possesses energy nor feeling. Her gestures correspond +with her acting, and she has no dignity in her deportment. She seldom +appears on the stage at present, which saves her from the +mortification of being hissed. She is now old, and the political +opinion of those who frequent most the theatres rouses them against +her. + +Although the court had really committed itself to favour her, Madame +VESTRIS was the first to betray her noble patrons. At the period of +the revolution, she quitted the old _Comédie Française_, taking with +her DUGAZON, her father, and TALMA, and founded the present theatre, +styled _Théâtre de la République_. She was also followed by several +authors; for not being able to conceal from herself the mediocrity of +her talents, especially in such parts of the old plays as had been +performed by other actresses in a manner far superior, she +facilitated the representation of new pieces, in which she had not to +fear any humiliating comparison. The principal of these authors were +LA HARPE, DUCIS, and CHÉNIER. The last, who, besides, is famous as +member of the National Convention and other Legislative Assemblies, +composed the tragedy of _Charles Neuf_, in which Madame VESTRIS, +playing the part of _Catherine de Médicis_, affected, I am told, to +advance her under-lip, _à l'Autrichienne, in order to occasion +comparisons injurious to the ill-fated Marie-Antoinette.[9] + + +_Characters of Princesses._ + +Mesdames FLEURY, TALMA, BOURGOIN, and VOLNAIS. + +Mademoiselle FLEURY. She has no longer youth nor beauty, and her +talents as an actress are much on a par with her personal +attractions. She recites with judgment, but almost always with +languor, and betrays a want of warmth. Besides, her powers have +declined. However, she sometimes displays energetic flashes of a real +tragic truth; but they are borrowed, and it is affirmed, not without +foundation, that Mademoiselle SAINVAL the elder (who is still living) +has been so obliging as to lend them to her. + +Madame TALMA. For this name she is indebted to a divorce, having +snatched TALMA from his first wife, an elderly woman who had ruined +herself for him, or whom he had ruined. She quitted her first +husband, a dancing-master of the name of PETIT, to live under the +more than friendly protection of Mademoiselle RAUCOURT.----Madame +TALMA is not handsome, and is now on the wane. She plays tragedy, +comedy, and the _drame_; but has no real talent, except in the +last-mentioned line. In the first, she wants nobleness and energy. +Her delivery is monotonous. It is said in her praise, that she has +"_tears in her voice_." I believe that it seldom happens to her to +have any in her eyes, and that this sensibility, for which some would +give her credit, proceeds not from her heart. In comedy, she wishes +to assume a cavalier and bold manner, brought into vogue by +Mademoiselle CONTAT. This manner by no means suits Madame TALMA, who +neither has elegance in her shape, nor animation in her features. In +the _drame_, her defects disappear, and her good qualities remain. +She then is really interesting, and her efforts to please are +rewarded by the applause of the public. + +Mademoiselle BOURGOIN. With respect to this young lady, a powerful +protection serves her in lieu of talent; for she is handsome. She +persists in playing tragedy, which is not her fort. In comedy, she +appears to advantage. + +Mademoiselle VOLNAIS. This is a very young girl. All she says is in a +crying tone, and what is worse, she seems not to comprehend what she +says. In the characters which she first represented she was very +successful, but is no longer so at the present day. + + +_Characters of Confidantes._ + +Mesdames SUIN and THÉNARD. + +There are two only who are deserving of notice. The one is Madame +SUIN, who certainly justifies the character she bears of a woman of +judgment; for she has the most just delivery of all the performers +belonging to the _Théâtre Français_; but she is advanced in years, +and the public often treat her with rudeness. The other confidante is +Mademoiselle THÉNARD, who has played the parts of princesses at this +theatre with a partial success. + +There are also other confidantes, whom it is not worth while to +mention. + +I shall conclude this account of the tragedians belonging to the +_Théâtre Français_, by observing that the revolution is said to have +given a new turn to the mind and character of the French women; and +the success which several actresses, at this day obtain in the +dramatic career, in the line of tragedy, is quoted in support of this +opinion. For a number of years past, as has been seen, Melpomene +seemed to have placed the diadem on the head of Mademoiselle +RAUCOURT, and this tragic queen would probably have grown gray under +the garments of royalty, had not the revolution imparted to her sex a +degree of energy sufficient for them to dispute her empire. Women +here have seen so many instances of cruelty, during the last ten or +twelve years, they have participated, in a manner more or less +direct, in an order of things so replete with tragical events, that +those among them who feel a _penchant_ for the stage, find +themselves, in consequence, disposed to figure in tragedy.[10] + +[Footnote 1: _Fénélon_ is no longer performed. It is a very bad +tragedy by _Chénier_.] + +[Footnote 2: There are players members of the National Institute. +MONVEL belongs to the Class of Literature and the Fine Arts.] + +[Footnote 3: Notwithstanding the ill effects likely to result from +such doctrine, far more dangerous to society than the poniards of a +host of assassins, it appears that, when those actors called +terrorists, or partisans of terror, were hunted down, MONVEL was not +molested.] + +[Footnote 4: There are a great many enthusiastic admirers of his +talent.] + +[Footnote 5: It is really to TALMA that the French are indebted for +the exact truth of costume which is at this day to be admired on the +theatres of Paris, especially in new pieces. An inhabitant of a +country the most remote might believe himself in his native land; and +were an ancient Greek or Roman to come to life again, he might +imagine that the fashion of his day had experienced no alteration.] + +[Footnote 6: The subject of it is the massacre of St. Bartholomew's +day.] + +[Footnote 7: He wears his hair cut short, and without powder.] + +[Footnote 8: One evening at the opera, M. DE DURAS authoritatively +took possession of a box hired for the night by another person. The +latter, dreading his power, but at the same time desirous to +stigmatize him, said: "'Tis not he who took Minorca, 'tis not he who +took this place nor that, the man of whom I complain, never took any +thing in his life but my box at the opera!"] + +[Footnote 9: All the princes and princesses of the House of Austria +have the under-lip very prominent.] + +[Footnote 10: The example of Mesdemoiselles BOURGOIN and VOLNAIS +having proved that first-rate talents were not necessary for being +received at the _Théâtre Français_, as a tragic queen or princess, +the number of candidates rapidly increased. For several months past, +the merit of these _débutantes_ has been the general concern of all +Paris. Each had her instructor, and, of course, was carefully tutored +for the occasion. + +M. LEGOUVÉ, the tragic writer, first brought forward on this stage +Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS, a girl about twenty, extremely ill-favoured +by nature. DUGAZON, the actor, next introduced Madame XAVIER, a very +handsome and elegant woman. Lastly, Mademoiselle RAUCOURT presented +her pupil, Mademoiselle GEORGES WEIMER, a young girl of perfect +beauty. Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS played _Phèdre_, in RACINE'S tragedy +of that name, seven successive times. She certainly displayed a +semblance of sensibility, and, notwithstanding the disadvantages of +her person, produced such an effect on the senses of the debauched +Parisian youth by the libidinous manner she adopted in the scene +where _Phèdre_ declares her unconquerable passion for her son-in-law +_Hippolyte_, that her success was complete. What greater proof can be +adduced of the vitiated taste of the male part of the audience? She +also performed _Sémiramis_, _Didon_, and _Hermione_; but in the first +two characters she betrayed her deficiency. The next who entered the +lists was Madame XAVIER. On her _début_ in _Sémiramis_, she was +favourably received by the public; but, afterwards, choosing to act +_Hermione_, the partisans of Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS assembled in +such numbers as to constitute a decided majority in the theatre. Not +content with interrupting Madame XAVIER, and hissing her off the +stage, they waited for her at the door of the play-house, and loaded +her with the grossest abuse and imprecations. Lastly appeared +Mademoiselle GEORGES WEIMER. Warned by the disgraceful conduct of the +_Duchesnistes_ (as they are called) towards Madame XAVIER, the +comedians, by issuing a great number of _orders_, contrived to +anticipate them, and obtain a majority, especially in the pit. +Mademoiselle GEORGES made her _début_ in the character of +_Clitemnestre_, and was well received. Her beauty excited enthusiasm, +and effected a wonderful change in public opinion. After playing +several parts in which Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS had either failed, or +was afraid to appear, she at last ventured to rival her in that of +_Phèdre_. At the first representation of the piece, Mademoiselle +GEORGES obtained only a partial success; but, at the second, she was +more fortunate. The consequence, however, had well nigh proved truly +tragic. The _Duchesnistes_ and _Georgistes_ had each taken their +posts, the one on the right side of the pit; the other, on the left. +When Mademoiselle GEORGES was called for after the performance, and +came forward, in order to be applauded, the former party hissed her, +when the latter falling on them, a general battle ensued. The guard +was introduced to separate the combatants; but the _Duchesnistes_ +were routed; and, being the aggressors, several of them were +conducted to prison. The First Consul assisted at this +representation; yet his presence had no effect whatever in +restraining the violence of these dramatic factions. + +Since then, Mesdemoiselles DUCHESNOIS and GEORGES have both been +received into the company of the _Théâtre Français_. Madame XAVIER +has returned to the provinces.] + + + +LETTER LV. + +_Paris, January 22, 1802._ + +The observation with which I concluded my last letter, might explain +why the votaries of Thalia gain so little augmentation to their +number; while those of Melpomene are daily increasing. I shall now +proceed to investigate the merits of the former, at the _Théâtre +Français_. + + +COMEDY. + + +_Parts of noble Fathers._ + +VANHOVE and NAUDET. + +VANHOVE. This actor is rather more sufferable in comedy than tragedy; +but in both he is very monotonous, and justifies the lines applied to +him by a modern satirist, M. DESPAZE: + + "VANHOVE, _plus heureux, psalmodie à mon gré; + Quel succès l'attendait, s'il eût été Curé!_" + +NAUDET. I have already said that the Reverend Father NAUDET, as he is +called, played the parts of tyrants in tragedy. Never did tyrant +appear so inoffensive. As well as VANHOVE, in comedy, he neither +meets with censure nor applause from the public. + + +_First parts, or principal lovers, in Comedy._ + +MOLÉ, FLEURY, and BAPTISTE the elder. + +MOLÉ. At this name I breathe. Perhaps you have imagined that +ill-humour or caprice had till now guided my pen; but, could I praise +the talent of MOLÉ as he deserves, you would renounce that opinion. + +MOLÉ made his _début_ at the _Comédie Française_ about forty-five +years ago. He had some success; but as the Parisian public did not +then become enthusiasts in favour of mere beginners, he was sent into +the provinces to acquire practice. At the expiration of two or three +years, he returned, and was received to play the parts of young +lovers in tragedy and comedy. He had not all the nobleness requisite +for the first-mentioned line of acting; but he had warmth and an +exquisite sensibility. In a word, he maintained his ground by the +side of Mademoiselle DUMESNIL and LEKAIN, two of the greatest +tragedians that ever adorned the French stage. For a long time he was +famous in the parts of _petits-maîtres_, in which he shone by his +vivacity, levity, and grace. + +This actor was ambitious in his profession. Although applauded, and +perhaps more so than LEKAIN, he was perfectly sensible that he +produced not such great, such terrible effects; and he favoured the +introduction of the _drame_, which is a mixture of tragedy and +comedy. But those who most detest the whining style of this species +of composition are compelled to acknowledge that MOLÉ was fascinating +in the part of _St. Albin_, in DIDEROT'S _Père de Famille_. + +BELLECOURT being dead, MOLÉ took the first parts in comedy, with the +exception of a few of those in which his predecessor excelled, whose +greatest merit, I understand, was an air noble and imposing in the +highest degree. As this was MOLÉ's greatest deficiency, he +endeavoured to make amends for it by some perfection. He had no +occasion to have recourse to art. It was sufficient for him to employ +well the gifts lavished on him by nature. Though now verging on +seventy, no one expresses love with more eloquence (for sounds too +have theirs), or with more charm and fire than MOLÉ. In the fourth +act of the _Misanthrope_, he ravishes and subdues the audience, when, +after having overwhelmed _Célimène_ with reproaches, he paints to her +the love with which he is inflamed. But this sentiment is not the +only one in the expression of which MOLÉ is pre-eminently successful. + +In the _Philinte de Molière_, which also bears the title of _La Suite +du Misanthrope_, and in which FABRE D'EGLANTINE has presented the +contrast between an egotist and a man who sacrifices his interest to +that of his fellow-creatures, MOLÉ vents all the indignation of +virtue with a warmth, a truth, and even a nobleness which at this day +belong only to himself. In short, he performs this part, in which the +word _love_ is not once mentioned, with a perfection that he +maintains from the first line to the last. + +In the fifth act of _Le Dissipateur_ (a comedy by DESTOUCHES), when +he sees himself forsaken by his companions of pleasure, and thinks he +is so by his mistress too, the expression of his grief is so natural, +that you imagine you see the tears trickling from his eyes. In +moments when he pictures love, his voice, which at times is somewhat +harsh, is softened, lowers its key, and (if I may so express myself) +goes in search of his heart, in order to draw from it greater +flexibility and feeling. The effect which he produces is irresistible +and universal. Throughout the house the most profound silence is +rigidly, but sympathetically enforced; so great is the apprehension +of losing a single monosyllable in these interesting moments, which +always appear too short. To this silence succeed shouts of +acclamation and bursts of applause. I never knew any performer +command the like but Mademoiselle SAINVAL the elder. + +In no character which MOLÉ performs, does he ever fail to deserve +applause; but there is one, above all, which has infinitely added to +his reputation. It is that of the _Vieux Célibataire_ in the comedy +of the same name by COLIN D'HARLEVILLE, which he personates with a +good humoured frankness, an air of indolence and apathy, and at the +same time a grace that will drive to despair any one who shall +venture to take up this part after him. On seeing him in it, one can +scarcely believe that he is the same man who renders with such warmth +and feeling the part of _Alceste_ in the _Misanthrope_, and in the +_Suite de Molière_; but MOLÉ, imbibing his talent from nature, is +diversified like her. + +Caressed by the women, associating with the most amiable persons both +of the court and the town, and, in short, idolized by the public, +till the revolution, no performer led a more agreeable life than +MOLÉ. However, he was not proscribed through it, and this was his +fault. Not having been imprisoned like the other actors of the old +_Comédie Française_, he had no share in their triumph on their +reappearance, and it even required all his talent to maintain his +ground; but, as it appears that no serious error could be laid to his +charge, and as every thing is forgotten in the progress of events, he +resumed part of his ascendency. I shall terminate this article or +panegyric, call it which you please, by observing that whenever MOLÉ +shall retire from the _Théâtre Français_, and his age precludes a +contrary hope, the best stock-pieces can no longer be acted.[1] + +FLEURY. A man can no more be a comedian in spite of Thalia than a +poet in spite of Minerva. Of this FLEURY affords a proof. This actor +is indebted to the revolution for the reputation he now enjoys; but +what is singular, it is not for having shewn himself the friend of +that great political convulsion. Nature has done little for him. His +appearance is common; his countenance, stern; his voice, hoarse; and +his delivery, embarrassed; so much so that he speaks only by +splitting his syllables. A stammering lover! MOLÉ, it is true, +sometimes indulged in a sort of stammer, but it was suited to the +moment, and not when he had to express the ardour of love. A lover, +such as is represented to us in all French comedies, is a being +highly favoured by Nature, and FLEURY shews him only as much +neglected by her. A great deal of assurance and a habit of the stage, +a warmth which proceeds from the head only, and a sort of art to +disguise his defects, with him supply the place of talent. Although +naturally very heavy, he strives to appear light and airy in the +parts of _petits-maîtres_, and his great means of success consist in +turning round on his heel. He was calculated for playing _grims_ +(which I shall soon explain), and he proves this truth in the little +comedy of _Les Deux Pages_, taken from the life of the king of +Prussia, the great Frederic, of whose caricature he is the living +model. He wished to play capital parts, the parts of MOLÉ, and he +completely failed. He ventured to appear in the _Inconstant_, in +which MOLÉ is captivating, and it was only to his disgrace. Being +compelled to relinquish this absurd pretension, he now confines +himself to new or secondary parts, in the former of which he has to +dread no humiliating comparison, and the latter are not worthy to be +mentioned. + +Friends within and without the theatre, and the spirit of party, +have, however, brought FLEURY into fashion. He will, doubtless, +preserve his vogue; for, in Paris, when a man has once got a name, he +may dispense with talent: + + "_Des réputations; on ne sait pourquoi!" + +says GRESSET, the poet, in his comedy of _Le Méchant_, speaking of +those which are acquired in the capital of France. + +BAPTISTE the elder. But for the revolution, he too would, in all +probability, never have figured on the _Théâtre Français_. When all +privileges were abolished, a theatre was opened in the _Rue Culture +St. Catherine_ in Paris, and BAPTISTE was sent for from Rouen to +perform the first parts. In _Robert Chef des Brigands_ and _La Mère +Coupable_, two _drames_, the one almost as full of improbabilities as +the other, he had great success; but in _Le Glorieux_ he acquired a +reputation almost as gigantic as his stature, and as brilliant as his +coat covered with spangles. This was the part in which BELLECOURT +excelled, and which had been respected even by MOLÉ. The latter at +length appeared in it; but irony, which is the basis of this +character, was not his talent: yet MOLÉ having seen the court, and +knowing in what manner noblemen conducted themselves, BAPTISTE had an +opportunity of correcting himself by him in the part of _Le +Glorieux_. + +The _Théâtre Français_ being in want of a performer for such +characters, BAPTISTE was called in. Figure to yourself the person of +Don Quixote, and you will have an idea of that of this actor, whose +countenance, however, is unmeaning, and whose voice seems to issue +from the mouth of a speaking-trumpet. + + +Jeunes premiers, _or young lovers, in Comedy_. + +ST. FAL, DUPONT, DAMAS, and ARMAND. + +One might assemble what is best in these four actors, without making +one perfect _lover_. I have already spoken of the first three, who, +in comedy, have nearly the same defects as in tragedy. As for the +fourth, he is young; but unfortunately for him, he has no other +recommendation. + + +_Characters of_ Grims, _or_ Rôles à manteau.[2] + +GRANDMÉNIL and CAUMONT. + +GRANDMÉNIL. This performer is, perhaps, the only one who has +preserved what the French critics call _la tradition_, that is, a +traditionary knowledge of the old school, or of the style in which +players formerly acted, and especially in the time of MOLIÈRE. This +would be an advantage for him, but for a defect which it is not in +his power to remedy; for what avails justness of diction when a +speaker can no longer make himself heard? And this is the case with +GRANDMÉNIL. However, I would advise you to see him in the character +of the _Avare_ (in MOLIÈRE'S comedy of that name) which suits him +perfectly. By placing yourself near the stage, you might lose nothing +of the truth and variety of his delivery, as well as of the play of +his countenance, which is facilitated by his excessive meagreness, +and to which his sharp black eyes give much vivacity. + +GRANDMÉNIL is member of the National Institute. + +CAUMONT. He possesses that in which his principal in this cast of +parts is deficient, and little more. One continually sees the efforts +he makes to be comic, which sufficiently announces that he is not +naturally so. However, he has a sort of art, which consists in +straining his acting a little without overcharging it. + + +_Parts of Valets_. + +DUGAZON, DAZINCOURT, and LAROCHELLE. + +DUGAZON. One may say much good and much ill of this actor, and yet be +perfectly correct. He has no small share of warmth and comic humour. +He plays sometimes as if by inspiration; but more frequently too he +charges his parts immoderately. PRÉVILLE, who is no common authority, +said of DUGAZON: "How well he can play, if he is in the humour!" He +is but seldom in the humour, and when he is requested not to +overcharge his parts, 'tis then that he charges them most. Not that +he is a spoiled child of the public; for they even treat him +sometimes with severity. True it is that he is reproached for his +conduct during the storms of the revolution. Although advanced in +years, he became Aide-de-camp to SANTERRE.----SANTERRE! An execrable +name, and almost generally execrated! Is then a mixture of horror and +ridicule one of the characteristics of the revolution? And must a +painful remembrance come to interrupt a recital which ought to recall +cheerful ideas only? In his quality of Aide-de-camp to the Commandant +of the national guard of Paris, DUGAZON was directed to superintend +the interment of the unfortunate Lewis XVI, and in order to consume +in an instant the body of that prince, whose pensioner he had been, +he caused it to be placed in a bed of quick lime. No doubt, DUGAZON +did no more than execute the orders he received; but he was to blame +in putting himself in a situation to receive them. + +Not to return too abruptly to the tone which suits an article wherein +I am speaking of actors playing comic parts, I shall relate a +circumstance which had well nigh become tragic, in regard to DUGAZON, +and which paints the temper of the time when it took place. Being an +author as well as an actor, DUGAZON had written a little comedy, +entitled _Le Modéré_. It was his intention to depress the quality +indicated by the title. However, he was thought to have treated his +subject ill, and, after all, to have made his _modéré_ an honest man. +In consequence of this opinion, at the very moment when he was coming +off the stage, after having personated that character in his piece, +he was apprehended and taken to prison. + +DAZINCOURT. In no respect can the same reproaches be addressed to him +as to DUGAZON; but as to what concerns the art, it may be said that +if DUGAZON goes beyond the mark, DAZINCOURT falls short of it. +PRÉVILLE said of the latter as a comedian: "Leaving pleasantry out of +the question, DAZINCOURT is well enough." Nothing can be added to the +opinion of that great master. + +LAROCHELLE. He has warmth, truth, and much comic humour; but is +sometimes a little inclined to charge his parts. He has a good stage +face. It appears that he can only perform parts not overlong, as his +voice easily becomes hoarse. This is a misfortune both for himself +and the public; for he really might make a good comedian. + +There are a few secondary actors in the comic line, such as BAPTISTE +the younger, who performs in much too silly a manner his parts of +simpletons, and one DUBLIN, who is the ostensible courier; not to +speak of some others, whose parts are of little importance. + + +_January 22, in continuation,_ + + +_Principal female Characters, in Comedy._ + +Mesdemoiselles CONTAT, and MÉZERAY.--Madame TALMA. + +Mademoiselle CONTAT. This actress has really brought about a +revolution in the theatre. Before her time, the essential requisites +for the parts which she performs, were sensibility, decorum, +nobleness, and dignity, even in diction, as well as in gestures, and +deportment. Those qualities are not incompatible with the grace, the +elegance of manners, and the playfulness also required by those +characters, the principal object of which is to interest and please, +which ought only to touch lightly on comic humour, and not be +assimilated to that of chambermaids, as is done by Mademoiselle +CONTAT. A great coquette, for instance, like _Célimène_ in the +_Misanthrope_, ought not to be represented as a girl of the town, nor +_Madame de Clainville_, in the pretty little comedy of _La Gageure_, +as a shopkeeper's wife. + +The innovation made by Mademoiselle CONTAT was not passed over +without remonstrance. Those strict judges, those conservators of +rules, those arbiters of taste, in short, who had been long in the +habit of frequenting the theatre, protested loudly against this new +manner of playing the principal characters. "That is not becoming!" +exclaimed they incessantly: which signified "that is not the truth!" +But what could the feeble remonstrances of the old against the warm +applause of the young? + +Mademoiselle CONTAT had a charming person, of which you may still be +convinced. She was not then, as she is now, overloaded with +_embonpoint_, and, though rather inclined to stoop, could avail +herself of the advantages of an elevated stature. None of the +resources of the toilet were neglected by her, and for a long time +the most elegant women in Paris took the _ton_ for dress from +Mademoiselle CONTAT. Besides, she always had a delicacy of +discrimination in her delivery, and a varied sprightliness in the +_minutiæ_ of her acting. Her voice, though sometimes rather shrill, +is not deficient in agreeableness, but is easily modulated, except +when it is necessary for her to express feeling. The inferiority of +Mademoiselle CONTAT on this head is particularly remarkable when she +plays with MOLÉ. In a very indifferent comedy, called _Le Jaloux sans +amour_, at the conclusion of which the husband entreats his wife to +pardon his faults, MOLÉ contrives to find accents so tender, so +affecting; he envelops his voice, as it were, with sounds so soft, so +mellow, and at the same time so delicate, that the audience, fearing +to lose the most trifling intonation, dare not draw their breath. +Mademoiselle CONTAT replies, and, although she has to express the +same degree of feeling, the charm is broken. + +Being aware that the want of nobleness and sensibility was a great +obstacle to her success, this actress endeavoured to insure it by +performing characters which require not those two qualities. The +first she selected for her purpose was _Susanne_ in the _Mariage de +Figaro_. _Susanne_ is an elegant and artful chambermaid; and +Mademoiselle CONTAT possessed every requisite for representing well +the part. She had resigned the principal character in the piece to +Mademoiselle SAINVAL the younger, an actress who was celebrated in +tragedy, but had never before appeared in comedy. On this occasion, I +saw Mademoiselle SAINVAL play that ungracious part with a truth, a +grace, a nobleness, a dignity, a perfection in short, of which no +idea had yet been entertained in Paris. + +Another part in which Mademoiselle CONTAT also rendered herself +famous, is that of _Madame Evrard_, in the _Vieux Célibataire_. +--_Madame Evrard_ is an imperious, cunning, and roguish housekeeper; +and this actress has no difficulty in seizing the _ton_ suitable to +such a character. This could not be done by one habituated to a more +noble manner. Mademoiselle CONTAT has not followed the impulse of +Nature, who intended her for the characters of _soubrettes_; but, +when she made her _début_, there were in that cast of parts three or +four women not deficient in merit, and it would have taken her a long +time to make her way through them. + +The parts which Mademoiselle CONTAT plays at present with the +greatest success are those in the pieces of MARIVAUX, which all bear +a strong resemblance, and the nature of which she alters; for it is +also one of her defects to change always the character drawn by the +author. The reputation enjoyed by this actress is prodigious; and +such a _critique_ as the one I am now writing would raise in Paris a +general clamour. Her defects, it is true, are less prominent at this +day, when hereditary rank is annihilated; and merit, more than +manners, raises men to the highest stations. Besides, it is a +presumption inherent in the Parisians to believe that they never can +be mistaken. To reason with them on taste is useless; it is +impossible to compel them to retract when they have once said "_Cela +est charmant_." + +Before I take leave of Mademoiselle CONTAT, I shall observe that +there exists in the _Théâtre Français_ a little league, of which she +is the head. Besides herself, it is composed of Mademoiselle +DEVIENNE, DAZINCOURT, and FLEURY. I am confidently assured that the +choice and reception of pieces, and the _début_ of performers depend +entirely on them. As none of them possess all the requisites for +their several casts of parts, they take care to play no other than +pieces of an equivocal kind, in which neither _bon ton_, nor _vis +comica_ is to be found. They avoid, above all, those of MOLIÈRE and +REGNARD, and are extremely fond of the comedies of MARIVAUX, in which +masters and lackies express themselves and act much alike. The unison +is then perfect, and some people call this _de l'ensemble_, as if any +could result from such a confusion of parts of an opposite nature. As +for new pieces, the members of the league must have nothing but +_papillotage_ (as the French call it), interspersed with allusions to +their own talent, which the public never fail to applaud. When an +author has inserted such compliments in his piece, he is sure of its +being received, but not always of its being successful; for when the +ground is bad, the tissue is good for nothing. + +Mademoiselle MÉZERAY. She is of the school of Mademoiselle CONTAT, +whence have issued only feeble pupils. But she is very pretty, and +has the finest eyes imaginable. She plays the parts of young +coquettes, in which her principal dares no longer appear. Without +being vulgar in her manner, one cannot say that she has dignity. As +for sensibility, she expresses it still less than Mademoiselle +CONTAT. However, the absence of this sentiment is a defect which is +said to be now common among the French. Indeed, if it be true that +they are fickle, and this few will deny, the feeling they possess +cannot be lasting. + +Madame TALMA. I have already spoken of her merits as a comic actress, +when I mentioned her as a tragedian. + + +_Parts of young Lovers._ + +Mesdemoiselles MARS, BOURGOIN, and GROS. + +Mademoiselle MARS. She delivers in an ingenuous manner innocent +parts, and those of lovers. She has modest graces, an interesting +countenance, and appears exceedingly handsome on the stage. But she +will never be a true actress. + +Mademoiselle BOURGOIN. She has some disposition for comedy, which she +neglects, and has none for tragedy, in which she is ambitious to +figure. I have already alluded to her beauty, which is that of a +pretty _grisette_. + +Mademoiselle GROS. She is the pupil of DUGAZON, and made her _début_ +in tragedy. The newspaper-writers transformed her into Melpomene, yet +so rapid was her decline, that presently she was scarcely more than a +waiting woman to Thalia. + + +Characters, _or foolish Mothers_. + +Mesdemoiselles LACHAISSAIGNE and THÉNARD. + +The latter of these titles explains the former. In fact, this cast of +parts consists of _characters_, that is, foolish or crabbed old +women, antiquated dowagers in love, &c. Commonly, these parts are +taken up by actresses grown too old for playing _soubrettes_; but to +perform them well, requires no trifling share of comic humour; for, +in general, they are charged with it. At the present day, this +department may be considered as vacant. Mademoiselle LACHAISSAIGNE, +who is at the head of it, is very old, and never had the requisites +for performing in it to advantage. Mademoiselle THÉNARD begins to +_double_ her in this line of acting, but in a manner neither more +sprightly nor more captivating. + + +_Parts of_ Soubrettes _or Chambermaids_. + +Mesdemoiselles DEVIENNE and DESBROSSES. + +Mademoiselle DEVIENNE. If Mademoiselle CONTAT changes the principal +characters in comedy into those of chambermaids, Mademoiselle +DEVIENNE does the contrary, and from the same motive, namely, because +she is deficient in the requisites for her cast of parts, such as +warmth, comic truth, and vivacity. Yet, while she assumes the airs of +a fine lady, she takes care to dwell on the slightest _équivoque_; so +that what would be no more than gay in the mouth of another woman, in +hers becomes indecent. As she is a mannerist in her acting, some +think it perfect, and they say too that she is charming. However, she +must have been very handsome. + +Mademoiselle DESBROSSES. The public say nothing of her, and I think +this is all she can wish for. + + * * * * * + +I have now passed in review before you those who are charged to +display to advantage the dramatic riches bequeathed to the French +nation by CORNEILLE, RACINE, MOLIÈRE, CRÉBILLON, VOLTAIRE, REGNARD, +&c. &c. &c. If it be impossible to squander them, at least they may +at present be considered as no more than a buried treasure. Although +the _chefs d'oeuvre_ of those masters of the stage are still +frequently represented, and the public even appear to see them with +greater pleasure than new pieces, they no longer communicate that +electric fire which inflames genius, and (if I may use the +expression) renders it productive. A great man can, it is true, +create every thing himself; but there are minds which require an +impulse to be set in motion. Without a CORNEILLE, perhaps the French +nation would not have had a RACINE. + +Formerly, people went to the _Théâtre Français_ in order to hear, as +it were, a continual course of eloquence, elocution, and +pronunciation. It even had the advantage over the pulpit and the bar, +where vivacity of expression was prohibited or restricted. Many a +sacred or profane orator came hither, either privately or publicly, +to study the art by which great actors, at pleasure, worked on the +feelings of the audience, and charmed their very soul. It was, above +all, at the _Théâtre Français_ that foreigners might have learned to +pronounce well the French language. The audience shuddered at the +smallest fault of pronunciation committed by a performer, and a +thousand voices instantly corrected him. At the present day, the +comedians insist that it belongs to them alone to form rules on this +point, and they now and then seem to vie with each other in despising +those already established. The audience being perhaps too indulgent, +they stand uncorrected. + +Whether or not the _Théâtre Français_ will recover its former fame, +is a question which Time alone can determine. Undoubtedly, many +persons of a true taste and an experienced ear have disappeared, and +no one now seems inclined to say to the performers: "That is the +point which you must attain, and at which you must stop, if you wish +not to appear deficient, or to overact your part." But the fact is, +they are without a good model, and the spectators, in general, are +strangers to the _minutiæ/i> of dramatic excellence. In tragedy, +indeed, I am inclined to think that there never existed at the +_Théâtre Français_ such a deficiency of superior talents. When LEKAIN +rose into fame, there were not, I have been told, any male performers +who went as far as himself, though several possessed separately the +qualifications necessary for that line. However, there was +Mademoiselle DUMESNIL, a pupil of nature, from whom he might learn to +express all the passions; while from Mademoiselle CLAIRON he might +snatch all the secrets of art. + +As for Comedy, it is almost in as desperate a situation. The _ton_ of +society and that of comedians may have a reciprocal influence, and +the revolution having tended to degrade the performance of the +latter, the consequences may recoil on the former. But here I must +stop.--I shall only add that it is not to the revolution that the +decline of the art, either in tragedy or comedy, is to be imputed. It +is, I understand, owing to intrigue, which has, for a long time past, +introduced pitiful performers on the stage of the _Théâtre Français_, +and to a multiplicity of other causes which it would be too tedious +to discuss, or even to mention. Notwithstanding the encomiums daily +lavished on the performers by the venal pen of newspaper writers, the +truth is well known here on this subject. Endeavours are made by the +government to repair the mischief by forming pupils; but how are they +to be formed without good masters or good models? + +[Footnote 1: It must grieve every admirer of worth and talent to hear +that MOLÉ is now no more. Not long since he paid the debt of nature. +As an actor, it is more than probable that "we ne'er shall look on +his like again."] + +[Footnote 2: The word _Grim_, in French theatrical language, is +probably derived from _grimace_, and the expression of _Rôles à +manteau_ arises from the personages which they represent being old +men, who generally appear on the stage with a cloak.] + + + +LETTER LVI. + +_Paris, January 24, 1802._ + +Among the customs introduced here since the revolution, that of women +appearing in public in male attire is very prevalent. The more the +Police endeavours to put a stop to this extravagant whim, the more +some females seek excuses for persisting in it: the one makes a +pretext of business which obliges her to travel frequently, and +thinks she is authorized to wear men's clothes as being more +convenient on a journey; another, of truly-elegant form, dresses +herself in this manner, because she wishes to attract more notice by +singularity, without reflecting that, in laying aside her proper +garb, she loses those feminine graces, the all-seductive +accompaniments of beauty. Formerly, indeed, nothing could tend more +to disguise the real shape of a woman than the + +COSTUME OF THE FRENCH LADIES. + +A head-dress, rising upwards of half a yard in height, seemed to +place her face near the middle of her body; her stomach was +compressed into a stiff case of whalebone, which checked respiration, +and deprived her almost of the power of eating; while a pair of +cumbersome hoops, placed on her hips, gave to her petticoats the +amplitude of a small elliptical, inflated balloon. Under these +strange accoutrements, it would, at first sight, almost have puzzled +BUFFON himself to decide in what species such a female animal should +be classed. However, this is no longer an enigma. + +With the parade of a court, all etiquette of dress disappeared. +Divested of their uncouth and unbecoming habiliments, the women +presently adopted a style of toilet not only more advantageous to the +display of their charms, but also more analogous to modern manners. + +No sooner was France proclaimed a republic, than the annals of +republican antiquity were ransacked for models of female attire: the +Roman tunic and Greek _cothurnus_ soon adorned the shoulders of the +Parisian _élégantes_; and every antique statue or picture, relating +to those periods of history, was, in some shape or another, rendered +tributary to the ornament of their person. + +This revolution in their dress has evidently tended to strengthen +their constitution, and give them a pectoral _embonpoint_, very +agreeable, no doubt, to the amateur of female proportion, but the too +open exposure of which cannot, in a moral point of view, be +altogether approved. These treasures are, in consequence, now as +plentiful as they were before uncommon. You can scarcely move a step +in Paris without seeing something of this kind to exercise your +admiration. Many of those domains of love, which, under the +old-fashioned dress, would have been considered as a flat country, +now present, through a transparent crape, the perfect rotundity of +two sweetly-rising hillocks. As prisoners, wan and disfigured by +confinement, recover their health and fulness on being restored to +liberty, so has the bosom of the Parisian belles, released from the +busk and corset, experienced a salutary expansion. + +In a political light, this must afford no small satisfaction to him +who takes an interest in the physical improvement of the human +species, as it tends to qualify them better for that maternal office, +dictated by Nature, and which, in this country, has too long and too +frequently been intrusted to the uncertain discharge of a mercenary +hireling. Another advantage too arises from the established fashion. +Thanks to the ease of their dress, the French ladies can now satisfy +all the capacity of their appetite. Nothing prevents the stomach from +performing its functions; nothing paralyzes the spring of that +essential organ. Nor, indeed, can they be reproached with +fastidiousness on that score. From the soup to the desert, they are +not one moment idle: they eat of every thing on the table, and drink +in due proportion. Not that I would by any means insinuate that they +drink more than is necessary or proper. On the contrary, no women on +earth are more temperate, in this respect, than the French; they, for +the most part, mix water even with their weakest wine; but they also +swallow two or three glasses of _vin de dessert_, without making an +affected grimace, and what is better, they eat at this rate without +any ill consequence, Now, a good appetite and good digestion must +strengthen health, and, in general, tend to produce pectoral +_embonpoint_. + +In this capital, you no longer find among the fair sex those +over-delicate constitutions, whose artificial existence could be +maintained only by salts, essences, and distilled waters. Charms as +fresh as those of Hebe, beauties which might rival the feminine +softness of those of Venus, while they bespeak the vigour of Diana, +and the bloom of Hygëia, are the advantages which distinguish many of +the Parisian belles of the present day, and for which they are, in a +great measure, indebted to the freedom they enjoy under the antique +costume. + +In no part of the world, perhaps, do women pay a more rigid attention +to cleanliness in their person than in Paris. The frequent use of the +tepid bath, and of every thing tending to preserve the beauty of +their fine forms, employ their constant solicitude. So much care is +not thrown away. No where, I believe, are women now to be seen more +uniformly healthy, no where do they possess more the art of assisting +nature; no where, in a word, are they better skilled in concealing +and repairing the ravages of Time, not so much by the use of +cosmetics, as by the tasteful manner in which they vary the +decoration of their person. + + + +LETTER LVII. + +_Paris, January 25, 1802._ + +I have already observed that the general effervescence to which the +revolution gave birth, soon extended to the seminaries of learning. +The alarm-bell resounded even in the most silent of those retreats. +Bands of insurgents, intermixed with women, children, and men of +every condition, came each moment to interrupt the studies, and, +forcing the students to range themselves under their filthy banner, +presented to them the spectacle of every excess. It required not all +this violence to disorganize institutions already become +antiquated,[1] and few of which any longer enjoyed much consideration +in the public opinion. The colleges and universities were deserted, +and their exercises ceased. Not long after, they were suppressed. The +only establishment of this description which has survived the storms +of the revolution, and which is no less important from its utility +than extensive in its object, is the + +COLLÈGE DE FRANCE. + +It neither owed this exemption to its ancient celebrity, nor to the +talents of its professors; but having no rich collections which could +attract notice, no particular estates which could tempt cupidity, it +was merely forgotten by the revolutionists, and their ignorance +insured its preservation. + +The _Collège de France_ is, at the present day, in this country, and +perhaps in the rest of Europe, the only establishment where every +branch of human knowledge is taught in its fullest extent. The object +of this institution is to spread the most elevated notions of the +sciences, to maintain and pave the way to the progress of literature, +either by preserving the taste and purity of the ancient authors, or +by exhibiting the order, lustre, and richness of the modern. Its duty +is to be continually at the head of all the establishments of public +instruction, in order to guide them, lead them on, and, as it were, +light them with the torch of knowledge. + +This college, which is situated in the _Place de Cambray_, _Rue St. +Jacques_, was founded by Francis I. That monarch, distinguished from +all cotemporaries by his genius, amiableness, and magnificence, saw +in literature the source of the glory of princes, and of the +civilization of the people. He loved and honoured it, not only in the +writings of the learned, but in the learned themselves, whom he +called about his person, at the same time loading them with +encouragement and favours. It is singular that those times, so rude +in many respects, were, nevertheless, productive of sentiments the +most delicate and noble. + +Truth never shuns princes who welcome it. Francis I was not suffered +to remain ignorant of the deplorable state in which literature then +was in France, and, though very young, he disdained not this +information. Nothing, in fact, could approach nearer to barbarism. +The impulse Charlemagne had given to study was checked. The torches +he had lighted were on the point of being extinguished. That famous +university which he had created had fallen into decline. A prey to +all the cavils of pedantry, it substituted dispute and quibble to +true philosophy. + +Nothing was any longer talked of but the _five universals_, +_substance_, and _accident_. All the fury of argument was manifested +to know whether those were simple figures, or beings really existing, +all things equally useful to the revival of knowledge and the +happiness of mankind. The Hebrew and Greek tongues were scarcely, if +at all, known; the living languages, little cultivated; Latin itself, +then almost common, was taught in the most rude and imperfect manner. +In short, the most learned body of the State had fallen into the most +profound ignorance: a striking example of the necessity of renewing +continually and maintaining the life of those bodies employed in +instruction. + +I am not speaking of the sciences, then entirely unknown. The +languages were every thing at this period, on account of their +connexion with religion. + +The small number of men of merit whom the bad taste of the age had +not reached, were striving to restore to literature its lustre, and +to men's minds their true direction; but, in order to revive the +taste for good studies, it was necessary to create a new +establishment for public instruction, which should be sufficiently +extensive for acquiring a great influence. It was necessary to +assemble men the most celebrated for their talent and reputation, in +order that, being thus placed in full view, and presented to public +attention, they might rectify the minds of men by their authority, as +well as enlighten them by their knowledge. + +This undertaking, difficult in itself, became much less so through +the circumstances which then existed. Taste seemed to have taken +refuge at the court, and the king easily yielded to the reasons of +the learned who approached him; but no one took a greater share in +this project than the celebrated Erasmus. Remote from it as he was, +he accelerated its execution by the disinterested praises which he +lavished on it. The king sent to invite him, in the most flattering +terms, to take the direction of it and to settle in France; but +Erasmus, jealous of liberty, retained besides by the gratitude he +owed to Charles V, and by the care he bestowed on the College of +Louvain which he had founded, refused this task, equally honourable +and useful. He manifested not the less, in his letters, the joy he +felt to see studies re-established by the only means which could +reanimate them. It is pleasing to the true friends of the sciences to +find among those who cultivate them similar traits of generosity and +nobleness. + +At length peace having restored to France repose and the means of +repairing her losses, the king gave himself up without reserve to the +desire he had of making the sciences flourish, and realized the grand +project of public instruction which had for a long time occupied his +mind. The new college took the name of _Collège Royal_. It had +professors for the Hebrew and Greek tongues, and some even for the +mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and the living languages. + +The formation of the _Collège Royal_ gave great displeasure to the +University. After having held so long without a rival the sceptre of +the sciences and literature, it was grating to its members to +relinquish it. They could ill bear to see set above it an +establishment evidently intended to direct and guide it. Self-love +offended seldom forgives, especially when it is animated by the +_esprit de corps_. The University depreciated the new college, and +endeavoured to fetter it in a thousand ways. At last, those dark +intrigues being constantly smothered by the applause which the +professors received, the University finished by bringing them before +a court of justice. From, envy to persecution there is but one step, +and that step was soon taken. + +Religion served as a pretext and a cloak for this accusation. It was +affirmed that the new professors could not, without danger to the +faith, explain the Hebrew and Greek tongues, if they had not been +presented to the University to be examined by it, and received from +it their mission. To this it was answered, that if the theologians of +the University understood Greek and Hebrew, it must be easy for them +to denounce the passages in which the new professors had erred, and +that if, on the contrary, they did not understand those languages, +they ought not to pretend to judge those who taught them. After long +debates, things were left in the state in which they were before the +trial. Each party continued quietly its lessons, and, as it almost +always happens in such cases, reason ended by having its due weight: +true it is that it was then supported by royal authority. + +The _Collège de France_ has not since ceased to make an increasing +progress. It even had the valuable advantage of reforming itself +successively, and of following new ideas, the necessary result of its +constitution and of the lustre that has always surrounded it; two +causes which have occasioned its chairs to be sought by the most +celebrated men of every description. It is this successive reform +which constitutes the distinctive character of the _Collège de +France_, and which has always enabled it to fulfil its real object. + +Thus, to quote but one example. The chair of Greek philosophy was, in +the beginning, intended to make known the writings of the ancient +philosophers on the nature of things and the organization of the +universe. These were, at that time, the only repositories of human +knowledge for mathematics and physics; but, in proportion as the +sciences, more advanced, substituted rational theories for hazardous +conjectures, the modern discoveries of astronomy were taught, +together with the writings of the ancients. The object of this chair, +which at the present day bears the name of general physics and +mathematics, is to disseminate the most elevated notions of mechanics +and the theory of the system of the world. The works taught by its +occupier are analytical mechanics and celestial mechanics, that is, +those works which form the limits of our knowledge for mathematical +analysis, and consequently those of which it is most important to +increase the very small number of readers. + +By a consequence of that spirit of amelioration which animates this +College, some time before the revolution, a chair and a cabinet of +experimental physics were added to it. + +As for the natural sciences, which are taught here with much depth +and detail in several establishments, they have, in the _Collège de +France_, a sort of regulator which directs them, as it were, by their +generalities. It is, in fact, to this only that an establishment +which, by its nature, contains no collection, ought to attach itself, +and the philosophy of the sciences, the result and completion of +their study, here constitutes the object of all the lectures. + +Thus the improvements which the sciences have successively +experienced, have always been spread by the instruction of the +_Collège Royal_; and among the professors who have occupied its +chairs, none can be quoted who have been strangers to their progress. + +The revolution, which overthrew in France the ancient universities, +suspended for some time the exercises of this establishment; but, +under the name of _Collège de France_, it has since resumed a new +lustre. It then found itself compelled to new efforts, in order to +maintain its place among the scientific institutions, which have +emulously risen in every branch of human knowledge. Nevertheless, +those different sciences, even natural history, and the curative art, +taught with so much perfection in private establishments, have hence +derived great advantages, and here it is that public instruction +comes at once to be resumed, investigated, and extended. + +The present government appears to be perfectly sensible of the +importance of such an establishment. The enlightened men, the +celebrated _savans_, who approach it, have pointed out in the +_Collège de France_ a _normal_ school, completely formed, and which +unites to the extent of its object the ever-powerful ascendant of +seniority. The similarity between the circumstances in which this +institution is at the present day and those when it was founded, +affords the most certain hope of its progress being maintained and +accelerated. + +This is what appears to me the most interesting in the history of +this ancient college. I say nothing of its present professors; their +zeal is proved by their assiduous and uninterrupted lessons; their +merit is before the judgment of the public; and as for their names, +these are indifferent to the results of their labours. If any other +motive than that of the interest of the sciences were blended with +the information I now communicate, I should not think that, in this +letter, I was fulfilling the object of your wishes. + +P.S. It may not be useless to mention that no students are attached +to the _Collège de France_. The lectures are public; and every one +who is desirous of improving his mind in any branch of science, may +attend them free of expense or trouble. It is impossible for the +friend of learning to withhold his admiration from so noble an +institution. What, in fact, can be more liberal than this gratuitous +diffusion of knowledge? + +[Footnote 1: Whatever sentiment may have been preserved respecting +the ancient University of Paris, every impartial person must +acknowledge that it was several centuries in arrear in regard to +every thing which concerns the Arts and Sciences. Peripatetic, when +the learned had, with Descartes, renounced the philosophy of +Aristotle, it became Cartesian, when they were Newtonians. Such is +the too general custom of bodies, engaged in instruction, who make no +discoveries. Invested at their formation with great influence over +scientific opinions, because they are composed of the best informed +men of the day, they wish constantly to preserve those advantages. +They with reluctance suffer that there should be formed, elsewhere +than in their own bosom, new opinions which might balance theirs; and +if the progress of the sciences at last obliges them to abandon their +doctrine, they never adopt the most modern theories, were they, in +other respects, preferable; but embrace those which existed for some +time anterior to them, and which they themselves had before combated. +This inertness of bodies, employed in instruction, is an unavoidable +evil; because it is the effect of self-love, the most invariable of +passions.] + + + +LETTER LVIII. + +_Paris, January 17, 1802._ + +If we do not consider the _Opera Buffa_ as a national theatre, then +the next in rank, after the Grand French Opera and the _Théâtre +Français_, is the + +THÉÂTRE DE L'OPÉRA COMIQUE. + +This house, which is situated in the _Rue Feydeau_, near the _Rue de +la Loi_, was opened for the first time in January 1791. The entrance +to it is by a circular vestibule, externally decorated with +caryatides, and sufficiently spacious for one carriage to enter while +another drives off by an adjoining outlet. At the end of this +vestibule is a long gallery, bordered by shops on both sides, which +forms a second entrance by the _Rue Filles St. Thomas_. + +The interior form of this theatre is a semi-circle, extended in a +right line at its extremities, which places the orchestra in a +central position, and renders the house one of the fittest in Paris +for a concert. Two rows of Gothic pillars, one above the other, +occupy nearly all its height; and though it contains eight tiers of +boxes, five only are in sight. The same distribution repeated in +regard to the stage-boxes, presents a very projecting pavilion, which +seems to support a large triumphal arch. However grand this style of +architecture may be in appearance, in effect it renders the seats +very inconvenient to two-thirds of the spectators. The ornaments +consist of a strange mixture of the Greek, Gothic, and Oriental. The +house is said to contain two thousand persons. + +In the beginning, this theatre united the performers of the original +_Opéra Buffa_ and some of those belonging to the old French Comic +Opera, who played alternately. The former retiring from Paris in +1792, the latter for some time attracted full houses by the +excellence of their style of singing, tasteful decorations, and one +of the best composed orchestras in the capital. + +Since then, it has experienced the changes and vicissitudes attendant +on the revolution. At present, the company is composed of a selection +from the performers of the _Opéra Comique_ of the _Théâtre Favart_ +(formerly known by the name of _Théâtre Italien_), and those of the +lyric theatre of which I am now speaking. This junction has not long +been effected. Previously to its taking place, the _Comédie +Italienne_, where French comic operas only were represented, was +still constituted as it was under the old _régime_, of which it was +remarked as being the sole remnant. + +Formerly, the French Comic Opera was very rich in stock-pieces, +chiefly written by FAVART, SÉDAINE, MARMONTEL, HÈLE,[1] MONVEL, +MARSOLIER, HOFFMAN, and others. Their productions were set to music +by GRÉTRY, MONSIGNY, PHILIDOR, DÉSAÏDES, DALEYRAC, &c. These pieces +are now seldom played, the music of them being antiquated; though for +energy and truth of expression some of it surpasses that of many of +the more modern compositions. The new authors are little known. The +composers of the music are MÉHUL, DALEYRAC before-mentioned, +BOYELDIEU, TARCHI, &c. The modern pieces the most in vogue and most +attractive are _Le Prisonnier_, _l'Opéra Comique_, a piece so called, +_Le Calife de Bagdad_, _Maison à vendre_, _D'Auberge en Auberge_, and +a few others of the same description. All these are really pleasing +comedies. + +The _Théâtre Feydeau_ itself was also in possession of a great number +of stock-pieces, among which were some in the style of the Grand +French Opera. A considerable change seems to have taken place, as the +latter are now no longer represented. + +In surveying the _Opéra Comique_, one would imagine that, in lieu of +one company, two separate ones had been formed to play in the same +theatre. The former is the weaker in number, but the stronger in +talent. The latter, though weaker, has some good performers, in the +long list of those of whom it is composed; but, in general, they are +either no longer in their pristine lustre, or have not yet attained a +competent degree of perfection. + +Seldom are the two companies mixed. Pieces in the style of the modern +_Opéra Comique_, in which easy mirth is replaced by quaint jests, are +played exclusively by the former. They draw crowded houses, as the +public are extremely partial to them. Lyric _drames_ are abandoned to +the latter, and the old stock-pieces to such of the performers as +choose to act in them for a small number of spectators who are so +obliging as to enter the house with _orders_ or _free_ admission. OF +all the repositories of old pieces that of the _Comédie Italienne_ is +the one which is the most entirely neglected. This is rather the +fault of the actors than that of the public. There are many old +productions which would attract a crowd, were the best performers to +play them; but who likes to pay for seeing a master-piece murdered? +--We now come to speak of the qualifications of these performers. + + +_Principal Characters and parts of Lovers._ + +Counter-Tenors. + +ELLEVIOU, GAVAUDAN, PHILIPPE, and GAVEAUX. + +ELLEVIOU. He is the first singer at the _Opéra Comique_. Nor will +this opinion be contradicted by any of the elegant and pretty women +who, slaves to the custom of shewing themselves at the first +representation of a new piece, never begin to applaud till ELLEVIOU +makes his appearance. + +This performer is, in fact, gifted with a handsome person, an easy +manner, an expressive countenance, and a voice, which, when he +modulates it, is charming. His delivery is tolerably good, and in +some parts, he is not deficient in warmth and feeling. As a singer, +ELLEVIOU leaves behind all those destined to second him. After having +begun by singing bass, he has taken the parts of counter-tenor, for +which, however, his voice is not suited, but he makes up for this +deficiency by a very flexible tenor. He displays much art and a very +modern taste. His method too is good; he makes no improper use of his +facility by lavishing graces, but his manner is too uniform. This is +the greatest objection that can be made to him, in the double +capacity of singer and comedian. + +GAVAUDAN. This young actor, with a well-proportioned stature and a +very agreeable countenance, ranks, at the _Opéra Comique_, next in +merit to ELLEVIOU. His voice, as a counter-tenor, is not very +brilliant, nor his means extensive; but his taste is good, and his +method that of the modern school. As a player, he has a certain +repution in lyric _drames_, and especially in those melancholy parts, +the characteristic of which is a concentrated passion. He imitates +TALMA, and, like him, "outsteps the modesty of Nature." + +PHILIPPE. His reputation was begun by the advantages of his person, +and he consolidated it by his performance in the line of +knight-errantry. _Richard, coeur de lion_, was the part which +secured him the public favour. His voice is still an agreeable +counter-tenor; but he declines through age. As an actor, he is +deficient in nobleness, and his gestures are not dignified; but, +being used to the stage, and possessing some feeling, he often +produces happy effects. + +GAVEAUX. He has been a good singer in his youth, and is a very +agreeable composer. He always acquits himself of any part he +undertakes, if not in a brilliant manner, at least with credit. Two +of his musical productions are stock-pieces, and well worth seeing. +_L'Amour Filial_ is a happy imitation of the Italian school, and +_Sophie et Moncars_ is always heard with pleasure. + + +_Characters of Fathers, Valets, or Comic Parts_. + +Bass-voices. + +CHENARD, MARTIN, RÉZICOURT, JULIET, and MOREAU. + +CHENARD. Owing to an advantageous person, this actor once stood as +high in the favour of the ladies as ELLEVIOU does at present. He +still possesses a fine voice, as a bass, but it is not very flexible. +In the part of _Monsieur de la France_, in _l'Épreuve Villageoise_, +he established his fame as a singer; yet his style is not +sufficiently modelled after the modern taste, which is the Italian. +As an actor, he is very useful; but, having always been treated by +the public like a spoiled child, he is too apt to introduce his own +sallies into his parts, which he sometimes charges with vulgarisms of +the lowest description. + +MARTIN. In the parts of valets, MARTIN cannot be better placed than +near ELLEVIOU, whom he seconds with skill and taste. This has led the +composers here to an innovation. Formerly, duets in the graceful +style between men were seldom heard; but the voices of ELLEVIOU and +MARTIN being perfectly adapted to each other, almost all the +composers have written for them duets in which the _cantabile_ +prevails, and concerted cadences are very conspicuous. This, I +understand, is unprecedented in Paris. + +MARTIN made his _début_ in 1783 at the _Théâtre de Monsieur_ in the +company of Italian buffoons. In this school he acquired that taste +which he has since propagated with zeal, if not with success. At the +present day, he is accused of loading his singing with superfluous +embellishments, or of placing them without judgment in passages or +situations where they are ill-suited. However, in _morceaux +d'ensemble_ he is quite at home, and, of course, shews himself to +great advantage. As an actor, he is by no means remarkable, though he +sometimes displays intelligence. + +RÉZICOURT. He may justly be called a good comedian, without examining +his merits as a singer. + +JULIET. In the newspapers, this performer is called _inimitable_. His +manner is his own; yet, perhaps, it would be very dangerous to advise +any one to imitate it. He is not deficient in intelligence, and has +the habit of the stage; but his first quality is to be extremely +natural, particularly in the parts of Peasants, which he performs +with much truth. He seems to be born a player, and though he is not a +musician, he always sings in tune and in time. + +MOREAU. An agreeable person, open countenance, animation, an +ingenuous manner, and an unerring memory. He is very well placed in +young Peasants, such as _Le Bon André_ and _Lubin_ of FAVART, as well +as in the parts of Valets. + + +_Mixed characters of every sort_.--Tenors. + +SOLIÉ, and ST. AUBIN. + +SOLIÉ. He first appeared in the parts of young lovers with a tall +stature and a handsome face, but neither of them being fashioned for +such characters, he met with no applause. His voice was not very +brilliant, but his method of singing was replete with grace and +taste. For this, however, he obtained no credit; the Parisian public +not being yet accustomed to the modern or Italian style. CLAIRVAL, +the first singer at the old _Opéra Comique_, happening to be taken +suddenly ill one night, SOLIÉ undertook his part at a moment's +warning. Success crowned his temerity, and from that moment his merit +was appreciated. His best character is _Micheli_ in _Les deux +Savoyards_, in which he established his reputation. In the pieces of +which MÉHUL has composed the music, he shines by the finished manner +in which he executes it; the _cantabile_ is his fort. As an actor, +his declamation is not natural, and his deportment is too much that +of a mannerist. However, these defects are compensated by his +singing. To the music of others, he does every justice, and that +which he composes himself is extremely agreeable. + +ST. AUBIN. This performer once had a good voice as a counter-tenor; +but as he now plays no other than secondary parts, one might imagine +that he is retained at the theatre only in consideration of his +wife's talents. + + +_Caricatures and Simpletons_. + +DOZAINVILLE, and LESAGE. + +DOZAINVILLE. The person of this actor is very favourable for +caricatures and the characters of simpletons, which he fills. The +meagreness of his countenance renders it very flexible; but not +unfrequently he carries this flexibility to grimace. As a singer, he +must not be mentioned. + +LESAGE. He is a musician, but has little voice. He performs the parts +of simple peasants in a natural manner, but with too much uniformity. +This is is a general defect attached to those characters.--Let me +next introduce the female performers. + + +_First female Singers and Parts of Lovers_. + +Mesdames ST. AUBIN, SCIO, LESAGE, CRÉTU, +PHILIS the elder, GAVAUDAN, and PINGENET. + +Madame ST. AUBIN. She is a capital actress, though chiefly in the +parts of young girls; yet she is the main pillar of the _Opéra +Comique_. She never has been handsome, at least when closely viewed, +and is now on the wane, being turned of forty-five; but her graceful +little figure and delicate features make her appear pretty on the +stage. Neatness and _naïveté_ characterise her acting. She has +scarcely any voice, but no other songs than romances or ballads are +assigned to her. She formerly played at the Grand French Opera, where +she was applauded in noble and impassioned parts, though they are +not, in general, suited to her manner. But an actress, high in favour +with the public, is always applauded in whatever character she +appears. The pieces in which Madame ST. AUBIN excels are _Le +Prisonnier, Adolphe et Clara_, and _L'Opéra Comique_, which is the +title of a piece, as I have already mentioned. + +Madame SCIO. Although she is said not to be well versed in music, she +has a very extensive and powerful voice, but its tones have little +variety. As an actress, she is very indifferent. Without being mean, +she has no nobleness of manner. Like almost all the performers +belonging to the _Opéra Comique_, she delivers ill the dialogue, or +such sentences as are not set to music. As she frequently strains her +acting, persons deficient in taste are pleased to bestow on her the +epithet of _great_ as an actress. However, she played _Médée_ in a +lyric tragedy of that name; but such a Medea was never seen! As a +singer, Madame Scio is a valuable acquisition to this theatre. In +point of person, she is neither ordinary nor handsome. + +Mademoiselle LESAGE. Her singing is chaste, but destitute of that +musical energy which distinguishes great singers. She plays _les +ingénuités_ or innocent characters; but is rather a mannerist, +instead of being childish. She then employs a false voice, not at all +suited to this line of acting, in which every thing should be +natural. + +Madame CRÉTU. This actress came to Paris from Bourdeaux, preceded by +a great reputation. She has been handsome: a clear voice, a good +method of singing, a becoming manner of acting, insured her success. +She is very useful at this theatre, in pieces where the _vis comica_ +does not predominate. + +Mademoiselle PHILIS the elder. This is a pretty pupil of the famous +GARAT. She has a clear pipe, a charming countenance, a quick eye, an +agreeable person, and some taste. She possesses as much merit as an +actress as a singer.[2] + +Madame GAVAUDAN. She is admired for her pretty person, pretty voice, +and pretty carriage. No wonder then that she has greatly contributed +to the success of the little pieces in the style of _Vaudeville_, +which have been performed at this theatre. + +Mesdemoiselles PINGENET. These two sisters are nothing as actresses; +but seem to aspire to the title of singers, especially the elder, who +begins to distinguish herself. + + +_Noble Mothers and Duennas_. + +Mesdames DUGAZON, PHILIPPE, and GONTHIER. + +Madame DUGAZON. Twenty years ago she enjoyed a great name, for which +she was indebted to the bad taste that then prevailed. With large +prominent eyes, and a broad flat nose, she could not be really +handsome; but she had a very animated countenance. In lyric _drames_, +she personated country-girls, chambermaids, and princesses. In the +first-named cast of parts, she had an ingenuous, open, but rustic +manner. She played chambermaids in a style bordering on effrontery. +Lastly, she represented princesses, but without any dignity, and also +women bereft of their reason. The part in which she had the most +vogue was that of _Nina_ in _La Folle par amour_. Her madness, +however, appeared not to be occasioned by the sensibility of her +heart. It was too much inclined to the sentimental cast of Sterne's +Maria. + +Madame DUGAZON, who ought to have been in possession of a +considerable fortune, from the vast sums of money lavished on her by +Englishmen, is at this day reduced to perform the parts of mothers, +in which she acquits herself so as to deserve neither praise nor +censure. + +Madame PHILIPPE. Under the name of DESFORGES, she shone formerly in +the part of _Marguerite_ in _Richard, coeur de lion_. Without being a +superior singer, she executes her songs with feeling. + +Madame GONTHIER. This actress still enjoys the benefit of her former +reputation. She is excellent in a cast of parts become hacknied on +the stage; namely, gossips and nurses. + +I have said nothing of the _doubles_ or duplicates of all these +ladies, as they are, in general, bad copies of the originals. + +The choruses of the _Opéra Comique_ are not very numerous, and have +not the strength and correctness which distinguish those of the Grand +French Opera. Nor could this be expected. The orchestra has been +lately recomposed, and at present consists of a selection of +excellent performers. The scenery, decorations, and dresses are +deserving of commendation. + +[Footnote 1: Or HALE, an Englishman, who wrote _Le Jugement de +Midas_, _l'Amant Jaloux_, and _Les Évenemens Imprevus_, pretty lyric +comedies, especially the last. Notwithstanding the success of his +pieces, this author is said to have died in the greatest distress.] + +[Footnote 2: Not long since she set off for Russia, without apprizing +any one of her intention.] + +[Footnote 3: The commissioner, appointed by the government to +superintend the proceedings of this theatre, has since been replaced +by a _Prefect of the Palace_, whose authority is much the same as +that exercised when each of the principal theatres in Paris was under +the inspection of a _Lord of the Bedchamber_.] + + + +LETTER LIX. + +_Paris, January 29, 1802._ + +Whenever the pen of an impartial writer shall trace the history of +the French revolution, through all its accompanying vicissitudes, it +will be seen that this country owed its salvation to the _savans_ or +men of science. The arts and sciences, which were revived by their +zeal and courage, united with unceasing activity to pave the way to +victories abroad, and repair mischiefs at home. Nor can it be denied, +that every thing which genius, labour, and perseverance could create, +in point of resources, was employed in such a manner that France was +enabled, by land, to make head against almost all Europe, and supply +her own wants, as long as the war lasted. + +The _savans_ who had effected such great things, for some time +enjoyed unlimited influence. It was well known that to them the +Republic was indebted for its safety and very existence. They availed +themselves of this favourable moment for insuring to France that +superiority of knowledge which had caused her to triumph over her +enemies. Such was the origin of the + +POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. + +This establishment had a triple object; namely, to form engineers for +the different services; to spread in civil society enlightened men, +and to excite talents which might promote the sciences. Nothing was +neglected that could tend to the accomplishment of a destination so +important. + +It was, in fact, time to reorganize the instruction of corps destined +for public services, the greater part of which were wholly deficient +in this respect. Some of them, it is true, had particular schools; +but instruction there was feeble and incomplete. That for military +engineers at _Mézieres_, the best conducted of all, and which +admitted twenty pupils only, had suspended its exercises, in +consequence of the revolution. Necessity had occasioned the formation +of a provisionary school, where the pupils received rapidly the first +notions of the attack and defence of places, after which they were +sent to the armies. + +Such institutions neither answered the exigencies of the State, nor +conduced to its glory. Their weakness was, above all, likely to be +felt by men habituated to general ideas, and whose minds were still +more exalted, and views enlarged, by the revolution. Those men wished +that the new _School for Public Works_ should be worthy of the +nation. Their plan was extensive in its object, but simple in its +execution, and certain in its results. + +The first law concerning the _Central School for Public Works_, since +called the _Polytechnic School_, was made on the 20th of Ventôse year +II. (10th of March 1794). From that moment, much zeal was manifested +in making the necessary arrangements for its formation. On the report +made to the National Convention respecting the measures taken on this +subject, on the 7th of Vendémiaire year III (28th of September 1794) +a decree was passed, directing a competition to be opened for the +admission of four hundred pupils into this school. The examination +was appointed to take place in twenty-two of the principal towns. The +candidates were to answer in arithmetic and the elements of algebra +and geometry. Those admitted received the allowance of military +officers for their travelling expenses to Paris. They were to have +annually twelve hundred francs, and to remain in the school three +years, after which they were to be called to the different Public +Services, when they were judged capable of performing them; and +priority was to depend on merit. These services were the duty of +military engineers, naval engineers, or ship-builders, artillerists, +both military and naval, engineers of bridges and highways, +geographical engineers, and engineers of mines, and to them were +added the service of the pupils of the school of aërostation, which +GUYTON MORVEAU had caused to be established at Meudon, for the +purpose of forming the aërostatic company destined for manoeuvring +air-balloons, applied to the art of war, as was seen at _Maubeuge_, +_Fleurus_, _Aix-la-Chapelle_, &c. + +However, the conception of this project was far more easy than its +execution. It was doing little to choose professors from among the +first men of science in Europe, if their lessons were not fixed in +the mind of the pupils. Being unable to communicate them to each +pupil in private, they stood in need of agents who should transmit +them to this numerous assemblage of youth, and be, as it were, the +nerves of the body. To form these was the first object. + +Among the young men who had presented themselves at the competition, +twenty of the most distinguished were selected. Philosophical +instruments and a chemical laboratory were provided for them, and +they were unremittingly exercised in every part of the plan which it +was resolved to execute. These pupils, the greater part of whom had +come from the schools for Public Service, felt the insufficiency of +the instruction which they had there received. Eager to learn, their +mind became inflamed by the presence of the celebrated men who were +incessantly with them. The days sufficed not for their zeal; and in +three months they were capable of discharging the functions for which +they were intended. + +Nor was this all. At a time when opinion and power might change from +one moment to another, much risk was incurred if a definitive form +was not at once given to the _Polytechnic School_. The authors of +this vast project had seen the revolution too near not to be sensible +of that truth. But they wished first, by a trial made on a grand +scale, to insure their method, class the pupils, and shew what might +be expected from them. They therefore developed to them, in rapid +lectures, the general plan of instruction. + +This plan had been drawn up agreeably to the views of men the best +informed, amongst whom MONGE must be particularly mentioned. He had +been professor at _Mezières_, and had there given the first lessons +of descriptive geometry, that science so useful to the engineer. The +enumeration of the various parts of instruction was reduced to a +table, printed by order of the Committee of Public Safety. It +comprehends mathematics, analysis applied to descriptive geometry and +to the mechanism of solids and fluids, stereotomy, drawing, civil +architecture, fortification, general physics, chymistry, mineralogy, +and their application to the arts. + +In three months, the work of three years was explained. A real +enthusiasm was excited in these youths on finding themselves occupied +by the sublimest ideas which had employed the mind of man. Amidst the +divisions and animosities of political party, it was an interesting +sight, to behold four hundred young men, full of confidence and +friendship, listening with profound attention to the lectures of the +celebrated _savans_ who had been spared by the guillotine. + +The results of so great an experiment surpassed the most sanguine +expectations. After this preliminary instruction, the pupils were +divided into brigades, and education took the course it was intended +should follow. + +What particularly distinguishes this establishment, is that the +pupils not only receive oral lessons, but they must give in written +solutions, present drawings, models, or plans for the different +parts, and themselves operate in the laboratories. + + +On the 1st of Germinal year III (22d of March 1795) the annual +courses were commenced. They were then distributed for three years, +but at this day they last two only. At the same time a decree was +passed, regulating the number of professors, adjuncts, ushers, the +holding of the meetings of the council of instruction and +administration, the functions of the director, administrator, +inspector of the studies, secretary of the council, librarian, +keepers of the collection of drawings, models, &c. + +Since that epoch, the _Polytechnic School_, often attacked, even in +the discussions of the _Legislative Body_, has maintained its ground +by the impression of the reputation of the men who act there as +professors, of the depth of the knowledge which makes the object of +their lessons, and of the youths of superior talent who issue from it +every year. The law which after many adjournments, has fixed its +existence is dated the 25th of Frimaire year VIII (16th of December +1799.) + +The most important changes introduced, are the determination of the +age to be received into this school, which is from sixteen to twenty, +the reduction of the pupils to the number of three hundred, the rank +which is given them of serjeant of artillery of the first class, +their pay fixed on the same footing, together with a fund of +assistance for those labouring under difficulties, the obligation to +wear a uniform, the establishment of a council of improvement, +composed of three members of the National Institute, of examiners, of +a general-officer or superior agent of each of the branches of the +Public Service, of the director, and four commissioners taken from +the council of instruction. + +This council assembles every year, inquires into the state of the +school, proposes its views of amelioration, respecting every +department, and makes a report to the government. One of its +principal functions is to harmonise the instruction with that of the +Schools of Engineers, Artillery, &c. into which the pupils enter +after the final examination they undergo previously to their +departure. + +After this, to judge of the advantages of the _Polytechnic School_, +it is sufficient to cast an eye on the printed reports, which present +an account of the persons it furnishes to the different services, of +those who have been taken from it for the expedition to Egypt, for +the corps of _aspirans de la marine_ or midshipmen, for entering into +the line vith the rank of officers, or into the department of +commissaries of war, (into which they are admitted after their +examination if no places are vacant in the Schools for Public +Service), of those who have been called on to profess the sciences in +the central schools (Lyceums) of the departments, some to fill the +first professors' chairs in Paris, such as at the _Collège de France_ +and the _École Polytechnique_, of those, in short, who have quitted +this school to introduce into the manufactories the knowledge which +they had acquired. The last-mentioned circumstance has always been a +consideration for carrying the number of pupils beyond the presumable +wants of the different Public Services. + +You see that this is no more than a summary of what might be said +and collected from the journals of the _Polytechnic School_, (which +already form four volumes in 4to. independently of the classic works +published by the professors), for giving a complete history of this +interesting establishment, which attracts the notice of foreigners of +all nations. BONAPARTE takes no small interest in the labours of the +_Polytechnic School_, and has often said that it would be difficult +to calculate the effects of the impulse which it has given towards +the mathematical sciences, and of the aggregate of the knowledge +imparted to the pupils. + +The _Polytechnic School_, which is under the authority of the +Minister of the Interior, occupies an extensive range of building, +formerly known by the name of _Le petit Palais Bourbon, contiguous to +the _Palais du Corps Legislatif_. The different apartments contain +every thing necessary for the elucidation of the arts and sciences +here taught; but the pupils reside not at the school: they lodge and +board with their friends, on the salary allowed them by the nation, +and repair thither only for the prosecution of their studies. + + + +LETTER LX. + +_Paris, January 30, 1802._ + +To judge from the records of the Old Bailey, one would conclude that, +in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, London must contain a +greater number of dishonest persons of both sexes than any metropolis +in Europe. But, though more notorious thieves and daring robbers may +perhaps, be found in London than in many other great cities, yet I +will venture to affirm that Paris contains more + +PICKPOCKETS AND SHARPERS. + +However superior too our rogues may be in boldness, I apprehend that, +in dexterity, they are far inferior to those to be met with among our +neighbours. To elude a more vigilant inspection, the latter are +compelled to exert more art and cunning. In this dissipated capital, +which is a grand theatre where they can display all their talent, and +find a greater number of dupes, adventurers and swindlers of every +description have long been famous; but it should seem that the +females here of that stamp deserve to be no less celebrated. + +Not many years ago, I heard of an English lady of quality being +detected in the very act of secreting a quantity of valuable lace, to +which she had taken a particular fancy at a great haberdasher's in +Pall-Mall. It was said that she endeavoured to exculpate herself for +this inadvertency on the ground of being in a pregnant state, which +had produced an irrisistible longing. However this may be, she might +here have got a lesson, as will appear from the following instance of +ingenuity very lately practised by one of her own sex. + +In the _ci-devant Palais Royal_, a haberdasher of note keeps a shop +where the highest-priced articles of female wear are exhibited, +immediately on coming from the hands of the manufacturer or inventor. + +The other day, a lady somewhat turned of thirty, of genteel +appearance and engaging address, entered this shop, and asked to see +some white lace veils. Several were shewn to her at the price of from +twenty-five to fifty louis each. These not being sufficiently rich to +please her taste, others more costly were produced, and she fixed on +one of eighty louis in value. Standing before a glass, she +immediately put on this veil _à la réligieuse_, that is, in the form +of the hood of a nun's dress. Then taking from her bosom her little +purse, she found it to contain no more than twenty louis in +bankpaper, which she paid to the haberdasher as a deposit for the +veil, at the same time desiring him to send one of his men with her +to her _homme d'affaires_ or agent, in order that he might bring back +the other sixty. + +As a Parisian tradesman is always extremely glad to get rid of his +goods, she had no difficulty in carrying her point; and, having +selected from among the shopmen a shamefaced youth of eighteen, took +him with her in the hackney-coach which she had kept in waiting. She +gave the coachman her orders, and away he drove to a famous +apothecary's, in the _Rue St. Honoré_. "This," said she to the +shopman, "is the residence of my _homme d'affaires_: follow me, and +you shall have your money." She accordingly alighted, and, after +saying a few words in the ear of the doctor, on whose credulity she +had already exercised her genius, desired him to take the young man +to his private room, and settle the business, while she remained to +chat with his wife. + +The unsuspecting youth, seeing the lady on such terms of intimacy in +the family, made no hesitation to follow the doctor to a +back-parlour, where, to his extreme surprise, he was closely +questioned as to his present state of health, and the rise and +progress of the disorder which he had caught through his own +imprudence. The more he denied the circumstance, the more the +doctor persisted in his endeavours to procure ocular demonstration. +The latter had previously locked the door, having been apprized by +the lady that her son was exceedingly bashful, and that stratagem, +and even a certain degree of violence, perhaps, must be employed +to obtain evidence of a complaint, which, as it injured her +_dear boy's_ constitution, disturbed her own happiness and peace +of mind. The doctor was proceeding to act on this information, +when the young shopman, finding his retreat cut off, vociferously +demanded the sixty louis which he was come to receive in payment +for the veil. "Sixty louis in payment for a veil!" re-echoed the +doctor. "Your mother begged me to examine you for a complaint which +you have inconsiderately contracted in the pursuit of pleasure." The +_dénouement_ now taking place, the two dupes hastened back to the +shop, when they found that the lady had decamped, having previously +discharged the coach, in order that she might not be traced by the +number. + +The art of purloining a watch, a snuff-box, or a purse, unperceived +by the owner, may, no doubt, be acquired by constant practice, till +the novice becomes expert in his profession: but the admirable +presence of mind displayed by Parisian sharpers must, in a great +measure, be inherited from nature. What can well surpass an example +of this kind mentioned by a celebrated French writer? + +A certain person who had been to receive a sum of money at a +banker's, was returning home with it in a hired carriage. The +coachman, not remembering the name of the street whither he had been +ordered to drive, got off his box, and opened the coach-door to ask +it. He found the person dead and cold. At his first exclamation, +several people collected. A sharper who was passing by, suddenly +forced his way through the crowd, and, in a lamentable and pathetic +voice, called out: "'Tis my father! What a miserable wretch am I!" +Then, exhibiting every mark of the most poignant grief, he got into +the coach, and, crying and sobbing, kissed the dead man's face. The +bystanders were affected, and dispersed, saying, one to another, +"What an affectionate son!" The sharper drove on in the coach, where +he found the bags of money, which were an unexpected booty, and, +stopping it at a door, told the coachman that he wished to apprize +his sister of the melancholy accident that had just happened. He +alighted, and shut the coach-door, leaving the corpse as naked as it +came into the world. The coachman, having waited a long time, +inquired in vain at the house for the young man and his sister; no +one had any knowledge of her, him, or the deceased. + +I remember when I was last in Paris, at the beginning of the +revolution, being shewn a silversmith's shop, whence a few articles +having been stolen, the master was induced to examine in what manner +the thieves gained admittance. Discovering an aperture where he +conjectured that a man's hand might be introduced, he prepared a +noose with a proper cord, and remained in waiting the following night +to see if they would repeat their visit. At a late hour, when all was +quiet, he perceived a man's hand thrust through the aperture; +instantly he drew tight the noose, and thought he had effectually +secured the culprit; but he was mistaken. The fellow's accomplices, +fearing that the apprehension of one of them would lead to the +discovery of all, on finding it impossible to extricate him by any +other means, cut off his wrist. When the patrole arrived at the spot, +on the call of the silversmith, he was not a little astonished to +find that his prisoner had escaped, though with the loss of a hand, +which remained fast in the noose. + +With respect to these more daring classes of rogues, every year +almost produces some new race of them. Since the revolution, the +criminal code having condemned to death none but those guilty of +murder, housebreakers, to avoid the penalty of the law, had recourse +to a practice, which put the persons whom they subjected to it to the +most severe pain. This was to hold their feet to the fire till they +declared where all their moveable property was to be found. Hence +these villains obtained the name of _chauffeurs_. Notwithstanding the +vigilance of the Police, they still occasionally exercise their +cruelties in some of the departments, as may be seen by the +proceedings of the criminal tribunals. I have also heard of another +species of assassins, who trained blood-hounds to seize a man by the +throat in certain solitary places, and then came afterwards, and +plundered him at their ease. When apprehended, they coolly said: "We +did not kill the man, but found him dead." + +As in former times, all sentences passed on criminals, tried in +Paris, whether condemned to die or not, are put into execution on the + +PLACE DE GRÈVE. + +The first sentence executed here was that passed on _Marguerite +Porette_, a female heretic, who was burnt alive in the year 1310. + +Among the punishments which it has been found necessary to +re-establish is that of marking with a hot iron. Criminals, condemned +to imprisonment in irons, are exposed for two hours on a scaffold in +the middle of this square. They are seated and tied to a post, having +above them a label with the words of their sentence. They are clad in +woollen pantaloons and a waistcoat with sleeves, one half of each of +which is white; the other, brown. After being exposed two hours, they +are stripped, and to their shoulder is applied a hot iron, which +there leaves the impression of the letter V, for _voleur_, thief. +Women, not being condemned to imprisonment in irons; are exempt from +the penalty of being marked. This punishment is said to produce +considerable effect on the culprits, as well as on the spectators. +Previously to its being revived, persons convicted of thieving were +insolent beyond all endurance. + +The _Place de Grève_ is a parallelogram, one of the long sides of +which is occupied by the _ci-devant Hôtel de Ville_, a tasteless +edifice, begun in 1533, but not finished till 1605. + +Before the revolution, the _Place de Grève_ was alternately the +theatre of punishments and rejoicings. On the same pavement, where +scaffolds were erected for the execution of criminals, rose superb +edifices for public festivals. + +Here, when any criminal of note was to suffer, the occupiers of the +adjoining houses made a rich harvest by letting their apartments. +Every window that commanded a view of the horrid scene, was then +hired at a most exorbitant price. Women of the first rank and +fashion, decked in all the luxury of dress, graced even the uppermost +stories. These weak-nerved females, who would have fainted at the +sight of a spider mangling a fly, stood crowded together, calmly +viewing the agonies of an expiring malefactor, who, after having been +racked on the wheel, was, perhaps, denied the _coup de grace_ which +would, in an instant, have rid him of his miserable existence. + +The death of a regicide was a sort of gala to these belles; while the +lead was melting over the furnace, the iron pinchers heating in the +fire, and the horses disposed for tearing asunder the four quarters +of the victim of the laws, some of them amused themselves with an +innocent game at cards, in sight of all these terrible preparations, +from which a man of ordinary feeling would avert his looks with +horror. + +How happens it that, in all countries on the continent, ladies flock +to these odious spectacles? Every where, I believe, the populace run +to behold them; but that a female of superior birth and breeding can +deliberately seek so inhuman a gratification is a mystery which I +cannot explain, unless, indeed, on the principle of shewing +themselves, as well as that of seeing the show. + + "_Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ_." + + + +LETTER LXI. + +_Paris, February 2, 1802._ + +Independently of the general organization of Public Instruction, +according to the new plan, of which I have before traced you the +leading features, there exist several schools appropriate to +different professions, solely devoted to the Public Service, and +which require particular knowledge in the arts and sciences. Hence +they bear the generic name of + +SCHOOLS FOR PUBLIC SERVICES. + +They are comprised under the following denominations. + + POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. + SCHOOL OF ARTILLERY. + MILITARY ENGINEERS. + BRIDGES AND HIGHWAYS. + MINES. + NAVAL ENGINEERS. + NAVIGATION. + +In order to be admitted into any of the above schools, the candidates +must prove themselves qualified by the preliminary instruction +required the examinations at the competition prescribed for each of +them. The pupils of these schools receive a salary from the nation. +At the head of them is the _Polytechnic School_, of which I have +already spoken. This is the grand nursery, whence the pupils, when +they have attained a sufficient degree of perfection, are +transplanted into the other _Schools for Public Services_. Next come +the + +SCHOOLS OF ARTILLERY. + +There are eight of these in the places where the regiments of +artillery are garrisoned. The pupils who are sent thither as +officers, after having been examined, apply their knowledge to the +arts, to the construction of works, and to the manoeuvres of war +dependent on artillery. Each school, in which the pupils must remain +two years longer, is under the superintendance of a general of +brigade of the corps. + +SCHOOL OF MILITARY ENGINEERS. + +This school, united to that of Miners, is established at Metz. Its +labours relate to the application of the theoretical knowledge which +the pupils have imbibed at the _Polytechnic School_. The objects of +these labours is the construction of all sorts of works of +fortification, mines and counter-mines, mock-representations of +sieges, attack, and defence, the drawing of plans and military +surveys, in a word, all the details of the duty of engineers in +fortified places and in the field. + +The number of pupils is limited to twenty. They have the rank and pay +of second lieutenant. The School of Engineers, as well as the Schools +of Artillery, is under the authority of the Minister at War. + +Much as I wish to compress my subject, I must observe that, +previously to leaving the school, the pupils undergo a strict +examination respecting the objects of instruction before-enumerated. +This examination is intrusted to a _jury_ (as the French term it) +composed of the commander in chief of the school, a general or +field-officer of the corps, appointed every year by the Minister at +War, and one of the permanent examiners of the Polytechnic School. +_This jury forms the list of merit, which regulates the order of +promotion._ Can we then wonder that the French have the first +military engineers in Europe? + +SCHOOL OF BRIDGES AND HIGHWAYS. + +It was founded in 1787, by TRUDAINE, and continued under the +direction of PERRONET, chief engineer of this corps, till his death, +which happened in 1794. He was then 86 years of age. By his will, he +bequeathed to this school, for the instruction of the pupils whom he +loved as his children, his library, his models, his manuscripts, and +his portfolios; articles which at this day form an invaluable +collection. + +This school, which is at present established in the _Hôtel de +Chatelet_ (formerly belonging to the duke of that name) _Rue de +Grenelle_, _St. Germain_, unites the _dépôt_ or repository of plans +and models to the labours relating to roads, canals, and harbours for +trade. The number of pupils admitted is fifty. They are taken from +the _Polytechnic School_, and retain the salary which they there +received. + +The instruction given to them chiefly consists in the application of +the principles of physics and mathematics to the art of planning and +constructing works relative to roads, canals, and sea-ports, and the +buildings belonging thereto; the means of execution, and the mode of +forming plans and estimates of the works to be executed, and the +order to be observed in keeping the accounts. + +The _School of Bridges and Highways_ is under the authority of the +Minister of the Interior, + +PRACTICAL SCHOOLS OF MINES. + +One of these schools is established at Geislautern, in the +department of La Sarre; and the other, at Pesay, in the department +of Mont-Blanc. + +The Director and Professors form a committee for the working of the +mines of Pesay, as well as for the instruction of the pupils. In +consequence of the report of this committee the _Council of Mines_ +established in Paris, proposes to the government the measures +necessary to be adopted. Twenty pupils, who have passed their +examination at the _Polytechnic School_, are attached to the +practical schools, for the purpose of applying the theoretical part +of their instruction. Extra-scholars, with testimonials of good +behaviour and capacity, are admitted to be educated at their own +expense. These schools are also under the authority of the Minister +of the Interior. + +SCHOOL OF NAVAL ENGINEERS. + +The _School of Naval Architects_, which existed in Paris, has been +removed to Brest, under the name of _École des Ingénieurs des +Vaisseaux_. No pupils are admitted but such as have been students, at +least two years, in the _Polytechnic School_. The examination of the +candidates takes place every year, and the preference is given to +those who excel in descriptive geometry, mechanics, and the other +branches of knowledge appropriated to the first year's study at that +school. When the pupils have proved, in the repeated examinations +which they must undergo, that they are sufficiently qualified, they +are sent to Brest (as vacancies occur), in order to apply the theory +they have acquired to the different works carried on in that port, +where they find both the example and the precept, and are taught +every thing relative to the construction of ships of war and +merchant-vessels. + +This school is under the authority of the Minister of the naval +department. The pupils admitted into it, receive a salary of 1800 +francs (_circa_ £. 75 sterling) a year. + +SCHOOLS OF NAVIGATION. + +The Schools of Mathematics and Hydrography, established for the navy +of the State, and the Schools of Hydrography destined for the +merchant-service, bear the name of _Écoles de Navigation_. + +Every year, there is a competition for the admission of candidates +for naval employment. The Hydrographical Examiner makes a general +tour to the different ports, where he interrogates the pupils in +arithmetic, algebra, geometry, statics, and navigation. According to +these examinations, they are admitted to the rank of _aspirons de +marine_ or midshipmen, captains of merchant-ships for long voyages, +masters of coasting-vessels, pilots, &c, + +By a late decree of the Consuls, no one can be admitted to the +examination prescribed for being received as master in the +coasting-trade, unless he is twenty-four years of age, and has +served five years on board the ships of war belonging to the +Republic. + + * * * * * + +In my letter of the 15th of January, I have shewn you that Public +Instruction is to be divided into four classes: 1. In Primary +Schools, established by the _Communes_. 2. In Secondary Schools, +established by the _Communes_, and kept by private masters. 3. In +Lyceums. 4. In _Special Schools_. In the two last-mentioned +establishments, the pupils are to be maintained at the expense of the +nation. + +Before I particularize the _Special Schools_, I must mention a +national institution, distinguished by the appellation of + +PRYTANÉE FRANÇAIS. + +It is divided into four colleges, established at Paris, St. Cyr, St. +Germain-en-Laye, and Compiegne. It was destined for the gratuitous +education of the children of the military killed in the field of +honour, and of public functionaries who might happen to die in the +discharge of their office. + +By a decree of the Consuls, dated the 1st of Germinal year VIII (22nd +of March 1800) the number of pupils, in each of the Colleges of +Paris, St. Cyr, and St. Germain-en-Laye, is limited to two hundred, +and to three hundred, in that of Compiegne. An augmentation, however, +is to be made in favour of the new departments. The pupils are named +by the First Consul. On entering the College, they bring a stated +proportion of necessaries, after which they are wholly maintained at +the expense of the nation till they have finished their studies. The +government provides for the advancement of those who give the +greatest proof of good conduct and talent. The pupils cannot remain +in either of these four colleges beyond the age of eighteen. + +As I have before observed, the Central Schools are, in future, to +bear the name of Lyceums, and the highest degree of public +instruction is to be acquired in the + +SPECIAL SCHOOLS. + +In these upper schools are to be particularly taught, in the most +profound manner, the useful sciences, together with jurisprudence, +medicine, natural history, &c. The Special Schools now in existence +are to be continued, subject to such modifications as the government +may think fit to introduce for the benefit of the Public Service. +They are still under the immediate superintendance of the Minister of +the Interior. + +The _Collège de France_ I have before described: the Museum of +Natural History, the Special School of docimastic Mineralogy and +Chemistry, and that for Oriental languages, I shall speak of +elsewhere; but I shall now proceed to give you a rapid sketch of the +others which I have not yet noticed, beginning with the + +SPECIAL SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE. + +This institution was founded in 1648, at the instigation of LE BRUN. +It was formerly held in the _Place du Louvre_, but is now removed to +the _ci-devant Collège des Quatre-Nations_, which has taken the name +of _Palais des Beaux Arts_. This is the only school in Paris that has +never indulged in any vacation. Each professor is on duty for two +months. During the first month, he gives his lessons in the school of +living models; during the other, in the school of the antique, +called, _la bosse_. It may not be uninteresting to give you an idea +of the + +COMPETITIONS. + +Every year there is a competition in Painting, Sculpture, and +Architecture, which is to be called _National Prize_. Its object is +to confer on those who have gained the first prize, at present +proposed by the Institute, the advantage of an allowance of 1200 +francs for five years, which is insured to them at the French School +of Fine Arts at Rome. During their stay there, they are lodged, +boarded, and taken care of, in case of illness, at the expense of the +Republic. + +A competition takes place every six months for the rank of places in +the schools; and another, every three months for the distribution of +medals. + +There is also a prize, of 100 francs, founded by M. DE CAYLUS, for a +head expressive of character, painted or drawn from nature; and +another prize of 300 francs, founded by LATOUR, for a half-length, +painted after a model, and of the natural size. + +Independently of the competition of the school, there is every year a +general competition followed by a distribution of the works of +encouragement, granted to the artists who have distinguished +themselves most in the annual exhibition of the _Salon du Louvre_. A +jury, named by the competitors themselves, examines the different +pictures, classes them according to the degree of merit which it +finds they possess, and the Minister of the Interior allots to each +of the artists _crowned_ a sum in payment of a new work which they +are bound to furnish to the government. + +NATIONAL SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE. + +In this school, which is held in the _Louvre_, the Professor of +Architecture delivers lectures on the history of that art, and the +theory of its different branches, on the orders, and edifices erected +by the ancients, and on the works of Vitruvius, Palladio, Scamozzi, +and Vignole. He takes no small pains to make known the bold style of +Grecian architecture, which the Athenians chiefly employed during the +ages when they prided themselves on being a free people. + +The Professor of Mathematics explains the principles of arithmetic +and elementary geometry, which he applies to the different branches +of civil and military architecture, such as levelling, the art of +constructing plans, and perspective. + +The Professor of Stereotomy, in his lectures, chiefly comprises +masonry and carpentry; he points out the best methods of employing +those arts in civil and military buildings. His demonstrations relate +to the theoretical and practical part of both branches. All the +pupils, and students of architecture are indiscriminately admitted to +the competition for the great prize of architecture, provided they +are not foreigners. + +CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC. + +This establishment, situated in the _Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière_, +was founded on the 16th of Thermidor year III, (4th of August 1795) +for the preservation and reproduction of music in all its branches. + +It is composed of a director, three inspectors of teaching, a +secretary, a librarian, and thirty-five professors. + +The director presides over the whole establishment; the inspectors +superintend the teaching, examine the pupils, and teach the branches +of study attributed to them by the regulation. + +In the Conservatory, the instruction is divided as follows: +composition, harmony, solfaing, singing, violin, violincello, +harpsicord, organ, flute, hautboy, clarinette, French-horn, bassoon, +trumpet, trombonne, serpent, preparation for singing, and declamation +applicable to the lyric stage. + +The completion of the study is effected by a series of lectures, +treating specially of the relations between the sciences and the art +of music. + +Three hundred pupils of both sexes, taken in equal number from each +department, are instructed gratuitously in the Conservatory. The +principal points towards which their studies are directed, are, to +keep up music in society, to form artists for the execution of public +_fêtes_, for the armies, and for the theatres. + +These pupils are admitted after an examination, which takes place +four times a year. Prizes are distributed annually, in a public +meeting of the Conservatory, to the pupils who distinguish themselves +in each branch of study. + + * * * * * + +_February 2, in continuation._ + +To the preceding brief account of the Conservatory, I shall subjoin a +few observations on the + +PRESENT STATE OF MUSIC IN FRANCE. + +Till the year 1789, this was the country where the greatest expense +was incurred in cultivating music; yet the means which were employed, +though very numerous, produced but little effect, and contributed not +to the improvement of that art. Every thing even announces that its +progress would have been still more retarded, but for the +introduction of the Italian Opera, in 1645, by Cardinal Mazarin. + +The brilliant success of _Orfeo e Euridice_, in 1647, determined the +national taste in favour of this sort of _spectacle_, and gave birth +to the wish of transplanting it to the French stage. It was in 1659 +that the first opera, with music adapted to a French poem, was +performed at Issy. + +Since the epoch of the establishment of the French opera, every +department belonging to it, with the sole exception of the singing, +has been so much improved, that it is become the most brilliant +_spectacle_ in Europe. But, as the lyric theatres in France were +always obliged to seek recruits among the pupils formed in the +schools maintained by the clergy for the service of public worship, +the influence of the clerical mode of instruction was felt; and this +was, in fact, the source of the bad taste which for a long time +characterized French singing. + +Had the grand opera in France been continued an Italian one, as it +was first established, (like those subsequently introduced in the +principal cities of Europe) it would have been supported by +performers formed by the Conservatories of Italy; and the good taste +of those schools would have balanced or proscribed the bad taste of +the French cathedrals; but the genius of the seventeenth century +chose that the French language, purified and fixed by the writers who +rendered it illustrious, should also become the language of the lyric +theatre. Musical instruction, remaining entirely subservient to the +customs of religion, was unable to keep pace with the rapid progress +of the arts and sciences during that brilliant period. + +Among the defects of the old system of teaching music, must be placed +that of confining it to men; nevertheless, the utility of women in +concerts and plays was as incontestable then as it is at the present +day. Public instruction was therefore due to them in that point of +view; but, had no such consideration existed, they should have been +admitted to participate in this instruction, in order to propagate +the art in society. The success of this method would have been +infallible: as soon as women should have cultivated the musical art +with success, its naturalization would have been effected in France, +as it has been in Germany and Italy. + +The expense of the musical instruction pursued in the schools +belonging to the cathedrals was immense, compared with its results in +every branch of the art. As to composers, they produced but a very + +small number, and few of these distinguished themselves; no +instrumental performer of eminence ever issued from them; and, with +few exceptions, the singers they formed were very indifferent. + +The necessity of introducing a better method of singing induced the +government, in 1783, to establish a _Special School of Singing and +Declamation._ This institution continued in full exercise for ten +years; but, though the celebrated PICCINI was appointed to preside +over the vocal department, the habits of the old school obstructed +its progress, and prevented it from producing the good which was +expected from it. + +At the epoch of the dissolution of the monarchical institutions, +there remained in France only the School of Music of the Parisian +national guard, and that of Singing and Declamation just mentioned. +The republican government ordered them to be united, and thus was +formed the _Conservatory of Music_. + +Nor let it be imagined that policy has had no share in establishing +this institution. It has furnished the numerous bands of musicians +rendered necessary by the levy of fourteen armies which France had, +at one and the same time, in the field. It is well known that music +has done almost wonders in reviving the courage of the French +soldiers, who, when Victory seemed adverse to them, inclined her in +their favour, by rallying to the tune of the _Marseillois_. In the +heat of action, joining their voice to the instruments, and raising +themselves to a pitch of enthusiasm, they received or dealt out +death, while they kept singing this hymn. The French then are no less +indebted to ROUGET DE LILLE than the Spartans were to TYRTÆUS. At the +beginning of the revolution, they had no songs of the warlike kind, +except a few paltry ballads sung about the streets. ROUGET, who was +then an officer of engineers at Strasburg, was requested to compose a +martial hymn. Full of poetic fire, he shut himself up in his chamber, +and, in the course of one night, wrote the words of the +_Marseillois_, adapting to them music, also of his own composition. +Notwithstanding this patriotic production, and the courage which the +author is said to have displayed during the war, he was twice +imprisoned, at one time on suspicion of royalism; at another, of +terrorism. + +Independently of the great number of musicians with which the +Conservatory has supplied the armies, it has furnished between two +and three hundred to the theatres, as well in Paris as in the +departments.[1] The band of the Consular guard was formed from the +pupils of the Conservatory, and sixty of them at present compose the +orchestra, known in Paris by the name of _Concert Français_, and the +execution of which has been much applauded by many celebrated +composers. + +Its members meet to discuss the theories which may improve and extend +the different branches of the musical art. They have already laid the +principal foundations of a body of elementary works for teaching them +in perfection. _Les Principes élementaires de Musique_, and a _Traité +d'Harmonie_, which is said to have gained the universal approbation +of the composers of the three schools, assembled to discuss its +merits, are already published. A method of singing, established on +the best principles of the Italian school, applied to French +declamation, is now in the press; and these publications are to be +successively followed by other didactic works relative to the history +of the art. + +A principal cause of the present scarcity of fine voices in France, +is the war which she has had to maintain for ten years, by armies +continually recruited by young men put in requisition at the period +when the voice is forming, and needs to be cultivated in order to +acquire the qualities which constitute a good singer. + +Formerly, French commerce derived but very little advantage from +articles relating to music; but the means employed by the +Conservatory may probably turn the scale in favour of this country, +as well as render it, in that respect, independent of foreign +nations. + +Before the revolution, England furnished France with _piano-fortes_, +the common price of which was from three to five hundred francs. +Germany mostly supplied her with wind and string instruments. German +French-horns, though coarsely-made instruments, cost seventy-two +francs, and the good violins of the Tyrol were paid for as high as +one hundred and twenty. The consumption of these instruments was +considerable. Nor will this appear surprising, as previously to the +foundation of the Conservatory, the instrumental musicians, employed +in the French regiments and places of public amusement, were mostly +Germans. + +The French _piano-fortes_ are now in request in most parts of Europe, +and their price has, in consequence, increased from one thousand to +two thousand four hundred francs. The price of French-horns, made in +Paris, which, from being better finished, are preferable to those of +Germany, has, in like manner, risen from three to five hundred +francs. Parisian violins have increased in proportion. + +With respect to printed music, the French import none; but, on the +contrary, export a great deal; and the advantages resulting from +these two branches of commerce, together with the stamp-duty attached +to the latter, are said to be sufficient to defray the expenses of +the musical establishments now existing, or those proposed to be +created. + +Before I close this letter, I must not omit to mention a very useful +institution, for the promotion of the mechanical arts, established +in the _Rue de l'École de Médecine_, and called the + +GRATUITOUS SCHOOL FOR DRAWING. + +It was founded in the year 1766, for the instruction of fifteen +hundred children intended for mechanical professions, and was the +first beneficent establishment opened in favour of the common people. +Literature, sciences, and liberal arts had every where public +schools; mechanical arts alone were neglected. The lower orders, by +whom they were exercised, had no other means of learning them, and of +developing the faculties of their mind, than the blind routine of +apprenticeship. + +The success of this school had progressively caused similar ones to +be instituted in a great number of towns of France, but most of them +are buried under the ruins of the revolution; that of Paris has +escaped the general overthrow; and, though it has lost a considerable +portion of its revenue, it still admits about six hundred pupils. +They are taught every thing relative to the mechanical arts, such as +drawing in all its various branches, military, civil, and naval +architecture, hydraulics, arithmetic, land-surveying, mensuration, +perspective, stone-cutting, and in short such parts of mathematics +and practical geometry as relate to those different objects. + +The Gratuitous School for Drawing must not be assimilated to +establishments intended for improving the taste of those who follow +the career of the liberal arts. It presents immediately to the +children of the lower orders of the people the instruction that suits +them best. Here, every thing is useful. Not only are the pupils +instructed _gratis_, but the school furnishes to the indigent, +recommended by one of the founders, the paper, pencils, and +instruments necessary for their studies in the classes, and also +models for exercising their talents at home. + + * * * * * + +I shall speak elsewhere of the _Special School of Medicine_ of Paris; +there are two others, one at Montpellier, and one at Strasburg. At +Alfort, near Paris, is established, on a grand scale, a + +VETERINARY SCHOOL. + +It would lead me too far to particularize every department of this +extensive establishment; but one of these is too useful to be passed +over in silence. Here are spacious hospitals where animals are +classed, not only according to their species, but also according to +the species of disorder by which they are affected. Every person may +bring hither sick animals, on paying for their food and medicaments +only, the operations and dressings being performed and applied +_gratis_. + +There are also Veterinary Schools at Lyons, Turin, and Rodez. + +In addition to all these schools are to be established, in different +parts of the Republic, the following new _Special Schools_. + +Ten of Jurisprudence. + +Three of Medicine. + +Four of Natural History, Physics, and Chymistry. + +One of Transcendent Mathematics. + +Two of Technology. + +One of Public Economy, enlightened by Geography and History. + +One of the Arts dependent on design, and, lastly, + +A new Military School. + +From the foregoing enumeration, it is evident that the government can +never be at a loss for persons duly qualified to perform the duties +of every branch of the Public Service. True it is that the nation is +at a considerable expense in giving to them the instruction which +fits them for the employment; but, in return, what advantages does +not the nation derive from the exertion of their talent? + +[Footnote 1: In France are reckoned seventy-fire lyric theatres, +exclusively of those in the newly-united departments.] + + + +LETTER LXII. + +_Paris, February 5, 1802_. + +In one of your recent letters, you interrogated me respecting the +changes which the revolution had produced in the ceremonies +immediately connected with the increase and decrease of population. +While the subject is fresh in my mind, I shall present the contrast +which I have observed, in the years 1789-90 and 1801-2, in the +ceremony of + +FUNERALS. + +Under the old _régime_, there was no medium in them; they were either +very indecorous or very expensive. I have been positively assured +that eighteen francs were paid for what was called a parish-funeral, +and not unfrequently a quarrel arose between the agent of the rector +and the relations of the deceased. However, as it was necessary to +bury every one, the _Commissaire de police_ declared the fact, if the +relations were unable to pay. Those for whom eighteen francs were +paid, had a coffin in which they were buried; the others were laid in +a common coffin or shell, from which they were taken to be put into +the ground. In a parish-funeral, whether paid or not, several dead +bodies were assembled, that is, they were carried one after the +other, but at the same time to the same ground. They were conducted +by a single priest, reciting by the way the accustomed prayers. + +Other funerals were varied without end, according to the fortune or +pleasure of the relations. For persons of the richest class, a +flaming chapel was constructed at the entrance of the house. This +chapel was hung with black cloth, and in it was placed the corpse, +surrounded by lighted torches. The apartments were also hung with +black for the reception of the persons who were to attend the funeral +procession. The priests came to conduct the corpse from the house of +the deceased. They were more or less numerous, had or had not wax +tapers, according to the will of those who defrayed the expenses. If +the presentation of the corpse at the parish-church took place in the +morning, a mass was sung; if in the evening, obsequies only were +chaunted, and the former service was deferred till the next morning. +The relations and friends, in mourning, followed the corpse. These +persons walked in the procession, according to their degree of +relationship to the deceased, and besides their complete +mourning-suit, wore a black cloak, more or less long, according to +the quality of the persons (or the price paid for it), and a flapped +hat, from which was suspended a very long crape band. Their hair, +unpowdered, fell loose on their back. In lieu of a cloak, lawyers, +whether presidents, counsellors, attornies, or tipstaffs, wore their +black gown. On the cuff of their coat, men wore weepers, consisting +of a band of cambric. Every one wore black gloves, and likewise a +long pendent white cravat. People of the highest rank wore _cottés +crépés_, that is, a sort of crape petticoat, which fell from the +waist to the feet. This was meant to represent the ancient coat of +arms. + +Servants in mourning, or pages for princes, supported the train of +the cloak or gown of persons above the common rank. Other servants, +also in mourning, surrounded the relations and friends of the +deceased, holding torches with his armorial bearings, if he was a +_noble_. Persons extremely rich or very elevated in rank, hired a +certain number of poor (from fifty to three hundred), over whom were +thrown several ells of coarse iron gray cloth, to which no particular +form was given. They walked before the corpse, holding large lighted +torches. The procession was closed by the carriages of persons +belonging to it; and their owners did not get into them till their +return from the funeral. Sometimes on coming out of the +parish-church, where the presentation of the corpse was +indispensable, the rector performing the office of magistrate in +regard to the delivery of the certificate of presentation, the +corpse was carried into a particular church to be buried. This was +become uncommon before the revolution, as to do this it was +necessary to possess a vault, or pay extremely dear, it being +prohibited by law, except in such cases, to bury the dead in +churches. + +When the deceased belonged to a society or corporation, they sent a +deputation to attend him to the grave, or followed in a body, if he +was their chief. At the funeral of a prince of the blood, all his +household, civil and military, marched in the procession. The +_corbillard_, or sort of hearse, in which his highness was carried to +_St. Denis_, was almost as large as the moveable theatre which Mr. +Flockton transports from fair to fair in England. Calculated in +appearance for carrying the body of a giant, it was decorated with +escutcheons, and drawn by eight horses, also caparisoned to +correspond with the hearse. These, however, were but the trappings of +woe. + +While this funereal car moved slowly forward amidst a concourse of +mourners, its three-fold hangings concealed from the eye of the +observer the journeymen coach and harness makers, drinking, and +playing at dice on the lid of his highness's coffin, by way of +dispelling the _ennui_ of the journey. These careless fellows were +placed there to be at hand to repair any accident that might happen +on the road; so, while, on the outside of the hearse, all wore the +appearance of sadness; within, all was mirth; no bad image of the +reverse of grandeur and the emptiness of human ostentation. + +Such were the ceremonies observed in funerals before the revolution. +Passing over the interval, from its commencement in 1789 to the end +of the year 1801, I shall describe those practised at the present +day. It now depends on the relations to have the corpse presented at +the parish-church; but there are many persons who dispense with this +ceremony. The priests receive the corpse at the door of the church. +It is carried thither in a _corbillard_. Each municipality has its +own, and there are twelve municipalities in Paris. Some of them have +adopted the Egyptian style; some, the Greek; and others, the Roman, +for the fashion of their _corbillard_, according to the taste of the +municipality who ordered its construction. It is drawn by two horses +abreast, caparisoned somewhat like those of our hearses. The coachman +and the four bearers are clothed in iron gray or black. An officer of +the police, also clothed in black, and holding a cane with an ivory +head, walks before the _corbillard_ or hearse. Each corpse has its +particular coffin furnished by the municipality. Arrangements have +been so made that the rich are made to pay for the poor. The coffin +is covered with a black cloth, without a cross, for fear of scaring +philosophers and protestants. The relations follow on foot, or in +carriages, even in town. Few of them are in mourning, and still fewer +wear a cloak. + +At the _Sainte Chapelle_, near the _Palais de Justice_, is a private +establishment where, mourning is let out for hire. Here are to be had +_corbillards_ on a more elegant plan. These are carriages hung on +springs, and bearing much resemblance to our most fashionable +sociables with a standing awning; so much so, that the first of them +I saw I mistook for a _mourning_ sociable. Some are ornamented with +black feathers. Caparisons, hangings, every thing is in black, as +well as the coachman. This speculator also lets out mourning coaches, +black without and within, like those in use in London. At a few +funerals, these are hired for the mourners, and at a recent one, +fifteen of these carriages were counted in the procession. However, +this luxury of burials is not entirely come again into fashion. In +the inside of the church, every thing passes as formerly. + +I shall now proceed from the _grave_ to the _gay_, and conclude this +letter with a concise observation on + +MARRIAGES. + +The _civil_ act of marriage is entered into at the office of the +municipality. But this civil act must not be coufounded with the +contract, drawn up by the notary, and containing the stipulations, +clauses, and conditions. The former signifies merely that such a man +and such a woman take each other for man and wife. There are few, if +any, persons married, who, from the municipality, do not repair to +the parish-church, or go thither the next morning; the civil act +being considered by individuals only as the ceremony of the +betrothing, and till the priest has given the nuptial benediction, +the relations take care that the intended bride and bridegroom shall +have no opportunity of anticipating the duties of marriage. + +Political opinions, therefore, prevent but few persons from going to +church. Mass is said in a low voice, during which the priest, or the +rector, receives the promise of the wedded pair. With little +exception, the ceremony is the same for all. Those who pay well are +married at the high altar; the rector addresses to them a speech in +which he exhorts them to live happily together; the beadles perform +their duty; and the organist strikes up a voluntary. + +In regard to marriages, the present and former times presenting no +other contrast, I have nothing more to add on the subject. + + + +LETTER LXIII. + +_Paris, February 6, 1803._ + +The mode of life of the persons with whom I chiefly associate here, +precludes me from reading as much as I could wish, either for +instruction or amusement. This, you will say, I ought not to regret; +for a traveller visits foreign countries to study mankind, not books. +Unquestionably, the men who, like splendid folios in a library, make +at present the most conspicuous figure in this metropolis, are worth +studying; and, could we lay them open to our inspection, as we do +books of a common description, it would be extremely entertaining to +turn them over every morning, till we had them, in a manner, by +heart. But I rather apprehend that they partake, more or less, of the +qualities of a book just come out of the hands of the binder, which +it is difficult to open. Let us therefore content ourselves with +viewing them as we would volumes of a superbly-bound edition, not to +be examined by the general observer, and direct our eyes to such +objects as are fully exposed to investigation. + +In Paris, there are several public libraries, the greater part of +them open every day; but that which eclipses all the others, is the + +BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE. + +Charles V, justly surnamed the _Wise_, from the encouragement he gave +to learning, may be considered as the first founder of this library. +According to the President Henault, that king had collected nine +hundred volumes; whereas king John, his father, possessed not twenty. +This collection was placed in a tower of the _Louvre_, called _La +Tour de la Librairie_, which was lighted up every night, in order +that the learned might pursue their studies there at all hours. + +After the death of Charles VI, in 1423, the inventory amounted to no +more than one hundred and twenty volumes, though several works had +been added, because on the other hand, a great number had been lost. + +When Paris fell into the power of the English, in 1429, the Duke of +Bedford, then regent of France, purchased these books, for which he +paid 1200 livres, and the library was entirely dispersed. Charles +VII, being continually engaged in war, could not concern himself in +its re-estahlishment. Lewis XI collected the remains scattered in +different royal residences, and availed himself of the resources +afforded by the invention of printing, which was discovered at +Strasburg or Mentz in 1440. + +Printers, however, were not established in Paris till 1470, and in +that same year, they dedicated to Lewis XI one of the first books +which they printed. Books were, at this time, very scarce and dear, +and continued so for several years, both before and after the +discovery of that invention. Twenty thousand persons then subsisted +in France by the sale of the books which they transcribed. This was +the reason why printing was not at first more encouraged. + +Charles VIII added to this literary establishment such works as he +was able to obtain in his conquest of Naples. Lewis XII increased it +by the library of Potrarch. Francis I enriched it with Greek +manuscripts; but what most contributed to augment the collection was +the ordinance of Henry II, issued in 1556, which enjoined booksellers +to furnish the royal libraries with a copy on vellum of all the works +printed by privilege; and, under the subsequent reigns, it gradually +acquired that richness and abundance which, before the revolution, +had caused it to be considered as one of the first libraries in +Europe. + +In 1789, the _Bibliothèque du Roi_, as it was till then called, was +reckoned to contain one hundred and eighty thousand printed volumes, +eighty thousand manuscripts, a prodigious numbcr of medals, antiques, +and engraved stones, six thousand port-folios of prints, and two +thousand engraved plates. But, under its present denomination of +_Bibliothèque Nationale_, it has been considerably augmented. +Agreeably to your desire, I shall point out whatever is most +remarkable in these augmentations. + +The buildings, which, since the year 1721, contain this vast +collection, formally made part of the _Hôtel Mazarin_. The entrance +is by the _Rue de la Loi_. It is at present divided into four +departments, and is managed by a conservatory, composed of eight +members, namely: + +1. Two conservators for the printed books, M. M. CAPPERONNIER and +VAN-PRAET. + +2. Three for the manuscripts, M. M. LANGLÈS, LAPORTE DUTHEIL, and +DACIER. + +3. Two for the antiques, medals, and engraved stones, M. M. MILLIN +and GOSSELIN. + +4. One for the prints and engraved plates, M. JOLY. + +The first department, containing the printed books, occupies, on the +first floor of the three sides of the court, an extent of about nine +hundred feet by twenty-four in breadth. The rooms, which receive +light on one side only, are equal in height. In the second room to +the right is the _Parnasse Français_, a little mountain, in bronze, +covered with figures a foot high, and with medals, representing +French poets. Lewis XIV here occupies a distinguished place under the +figure of Apollo. It was a present made by TITON DU TILLET. + +In another of these rooms, built on purpose, are a pair of globes of +an extraordinary size, constructed, in 1683, by Father CORONELLI, a +Jesuit, for Cardinal D'ESTRÉES, who presented them to Lewis XIV. The +feet of these globes rest in a lower apartment; while their +hemispheres project by two apertures made in the floor of fhe first +story, and are thus placed within reach of the observer. Their +diameter is eleven feet, eleven inches. The celebrated BUTTERFIELD +made for them two brass circles, (the one for the meridian, the other +for the horizon), each eighteen feet in diameter. + +Since the year 1789, the department of printed books has received an +augmentation of one hundred and forty thousand volumes, either +arising from private acquisitions, or collected in France, Italy, +Holland, Germany, or Belgium. Among these is a valuable series of +works, some more scarce than others, executed in the XVth century, +which has rendered this department one of the most complete in +Europe. I shall abstain from entering into a detail of the articles +assembled in it, several of which deserve particular notice. A great +many ancient specimens of the typographical art are on vellum, and +give to this collection a value which it would be no easy matter to +appreciate. All the classes of it present a great number, the +enumeration of which would far exceed my limits. + +The department of manuscripts, which is placed in a gallery one +hundred and forty feet in length, by twenty-two in breadth, has been +increased in proportion to that of the printed books. The library of +Versailles, that of several emigrants, the chapters of various +cathedrals, the Sorbonne, the _Collège de Navarre_ in Paris, and the +different suppressed religious corporations, have enriched it with +upwards of twenty thousand volumes; eight thousand of these belonged +to the library of _St. Germain-des-Prês_, which was burnt in 1793-4, +and was immensely rich in manuscripts and old printed hooks. + +About fifteen hundred volumes have been taken from Italy, Holland, +and Germany. Among those arrived from Italy, we must distinguish the +original manuscript of RUFFIN, a priest of Aquilea, who lived in the +IVth century, containing, on papyrus or Egyptian paper, the Latin +tranlation of the Jewish antiquities of FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS; the grammar +of PROBUS or PALÆMON, a manuscript of the Vth century, on vellum, in +uncial characters; a very beautiful volume in Syriac, containing the +Four Evangelists, a manuscript on vellum of the VIth century; the two +celebrated manuscripts of Virgil of the VIIth century, the one from +the Vatican, the other from Florence, both on vellum. A roll, in good +preservation, composed of several skins, sewed together, containing +the Pentateuch in Hebrew, a manuscript of the IXth century. A +Terence, with figures of the time and a representation of the masks +introduced on the stage by the ancients, together with the various +poetical works of PRUDENTIUS; manuscripts on vellum of the IXth +century. The Terence is that of the Vatican, in praise of which +Madame DACIER speaks in her translation. + +The manuscripts of the ancient Dukes of Burgundy, which had so long +constituted the ornament of the library of Brussels, now increase the +fame of those which the _Bibliothèque Nationale_ already possessed of +this description. Their number is about five hundred volumes; the +greater part of them are remarkable for the beauty and richness of +the miniatures by which they are embellished, and one scarcely +inferior in magnificence to the primer of Anne de Bretagne, wife of +Lewis XII, to that of Cardinal Richelieu, to the primer and battles +of Lewis XIV, and to a heap of other manuscripts which rendered this +_ci-devant Bibliothèque du Roi_ so celebrated in foreign countries. + +Five large apartments on the second floor are occupied by titles and +genealogies, which are still preserved here, in about five thousand +portfolios or boxes, for the purpose of verifying the claims to +property, and assisting the historian in his researches. + +The department of medals, antiques and engraved stones has, since +1789, also experienced an abundant augmentation. The medals are in a +cabinet at the end of the Library; the antiques are in another, above +it, on the second floor. + +In 1790, the engraved stones which had been previously locked up in +the drawers of the council-chamber at Versailles, were conveyed +hither, to the number of eight hundred. It would be too tedious to +dwell on the beauty, merit, and scarceness of these stones, as well +as on their finished workmanship and degree of antiquity. Among them, +the beautiful ring, called the _seal of Michael Angelo_, claims +admiration. + +In 1791, some antiquities which constituted part of the treasure of +_St. Denis_, were brought hither from that abbey. Among these +valuable articles, we must particularly distinguish the chalice of +the Abbot SUGER; a vase of sardonyx, with two handles formed of +raised snakes, on which are represented, with admirable art, +ceremonies relating to the worship of Bacchus; a large gold cup, +ornamented with enamel of various colours; a very large urn of +porphyry, which formerly served as a sepulchral monument; several +baptismal fonts; the arm-chair of King Dagobert, a piece of very +extraordinary workmanship for the time in which it was executed. +Among the valuable articles removed hither from _La Sainte Chapelle_ +in Paris, in the same year, are to be particularly remarked a +sardonyx, representing the apotheosis of Augustus, and commonly +called _l'agathe de la Sainte Chapelle_. This stone is the largest +and rarest known of that species. It was brought to France in the +year 1383 by king Charles V. + +At the end of 1792 the cabinet of medals of _St. Geneviève_, forming +in the whole seventeen thousand articles, and its fine collection of +antique monuments, increased the new riches accumulated in the +_Bibliothèque Nationale_. In 1794, a beautiful series of antiquities, +consisting of a great number of imperial medals, of nations, cities, +and kings, of all sizes, in gold, silver, and bronze, together with +little painted figures, busts, instruments of sacrifices, &c. arrived +here from Holland. + +In 1796, the department of medals was also enriched by several +articles from the _Garde-Meuble_ or Jewel-Office. Among them were +some suits of armour belonging to several of the kings of France, +particularly that of Francis I, that of Henry IV, and that of Lewis +XIV. These were accompanied by a quantity of arms, helmets, shields, +breast-plates, and weapons used in the ancient tournaments, as well +as quivers, bows, arrows, swords, &c. + +Towards the end of the year 1798 and in 1799, several valuable +articles arrived here from Italy, among which are two crowns of gold, +enriched with precious stones, worn by the ancient kings of Lombardy, +at the time of their coronation; the engraved stones and medals of +the Pope's cabinet; a head of Jupiter Ægiochus, on a ground of +sardonyx, a master-piece of art, which is above all eulogium; the +celebrated Isiac table, in copper incrustated with silver, a valuable +table of Egyptian mythology, which is presumed to have been executed, +either at Alexandria or at Rome, in the first or second century of +the christian era; some oriental weapons; a _fetfa_ or diploma of the +Grand Signior contained in a silk purse, &c. + +The department of prints and engraved plates, formed of the +celebrated cabinets of MAHOLLES, BERINGHEN, GAIGNIÈRES, UXELLES, +BEGON, GAYLUS, FONTETTE, MARIETTE, &c. contained, before the +revolution the most ample, rich, and valuable collection in Europe. +It is placed in the _entresol_, and is divided into twelve classes. + +The first class comprehends sculptors, architectural engineers, and +engravers, from the origin of the French nation to the present day, +arranged in schools. + +The second, prints, emblems, and devices of piety. + +The third, every thing relative to fables and Greek and Roman +antiquities. + +The fourth, medals, coins, and heraldry. + +The fifth, public festivals, cavalcades, and tournaments. + +The sixth, arts and mathematics. + +The seventh, prints relating to novels and books of entertainment. + +The eighth, natural history in all its branches. + +The ninth, geography. + +The tenth, plans and elevations of ancient and modern buildings. + +The eleventh, portraits of all professions, to the number of upwards +of fifty thousand. + +The twelfth, a collection of the fashions and dresses of almost every +country in the world. + +Since 1789, the augmentations made to it are considerable. Among +these must be distinguished four hundred and thirty-five volumes +brought from the library of Versailles, and fifty-two others, +infinitely valuable, respecting China, found at the residence of M. +BERTIN, Minister, about eight thousand prints brought from Holland, +the greater part of them, very fine impressions; and about twelve +thousand collected by different emigrants, almost all modern, indeed, +but one half of which are select, and remarkable for their fine +preservation. + +Among five hundred volumes, obtained from the suppressed religious +corporations, are to be remarked one hundred and nine port-folios +from the abbey of _St. Victor_, in Paris, containing a beautiful +series of mythological, historical, and typographical subjects. This +forms a valuable addition to the collection of the same kind of which +the department of prints was already in possession. + +In one hundred and forty-four volumes brought from Cologne, there are +several scarce and singular engravings. + +As for sixty articles sent from Italy, they are, with the exception +of the _Museum Pio-Clementinum_, in such a state of degradation that +they are scarcely fit for any thing but to mark the place which each +composition has to occupy. + +Since 1789, the department of prints has made several acquisitions +deserving of notice, such as the works of LEBAS, MARCENAY, and RODE, +all extremely difficult to find complete, and three hundred and +seventeen plates sent from Germany by FHAUENHOTZ; most of them +executed by foreign engravers, and some are very capital. + +A few well-known distinguished artists and amateurs, among whom I +must not omit to name DENON, ST. AUBIN, and LAMOTTE, a merchant at +Havre, have generously enriched the department of prints with a great +number of very valuable ones. + +The library is open every day, Sundays, and days of national fêtes +excepted, from ten o'clock till two, to persons who wish to read, +study, or take notes; and for whom every accommodation is provided; +but to such as are attracted by curiosity alone, on the Wednesdays +and Fridays of each week, at the same hours. On those days, you may +perambulate in the different rooms of this magnificent establishment; +on the other days, walking is here prohibited, in order that students +may not be interrupted. However, JOHN BULL seems to pay little regard +to this prohibition. Englishmen are frequently seen stalking about +the rooms at the forbidden time, as if they meant to shew that they +disdained the rules of propriety and decorum.[1] + +Under the government which succeeded the monarchy, was established, +within the precincts of the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, a + +SCHOOL FOR ORIENTAL LIVING LANGUAGES. + +The design of this school, _which is of acknowledged utility in +politics and commerce_, is to qualify persons to supply the place of +the French droguemans in the East, who, at the beginning of the +troubles which distracted France, abandoned the interests of their +country, and deserted their stations. + +LANGLÈS, president of this school, here teaches the Persian and Malay +languages. + +SILVESTRE DE SACY, literal and vulgar Arabic. + +JAUBERT, Turkish and the Tartarian of the Crimea. + +DANSE DE VILLOISON, modern Greek. + +In general, very few pupils are instructed here, and the greater part +of those who begin the courses of lectures, do not follow them three +months. This fact I gathered from the professors themselves. When +FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHÂTEAU was Minister, he had attached to this school +an Armenian, named CIREIED, who gave lessons in his native language, +which are now discontinued. + +A course of archæology is also delivered here by the learned MILLIN. +The object of this course is to explain antique monuments, and +compare them with passages of the classics. The professor indicates +respecting each monument the opinions of the different learned men +who have spoken of it: he also discusses those opinions, and +endeavours to establish that which deserves to be adopted. Every year +he treats on different subjects. The courses which he has already +delivered, related to the study of medals, and that of engraved +stones; the explanation of the ancient monuments still existing in +Spain, France, and England; the history of ancient and modern Egypt; +sacred and heroic mythology, under which head he introduced an +explanation of almost every monument of literature and art deserving +to be known. + +[Footnote 1: It is the intention of the government to remove the +_Bibliothèque Nationale_ to the _Louvre_, or _Palais National des +Sciences & des Arts_, as soon as apartments can be prepared for its +reception.] + + + +LETTER LXIV. + +_Paris, February 8, 1803._ + +Having complied with your desire in regard to the _Bibliothèque +Nationale_, I shall confine myself to a hasty sketch of the other +principal public libraries, beginning with the + +BIBLIOTHÈQUE MAZARINE. + +By his will, dated the 6th of March 1662, Cardinal MAZARIN bequeathed +this library for the convenience of the literati. It was formed by +GABRIEL NAUDÉ of every thing that could be found most rare and +curious, as well in France as in foreign countries. It occupies one +of the pavilions and other apartments of the _ci-devant Collège +Mazarin ou des Quatre Nations_, at present called _Palais des Beaux +Arts_. + +No valuable additions have been made to this library since the +revolution; but it is kept in excellent order. The Conservators, LE +BLOND, COQUILLE, and PALISSOT, whose complaisance is never tired, are +well known in the Republic of Letters. It is open to the public every +day, from ten o'clock to two, Sundays, Thursdays, and the days of +national fêtes excepted. + +BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU PANTHÉON. + +Next to the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, this library is said to contain +the most printed books and manuscripts, which are valuable on account +of their antiquity, scarceness, and preservation. It formerly bore +the title of _Bibliothèque de St. Geneviève_, and belonged to the +Canons of that order, who had enriched it in a particular manner. The +acquisitions it has made since the revolution are not sufficiently +important to deserve to be mentioned. With the exception of the +_Bibliothèque Nationale_, not one of the public libraries in Paris +has enjoyed the advantage of making improvements and additions. The +library of the _Pantheon_ is open to the public on the same days as +the _Bibliothèque Mazarine_. + +The present Conservators are DAUNOU, VENTENAT, and VIALLON. The first +two are members of the National Institute. + +BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L'ARSENAL. + +This library, one of the richest in Paris, formerly belonged to the + +Count d'Artois. It is destined for the _Conservative Senate_, in +whose palace a place is preparing for its reception. However, it is +thought that this removal cannot take place in less than a year and a +half or two years. It has acquired little since the revolution, and +is frequented less than the other libraries, because it is rather +remote from the fashionable quarters of the town. There are few +inquisitive persons in the vicinity of the Arsenal; and indeed, this +library is open only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays of every +week from ten o'clock till two. AMEILHON, of the Institute, is +Administrator; and SAUGRAIN, Conservator. + +Before I quit this library, you will, doubtless expect me to say +something of the place from which it derives its appellation; namely, + +THE ARSENAL. + +It is a pile of building, forming several courts between the _Quai +des Célestins_ and the _Place de la Liberté_, formerly the _Place de +la Bastille_. Charles V had here erected some storehouses for +artillery, which were lent very unwillingly by the Provost of Paris +to Francis I, who wanted them for the purpose of casting cannon. As +was foreseen, the king kept possession of them, and converted them +into a royal residence. On the 28th of January 1562, lightning fell +on one of the towers, then used as a magazine, and set fire to +fifteen or twenty thousand barrels of powder. Several lives were +lost, and another effect of this explosion was that it killed all the +fishes in the river. Charles IX, Henry III, and Henry IV rebuilt the +Arsenal, and augmented it considerably. Before the revolution, the +founderies served for casting bronze figures for the embellishment of +the royal gardens. The Arsenal then contained only a few rusty +muskets and some mortars unfit for service, notwithstanding the +energetic inscription which decorated the gate on the _Quai des +Célestins_: + + "Ætnæ hæc Henrico Vulcania tela ministrat, + Tela gigantæos debellatura furores." + +NICOLAS BOURBON was the author of these harmonious lines, which so +much excited the jealousy of the famous poet, SANTEUIL, that he +exclaimed in his enthusiasm, "I would have wished to have made them, +and been hanged." + +During the course of the revolution, the buildings of the Arsenal +have been appropriated to various purposes: at present even they seem +to have no fixed destination. Here is a garden, advantageously +situated, which affords to the inhabitants of this quarter an +agreeable promenade. + +The before-mentioned libraries are the most considerable in Paris; +but the _National Institute_, the _Conservative Senate_, the +_Legislative Body_, and the _Tribunate_, have each their respective +library, as well as the _Polytechnic School_, the _Council of the +School of Mines_, the _Tribunal of Cassation_, the _Conservatory of +Music_, the _Museum of Natural History_, &c. + +Independently of these libraries, here are also three literary +_dépôts_ or repositories, which were destined to supply the public +libraries already formed or to be formed, particularly those +appropriated to public instruction. When the Constituent Assembly +decreed the possessions of the clergy to be national property, the +_Committee of Alienation_ fixed on the monasteries of the _Capucins_, +_Grands Jésuites_, and _Cordeliers_, in Paris, as _dépôts_, for the +books and manuscripts, which they were desirous to save from +revolutionary destruction. + + + +LETTER LXV. + +_Paris, February 9, 1802._ + +_Vive la danse!_ _Vive la danse!_ seems now to prevail here +universally over _"Vive l'amour!_ _Vive la bagatelle!_" which was the +rage in the time of LA FLEUR. I have already informed you that, in +moments the most eventful, the inhabitants of this capital spent the +greater part of their time in + +DANCING. + +However extraordinary the fact may appear, it is no less true. When +the Prussians were at Châlons, the Austrians at Valenciennes, and +Robespierre in the Convention, they danced. When the young conscripts +were in momentary expectation of quitting their parents, their +friends, and their mistresses to join the armies, they danced. Can we +then wonder that, at the present hour, when the din of arms is no +longer heard, and the toils of war are on the point of being +succeeded by the mercantile speculations of peace, dancing should +still be the favourite pursuit of the Parisians? + +This is so much the case, that the walls of the metropolis are +constantly covered by advertisements in various colours, blue, red, +green, and yellow, announcing balls of different descriptions. The +silence of streets the least frequented is interrupted by the shrill +scraping of the itinerant fiddler; while by-corners, which might vie +with Erebus itself in darkness, are lighted by transparencies, +exhibiting, in large characters, the words "_Bal de Société_." +--"Happy people!" says Sterne, "who can lay down all your cares +together, and dance and sing and sport away the weights of grievance, +which bow down the spirit of other nations to the earth!" + +In summer, people dance here in rural gardens, or delightful bowers, +or under marquees, or in temporary buildings, representing +picturesque cottages, constructed within the limits of the capital: +these establishments, which are rather of recent date, are open only +in that gay season. + +In winter, the upper classes assemble in magnificent apartments, +where subscription-balls are given; and taste and luxury conspire to +produce elegant entertainments. + +However, it is not to the upper circles alone that this amusement is +confined; it is here pursued, and with truer ardour too, by citizens +of every class and description. An Englishman might probably be at a +loss to conceive this truth; I shall therefore enumerate the +different gradations of the scale from the report of an impartial +eye-witness, partly corroborated by my own observation. + +Tradesmen dance with their neighbours, at the residence of those who +have the best apartments: and the expense of catgut, rosin, &c. is +paid by the profits of the card-table. + +Young clerks in office and others, go to public balls, where the +_cavalier_ pays thirty _sous_ for admission; thither they escort +milliners and mantua-makers of the elegant class, and, in general, +the first-rate order of those engaging belles, known here by the +generic name of _grisettes_. + +Jewellers' apprentices, ladies' hair-dressers, journeymen tailors and +upholsterers dance, at twenty _sous_ a head, with sempstresses and +ladies' maids. + +Journeymen shoemakers, cabinet-makers, and workmen of other trades, +not very laborious, assemble in _guingettes_, where they dance French +country-dances at three _sous_ a ticket, with _grisettes_ of an +inferior order. + +Locksmiths, carpenters, and joiners dance at two _sous_ a ticket, +with women who constantly frequent the _guinguettes_, a species of +dancing-girls, whom the tavern-keepers hire for the day, as they do +the fiddlers. + +Water-carriers, porters, and, in general, the Swiss and Auvergnats +have their private balls, where they execute the dances peculiar to +their country, with fruit-girls, stocking-menders, &c. + +The porters of the corn-market form assemblies in their own +neighbourhood; but the youngest only go thither, with a few _bons +vivans_, whose profession it would be no easy matter to determine. + +Bucksome damsels, proof against every thing, keep them in +countenance, either in drinking brandy or in fighting, and not +unfrequently at the same _bal de société_, all this goes on at the +same time, and, as it were, in unison. + +Those among the porters of the corn-market and charcoal carriers, who +have a little _manners_, assemble on holidays, in public-houses of a +more decent description, with good, plain-spoken market-women, and +nosegay-girls. They drink unmixed liquor, and the conversation is +somewhat more than _free_; but, in public, they get tipsy, and +nothing farther! + +Masons, paviours in wooden shoes, tipped with iron, and other +hard-working men, in short, repair to _guingettes_, and make the +very earth tremble with their heavy, but picturesque capers, forming +groups worthy of the pencil of Teniers. + +Lastly, one more link completes the chain of this nomenclature of +caperers. Beggars, sturdy, or decrepit, dance, as well as their +credulous betters: they not only dance, but drink to excess; and +their orgies are more noisy, more prolonged, and even more expensive. +The mendicant, who was apparently lame in the day, at night lays +aside his crutch, and resumes his natural activity; the idle +vagabond, who concealed one arm, now produces both; while the wretch +whose wound excited both horror and pity, covers for a tune the large +blister by which he makes a very comfortable living. + + + +LETTER LXVI. + +_Paris, February 11, 1802._ + +In order to confer handsome pensions on the men of science who had +benefited mankind by their labours, and who, under the old _régime_, +were poorly rewarded, in 1795, LAKANAL solicited and obtained the +establishment of the + +BUREAU DES LONGITUDES. + +As members of this Board of Longitude, the first institution of the +kind in France, LAGRANGE, LAPLACE, LALANDE, CASSINI,[1] MÉCHAIN, +BORDA,[1] BOUGAINVILLE, FLEURIEU, MESSIER, BUACHE, and CARROCHÉ, the +optician, had each 8,000 francs (_circa_ £. 330 sterling) a year, and +the assistant astronomers, 4,000. Indeed, the professors of that +science were in want of pecuniary assistance for the purpose of +forming pupils. + +The _Bureau des Longitudes_ is on a more extensive scale, and +possesses greater authority than the Board of Longitude in England. +It is charged with the administration of all the Observatories +belonging to the Republic, as well as with the correspondence with +the astronomers of foreign countries. The government refers to it the +examination of memoirs relative to navigation. Such of its members as +more specially cultivate practical astronomy in the National +Observatories of the capital, are charged to make all Observations +which may contribute to the progress of that science, and procure new +means for rectifying the tables of the Sun, as well as those which +make known the position of the stars, and particularly the tables of +the Moon, the improvement of which so essentially concerns the safety +of navigation. + +The great importance of the last-mentioned tables induced this Board, +about three years ago, to propose a premium of 6,000 francs (_circa_ +£. 250 sterling) for tables of the Moon. LALANDE recommended to +BONAPARTE to double it. The First Consul took his advice: and the +French now have tables that greatly surpass those which are used in +England.[2] A copy of these have, I understand, been sent to Mr. +MASKELYNE, our Astronomer-Royal at Greenwich. + +The Board of Longitude of France, like that of England, calculates +for every year Tables or _Ephemerides_, known in Europe under the +title of _Connaissance des Tems_. The French having at length +procured able calculators, are now able to dispense with the English +_Ephemeris_. Their observations follow each other in such a manner as +to render it unnecessary for them to recur to those of Greenwich, of +which they have hitherto made continual use. Since the year 1795, the +_Connaissance des Tems_ has been compiled by JÉROME LALANDE. At the +end of the tables and their explanation, it contains a collection of +observations, memoirs, and important calculations. The French +astronomers are not a little surprised that we publish no similar +work in London; while Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Gotha, and Milan set us +the example. It is in the last volumes of the _Connaissance des Tems_ +that JÉROME LALANDE gives the history of astronomy, where you will +find every thing that has been done in this science. + +The _Bureau des Longitudes_ also publishes for every year, in +advance, the _Annuaire de la République_, which serves as a rule for +all the almanacks compiled in France. The meetings of the Board are +held at the + +NATIONAL OBSERVATORY. + +This edifice, which is situated at the farther end of the _Faubourg +St. Jacques_, was constructed in 1664, by order of COLBERT, and +under the direction of PERRAULT, the medical architect, who planned +the celebrated façade of the _Louvre_. + +The form of the building is rectangular. Neither wood nor iron have +been employed in its construction. It is arched throughout, and its +four sides stand exactly in the direction of the four cardinal points +of the horizon. Although its elevation is eighty-five feet, it +comprises but two stories, terminated by a flat roof, whence you +command a fine view of Paris. You ascend thither by a winding +staircase which has a hollow newel. This staircase, consisting of +three hundred and sixty steps, extends downward to a similar depth of +eighty-five feet, and forms a sort of well, at the bottom of which +you can perceive the light. From this well have been observed the +different degrees of acceleration in the descent of bodies. + +The subterraneous vaults have served for meteorological experiments. +In one of them water is seen to petrify on filtering through the rock +above. They lead to near fifty streets or passages, formed by +quarries excavated in procuring the stones with which great part of +the city of Paris is constructed. + +Previously to the year 1777, churches, palaces, whole streets of +houses, and the public highway of several quarters of Paris and its +environs, were on the point of being swallowed up in gulfs no less +vast in depth than in extent. Since then, considerable works have +been undertaken to consolidate these subterraneous caverns, and fill +up the void, equally dangerous, occasioned by the working of the +plaster-quarries. + +An accident of a very alarming nature, which happened in the _Rue +d'Enfer_ in the year 1774; and another, at Montmenil, in 1778, shewed +the necessity of expediting these operations, which were followed up +with great activity from 1777 to 1789, when their progress was +relaxed from the circumstances of the times. These quarries are far +more extensive than is commonly imagined. In the department of the +Seine alone, they extend under all the south part of Paris, and the +roads, plains, and _communes_, to the distance of several leagues +round the circumference of this city. Their roof, with the edifices +standing on the soil that covers it, is either supported by walls +recently built under the foundation of those edifices, or by pillars +constructed at different periods in several places. The government is +at the expense of providing for the safety of the streets, highways, +and public buildings, but that of propping under-ground all private +habitations must be defrayed by the proprietor. These ancient +quarries had been much neglected, and the means of visiting them was +equally dangerous and inconvenient. At present, every precaution is +taken to insure the safety of the persons employed in them, as well +as the stability of their roof; and for the better superintendance of +all the subterraneous constructions of Paris, galleries of +communication have been formed of sufficient width to admit the free +passage of materials necessary for keeping them in repair. + +Let us now find our way out of these labyrinths, and reascending to +the surface of the soil, pursue our examination of the Observatory. + +In a large room on the first floor is traced the meridian line, which +divides this building into two parts. Thence, being extended to the +south and north, it crosses France from Colieure to Dunkirk. + +On the pavement of one of the rooms is engraved a universal circular +map, by CHAZELLES and SÉDILLAN. Another room is called the _Salle aux +secrets_, because on applying the mouth to the groove of a pilaster, +and whispering, a person placed at the opposite pilaster hears what +is said, while those in the middle of the room, hear nothing. This +phenomenon, the cause of which has been so often explained, must be +common to all buildings constructed in this manner. + +In speaking of the _Champ de Mars_, I mentioned that LALANDE obtained +the construction of an Observatory at the _ci-devant École +Militaire_. Since 1789, he and his nephew have discovered fifty +thousand stars; an immense labour, the greater part of them being +telescopic and invisible to the naked eye. Of this number, he has +already classed thirty thousand. + +The CASSINIS had neglected the Observatory in Paris; but when LALANDE +was director of this establishment, he obtained from BONAPARTE good +instruments of every description and of the largest dimensions. These +have been executed by the first artists, who, with the greatest +intelligence, have put in practice all the means of improvement which +we owe to the fortunate discoveries of the eighteenth century. Of +course, it is now as well provided as that of Greenwich. MÉCHAIN, the +present director, and BOUVARD, his associate, are extremely assiduous +in their astronomical labours. + +CARROCHÉ has made for this Observatory a twenty-two feet telescope, +which rivals those of HERSCHEL of the same length; and the use of +reflecting circles, imagined by MAYER, and brought into use by BORDA, +which LENOIR executes in a superior manner, and which we have not yet +chosen to adopt in England, has introduced into the observations of +the French an accuracy hitherto unknown. The meridian from Dunkirk to +Barcelona, measured between the years 1792 and 1798, by DELAMERE and +MÉCHAIN, is of an astonishing exactness. It has brought to light the +irregularity of the degrees, which was not suspected. The rules, +composed of platina and copper, which LAVOISIER and BORDA imagined +for measuring bases, without having occasion to calculate the effect +of dilatation, are a singular invention, and greatly surpass what +RAMSDEN made for the bases measured in England. + +LAPLACE has discovered in the Moon inequalities with which we were +not acquainted. The work he has published, under the title of +_Mécanique Céleste_, contains the most astonishing discoveries of +physical theory, the great inequality of Jupiter and Saturn, the +acceleration of the Moon, the equation of the third Satellite of +Jupiter, and the flux and reflux of the sea. + +BURCKHARDT, one of the associated members of the _Bureau des +Longitudes_, is a first-rate astronomer and a man of superior talent. +He is at present employed on the difficult task of calculating the +very considerable derangements of the planet discovered by OLBERS at +Bremen, on the 28th of March 1801. + +VIDAL has made, at Mirepoix, more observations of Mercury than all +the astronomers for two thousand years past, and these are the most +difficult and uncommon. + +DELAMBRE has computed tables of the Sun, of Jupiter, of Saturn, and +of Herschel; LALANDE, the nephew, has composed tables of Mars; and +his uncle, of Mercury, which never deviate more than a few seconds +from the observations. + +Even during the reign of terror, astronomy was not neglected. Through +the interest of CARNOT, CALON, LAKANAL, and FOURCROY, the _Bureau de +Consultation des Arts_ gave annually the sum of 300,000 francs +(_circa_ £12,000 sterling) in gratifications to artists. + +Afterwards, in 1796, the National Institute, richly endowed, proposed +considerable premiums. LALANDE, the uncle, founded one for astronomy; +BONAPARTE, another for physics; and the First Consul has promised +60,000 francs (_circa_ £2,800 sterling) to any one who shall make a +discovery of importance. + +France can now boast of two young geometricians, BIOT and PUISSON, +who, for analytical genius, surpass all that exist in Europe. It is +rather extraordinary that, with the exception of Mr. CAVENDISH and +Dr. WARING, England has produced no great geometricians since the +death of MACLAURIN, STERLING, and SIMPSON. + +The French tables of Logarithms, printed stereotypically, are cleared +of all the errors which afflicted calculators of every country. Those +of other nations will owe this obligation to Frenchmen. + +HERSCHEL no longer looks for comets; but the French astronomers, +MESSIER, MÉCHAIN, BOUVARD, and PONS find some. Last year, JÉROME +LALANDE deposited 600 francs in the hands of his notary, as a premium +to stimulate the efforts of young observers. + + * * * * * + +_February 11, in continuation._ + +In the spring of 1803, MÉCHAIN will leave Paris for the purpose of +extending his meridian to the Balearic Islands. He will measure the +length of the pendulum in several places, in order to ascertain the +inequality of the earth which the measure of the degrees had +indicated. This circumstance reminds me of my neglect in not having +yet satisfied your desire to have a short account of the means +employed for fixing the standard of the + +NEW FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. + +Among the great ideas realized during the first period of the +revolution, must be reckoned that of a uniform system of weights and +measures. From all parts of France remonstrances were sent against +the great variety of those in use. Several kings had endeavoured to +remedy this evil, which was so hurtful to lawful trade, and +favourable only to fraud and double-dealing. Yet what even _they_ had +not been able to effect, was undertaken by the Constituent Assembly. +It declared that there ought to be but one standard of weights and +measures, in a country subject to the same laws. The _Academy of +Sciences_ was charged to seek and present the best mode of carrying +this decree into execution. That society proposed the adoption of the +decimal division, by taking for a fundamental unit the ten-millionth +part of the quarter of the terrestrial meridian. The motives which +determined this choice were the extreme simplicity of decimal +calculation, and the advantage of having a measure taken from nature. +The latter condition would, in truth, have been accomplished, had +there been taken, as a fundamental unit, the length of the pendulum +marking seconds for a given latitude; but the measure of an arc of +the meridian, executed with the precision to be obtained by the +methods and instruments of the present day, was extremely interesting +in regard to the theory of the figure of the earth. This influenced +the decision of the Academy, and if the motives which it presented to +the Constituent Assembly were not exactly the real ones, it is +because the sciences have also their policy: it sometimes happens +that to serve mankind, one must resolve to deceive them. + +All the measures of the metrical system, adopted by the Republic, are +deduced from a base taken from nature, the fourth part of the +terrestrial meridian; and the divisions of those measures are all +subjected to the decimal order employed in arithmetic. + +In order to establish this base, the grand and important work of +taking a new measure of the terrestrial meridian, from Dunkirk to +Barcelona, was begun in 1792. At the expiration of seven years, it +was terminated; and the Institute presented the result to the +Legislative Body with the original table of the new measures. + +MÉCHAIN and DELAMBRE measured the angles of ninety triangles with the +new reflecting circles; imagined by MAYER, and which BORDA had caused +to be constructed. With these instruments, they made four +observations of latitude at Dunkirk, Paris, Évaux, Carcassonne, and +Barcelona; two bases measured near Melun and Perpignan, with rules of +platina and copper, forming metallic thermometers, were connected +with the triangles of the meridian line: the total interval, which +was 9°.6738, was found to be 551584.72 toises. As the degrees +progressively diminished towards the south, but much more towards the +middle than towards the extremities, the middle of the whole arc was +taken; and, on comparing it with the degrees measured at Peru, +between the years 1737 and 1741, the ellipticity of the earth was +concluded to be 1/334 the mean degree, 57008 toises; and the MÈTRE, +which is the ten-millionth part of the quarter of the meridian, +443.296 lines of the old French toise which had been used at Peru. + +The Commissioners, sent from foreign countries, verified all the +calculations, and sanctioned the results. The experiments of the +pendulum made at the observatory, with extreme care, by BORDA, +MÉCHAIN, and CASSINI, with a new apparatus, constructed by LENOIR, +shewed the pendulum to be 0.99385 of the _mètre_, on reducing it to +the freezing point, and in _vacuo_: this would be sufficient for +finding again the _mètre_, though all the standards were changed or +lost. + +Exact experiments, made by LEFÈVRE-GINEAU, with instruments +constructed by FORTIN, shewed the weight of the cubic decimetre of +distilled water, at the point of the greatest condensation to be +18827.15 grains of the pile of 50 marcs, which is preserved here in +the _Hôtel de la Monnaie_, and is called _Le poids de Charlemagne_; +the toise being supposed at 13 degrees of the thermometer of 80 +degrees. The scales of FORTIN might give a millionth part and more; +and LEFÈVRE-GINEAU employed in all these experiments and calculations +the most scrupulous degree of exactness. + +Thus the MÈTRE or principal unit of the French linear measures has +furnished those of the weights; and all this grand system, taken from +nature, is connected with the base the most invariable, the size of +the earth itself. + +The unit of the measures of capacity is a cube whose side is the +tenth part of the _mètre_, to which has been given the name of LITRE; +the unit of measures of solidity, relative to wood, a cube whose side +is the _mètre_, which is called STÈRE. In short, the thousandth part +of a _litre_ of distilled water, weighed in _vacuo_ and at the +temperature of melting ice, has been chosen for the unit of weights, +which is called GRAMME. + +The following TABLE presents the nomenclature of these different +Measures, their divisions, and multiples, together with the new +Weights, as decreed by the Legislative Body, and to it is annexed +their correspondence both with the old French Measures and Weights, +and those of England. + + * * * * * + + LINEAR MEASURES. + + FRENCH ENGLISH + T F I L M F Y Ft I[A] + + Myriamètre (or League) + 10,000 Mètres 5,130 4 5 3.360 6 1 156 0 6 + + Kilomètre (or Mile) + 1,000 Mètres 513 0 5 3.936 - 4 213 1 10.2 + + Hectomètre + 100 Mètres 51 1 10 1.583 - - 109 1 1 + + Décamètre (or Perch) + 10 Mètres 5 0 9 4.959 - - 10 2 9.7 + + MÈTRE - 3 0 11.296 - - --- 3 3.371 + + Décimètre (or Palm) + 10th of a Mètre - - 3 8.330 - - --- - 3.937 + + Centimètre (or Digit) + 100th of a Mètre - - -- 4.433 - - --- - 0.393 + + Millimètre (or Trait) + 1,000th of a Mètre - - -- 0.443 - - --- - 0.039 + +[Footnote A: French measurements in Toises (T), Feet (F), Inches (I), +and Lines (L). English mesurements in Miles (M), Furlongs (F), Yards +(Y), Feet (Ft), and Inches (I).] + + + AGRARIAN MEASURES. + + A R P[B] + + Myriare, square Kilomètre + 263244.93 ST 247 0 20 + + Milare 26324.49 ST 24 2 34 + + Hectare, (or _Arpent_) square Hectomètre + 2632.45 ST 2 1 35.4 + + Décare 263.24 ST --- - 39.54 + + ARE, (or square _Perch_) square Decamètre + 26.32 ST --- - 3.954 + + Déciare 2.63 ST --- - 0.395 + + Centiare, (or 100th part of a square Perch) square _Mètre_ + 0.26 ST --- - 0.039 + +[Footnote B: French measurements in Square Toises (ST). English +measurements in Acres (A), Roods (R) and Perches (P).] + + + MEASURES OF CAPACITY. + Cubic Inches + + Kilolitre, (or Hogshead) cubic Mètre + 29.1739 cubic feet 61028 + + Hectolitre, (or Setier) + 2.9174 cubic feet 6102.8 + + Decalitre, (or Bushel) + 0.2917 cubic feet 610.28 + + LITRE; (or Pinte) cubic Décimètre + 50.4124 cubic inches 61.028 + + Décilitre, (or Glass) + 5.0412 cubic inches 6.1028 + + Centilitre 0.5041 cubic inches 0.6102 + + Millitre, cubic Centimèter + 0.0504 cubic inches 0.061 + + N. B. A Litre is nearly equal to 2-7/8 Pints, English Wine Measure. + + + MEASURES FOR WOOD. + + Cubic Feet. + + Stère, cubical Mètre + 29.1739 cubic feet 35.3171 + + Décistère, (or Solive) + 2.9174 cubic feet 3.5317 + + Centistère + 0.2917 cubic feet 0.3531 + + Millistère, cubic Décimètre + 0.0291 cubic feet 0.0353 + + + WEIGHTS. + TROY + + lbs. oz. d. gr. lbs. oz. dw. gr.[C] + + Myriagramme 20 6 6 63.5 26 9 15 0.23 + + Kilogramme, (or Pound) weight of the cubic Décimètre + of water at 4° which is the maximum of density + 2 0 5 35.15 2 8 3 12.02 + + Hectogramme, (or Ounce) + -- 3 2 10.72 -- 3 4 8.40 + + Décagramme, (or Drachm) + -- - 2 44.27 -- - 6 10.44 + + GRAMME, (or Denier) weight of the cubic + Centimètreat the freezing point + -- - - 18.827 -- - -- 15.444 + + Déciegramme, (or Grain) + -- - - 1.883 -- - -- 1.544 + + Centigramme + -- - - 0.188 -- - -- 0.154 + + Milligramme, weight of the cubic + Millemètre of water + -- - - 0.019 -- - -- 0.015 + +[Footnote C: The labels on first set of columns are lbs., oz., drms., +and grains; and on the second, lbs. oz. dwts. and grains.] + + +[Footnote 1: Since dead. The former is replaced by DELAMBRE. CHABERT +and PRONY are elected supernumerary members, and LEFRANÇAIS LALANDE, +BOUVARD, and BURCKHARDT, appointed assistant astronomers.] + +[Footnote 2: The Prize has been awarded to M. BURG, an astronomer at +Vienna.] + + + +LETTER LXVII. + +_Paris, February 14, 1802._ + +After speaking of the _Board of Longitude_ and the _National +Observatory_, I must not omit to say a few words of an establishment +much wanted in England. I mean the + +DÉPÔT DE LA MARINE. + +This general repository of maps, charts, plans, journals, and +archives of the Navy and the Colonies, is under the direction of a +flag-officer. It is situated in the _Rue de la Place Vendôme_; but +the archives are still kept in an office at Versailles. To this +_Dépôt_ are attached the Hydrographer and Astronomer of the Navy, +both members of the National Institute and of the Board of Longitude, +and also a number of engineers and draughtsmen proportioned to the +works which the government orders to be executed. + +The title of this _Dépôt_ sufficiently indicates what it contains. To +it has been lately added a library, composed of all the works +relative to navigation, hydrography, naval architecture, and to the +navy in general, as well as of all the voyages published in the +different dead or living languages. The collection of maps, charts, +plans, &c. belonging to it, is composed of originals in manuscript, +ancient and modern, of French or foreign sea-charts, published at +different times, and of maps of the possessions beyond the seas +belonging to the maritime states of Europe and to the United-States +of America. + +All the commanders of vessels belonging to the State are bound, on +their return to port, to address to the Minister of the Naval +Department, in order to be deposited in the archives, the journals of +their voyage, and the astronomical or other observations which they +have been enabled to make, and the charts and plans which they have +had an opportunity of constructing. + +One of the apartments of the _Dépôt_ contains models of ships of war +and other vessels, the series of which shews the progress of naval +architecture for two centuries past, and the models of the different +machines employed in the ports for the various operations relative to +building, equipping, repairing, and keeping in order ships and +vessels of war. + +The _Dépôt de la Marine_ publishes new sea-charts in proportion as +new observations or discoveries indicate the necessity of suppressing +or rectifying the old ones. + +When the service requires it, the engineers belonging to the _Dépôt_ +are detached to verify parts of the coasts of the French territory in +Europe, or in any other part of the world, where experience has +proved that time has introduced changes with which it is important to +be acquainted, or to rectify the charts of other parts that had not +yet been surveyed with the degree of exactness of which the methods +now known and practised have rendered such works susceptible. + +In the French navy, commanders of ships and vessels are supplied with +useful charts and atlases of every description, at the expense of the +nation. These are delivered into their care previously to the ship +leaving port. When a captain is superseded in his command, he +transfers them to his successor; and when the ship is put out of +commission, they are returned to the proper office. Why does not the +British government follow an example so justly deserving of +imitation? + + + +LETTER LXVIII. + +_Paris, February 15, 1802._ + +After the beautiful theatre of the old _Comédie Française_, under its +new title of _l'Odéon_, became a prey to flames, as I have before +mentioned, the comedians belonging it were dispersed on all sides. At +length, PICARD assembled a part of them in a house, built at the +beginning of the revolution, which, from the name of the street where +it is situated, is called the + +THÉÂTRE LOUVOIS. + +No colonnade, no exterior decoration announces it as a place of +public amusement, and any one might pass it at noon-day without +suspecting the circumstance, but for the prices of admission being +painted in large characters over the apertures in the wall, where the +public deposit their money. + +This house, which is of a circular form, is divided, into four tiers +of boxes. The ornaments in front of them, not being in glaring +colours, give, by their pale tint, a striking brilliancy to the dress +of the women. + +PICARD, the manager of this theatre, is the MOLIÈRE of his company; +that is, he is at once author and actor, and, in both lines, +indefatigable. Undoubtedly, the most striking, and, some say, the +only resemblance he bears to the mirror of French comedy, is to be +compelled to bring on the stage pieces in so unfinished a state as to +be little more than sketches, or, in other words, he is forced to +write in order to subsist his company. Thus then, the stock-pieces of +this theatre are all of them of his own composition. The greater part +are _imbroglios_ bordering on farce. The _vis comica_ to be found in +them is not easily understood by foreigners, since it chiefly +consists in allusions to local circumstances and sayings of the day. +However, they sometimes produce laughter in a surprising degree, but +more frequently make those laugh who never blush to laugh at any +thing. + +The most lively of his pieces are _Le Collatéral_ and _la Petite +Ville_. In the course of last month, he produced one under the name +of _La Grande Ville, ou les Provinciaux à Paris_, which occasioned a +violent uproar. The characters of this pseudo-comedy are swindlers or +fools; and the spectators insisted that the portraits were either too +exact a copy of the originals, or not at all like them. By means of +much insolence, by means of the guard which was incautiously +introduced into the pit, and which put to flight the majority of the +audience, and, lastly, by means of several alterations, PICARD +contrived to get his piece endured. But this triumph may probably be +the signal of his ruin,[1] as the favour of the Parisian public, once +lost, is never to be regained. + +This histrionic author and manager has written some pieces of a +serious cast. The principal are, _Médiocre et Rampant_, and _L'Entrée +dans le Monde_. As in _La Grande Ville_, the characters in these are +also cheats or fools. Consequently, it was not difficult to conduct +the plot, it would have been much more so to render it interesting. +These two comedies are written in verse which might almost pass for +prose. + +The _Théâtre Louvois_ is open to all young authors who have the +ambition to write for the stage, before they have well stored their +mind with the requisites. Novelties here succeed each other with +astonishing rapidity. Hence, whatever success PICARD may have met +with as an author, he has not been without competitors for his +laurels. Out of no less than one hundred and sixty-seven pieces +presented for rehearsal and read at this house, one hundred and +sixty-five are said to have been refused. Of the two accepted, the +one, though written forty years ago, was brought out as a new piece, +and damned. However, the ill success of a piece represented here is +not remarked; the fall not being great. + +The friends of this theatre call it _La petite Maison de Thalie_. +They take the part for the whole. It is, in fact, no more than her +anti-chamber. As for the drawing-room of the goddess, it is no longer +to be found any where in Paris. + +The performers who compose PICARD'S company do no injustice to his +pieces. It is affirmed that this company has what is called, on the +French stage, _de l'ensemble_. With few exceptions, there is an +_ensemble_, as it is very indifferent. For such an interpretation to +be correct, it would be necessary for all the comedians of the +_Théâtre Louvois_ to have great talents, and none can be quoted. + +PICARD, though not unfrequently applauded, is but a sorry actor. His +cast of parts is that of valets and comic characters. + +DEVIGNY performs the parts of noble fathers and foolish ones, here +termed _dindons_, and grooms, called by the French _jockeis_. The +remark, that he who plays every thing plays nothing, has not been +unaptly applied to him. He has a defect of pronunciation which shocks +even the ear of a foreigner. + +DORSAN is naturally cold and stiff, and when he endeavours to repair +the former of these defects, the weakness of his powers betrays him. +If he speaks correctly, it is without _finesse_, and he never adds by +expression to the thought of the author. + +CLOZEL is a very handsome young man. He performs the characters of +_petits-maîtres_ and those of valets, which he confounds incessantly. +The other actors of the _Théâtre Louvois_ exempt me from naming them. + +As for the actresses at this theatre, those only worthy to be +mentioned are, Mademoiselle ADELINE, who has a rather pretty face, +and plays not ill innocent parts; Mademoiselle BEFFROI, who is +handsome, especially in male attire; and Mademoiselle MOLIÈRE, who is +a very good _soubrette_. Mademoiselle LESCOT, tired of obtaining +applause at the _Théâtre du Vaudeville_, wished to do the same on a +larger theatre. Here, she has not even the consolation of saying + + "_Tel brille au second rang, qui s'éclipse au premier._" + +Madame MOLÉ, who is enormous in bulk, is a coarse caricature, whether +she performs the parts of noble mothers, or what the French call +_caractères_, that is, singular characters. + + * * * * * + +The _ci-devant Comédie Italienne_ in Paris partly owed its prosperity +to the _Vaudeville_, which might be considered as the parent of the +_Opéra-Comique_. They were united, when the _drame_ being introduced +with songs, had like to have annihilated them both. The _Vaudeville_ +was sacrificed and banished. Several years elapsed before it +reappeared. This offspring of French gaiety was thought to be lost +for ever; but a few authors had prepared for it an asylum under the +name of + +THÉÂTRE DU VAUDEVILLE. + +This little theatre is situated in the _Rue de Chartres_, which faces +the principal entrance of the _Palais du Tribunat_. The interior is +of a circular form, and divided into four tiers of boxes. In general, +the decorations are not of the first class, but in the dresses the +strictest propriety is observed. + +The pieces performed at the _Vaudeville_ are little comedies of the +sentimental cast, a very extensive collection of portraits of French +authors and of a few foreigners,[2] some pastoral pieces, parodies +closely bordering on the last new piece represented at one of the +principal theatres, charming _harlequinades_, together with a few +pieces, in some of which parade and show are introduced; in others, +scenes of low life and vulgarity; but the latter species is now +almost abandoned. + +These pieces are almost always composed in conjunction. It is by no +means uncommon to see in the play-bills the names of five or six +authors to a piece, in which the public applaud, perhaps, no more +than three verses of a song. This association of names, however, has +the advantage of saving many of them from ridicule. + +The authors who chiefly devote themselves to the species of +composition from which this theatre derives its name, are BARRÉ, +RADET, and DESFONTAINES, who may be considered as its founders. +BOURGEUIL, DESCHAMPS, DESPREZ, and the two SÉGURS, also contribute to +the success of the _Vaudeville_, together with CHAZET, JOUY, +LONGCHAMPS, and some others. + +In the exercise of their talents, these writers suffer no striking +adventure, no interesting anecdote to escape their satirical humour; +but aim the shafts of ridicule at every subject likely to afford +amusement. It may therefore be conceived that this house is much +frequented. No people on earth can be more fickle than the French in +general, and the Parisians in particular, in the choice of their +diversions. Like children, they are soon tired of the same toy, and +novelty is for them the greatest attraction. Hence, the _Vaudeville_, +as has been seen, presents a great variety of pieces. In general, +these are by no means remarkable for the just conception of their +plan. The circumstance of the moment adroitly seized, and related in +some well-turned stanzas, interspersed with dialogue, is sufficient +to insure the success of a new piece, especially if adapted to the +abilities of the respective performers. + +Among them, HENRY would shine in the parts of lovers, were he less of +a _mannerist_. + +JULIEN may be quoted as an excellent imitator of the beaux of the +day. + +VERTPRÉ excels in personating a striking character. + +CARPENTIER is no bad representative of a simpleton. + +CHAPELLE displays much comic talent and warmth in the character of +dotards, who talk themselves out of their reason. + +LAPORTE, as a speaking Harlequin, has no equal in Paris. + +So much for the men: I shall now speak of the women deserving of +notice. + +Madame HENRY, in the parts of lovers, is to be preferred for her fine +eyes, engaging countenance, elegant shape, and clear voice. + +Mesdemoiselles COLOMBE and LAPORTE, who follow her in the same line +of acting, are both young, and capable of improvement. + +Mademoiselle DESMARES is far from being pretty; neither is she much +of an actress, but she treads the stage well, and sings not amiss. + +Mademoiselle BLOSSEVILLE plays chambermaids and characters of parody +with tolerable success. + +Mademoiselle DELILLE, however, who performs caricatures and +characters where frequent disguises are assumed, is a still greater +favourite with the public. So much has been said of the glibness of a +female tongue that many of the comparisons made on the subject are +become proverbial; but nothing that I ever heard in that way can be +compared to the volubility of utterance of Mademoiselle DELILLE, +except the clearness of her articulation. A quick and attentive ear +may catch every syllable as distinctly as if she spoke with the +utmost gravity and slowness. The piece in which she exhibits this +talent to great advantage, and under a rapid succession of disguises, +is called _Frosine ou la dernière venue_. + +Mademoiselle FLEURY makes an intelligent Columbine, not unworthy of +LAPORTE. + +Madame DUCHAUME represents not ill characters of duennas, +country-women, &c. + +Nothing can be said of the voice of the different performers of this +theatre, on which acccount, perhaps, the orchestra is rather feeble; +but still it might be better composed. + +During my present visit to Paris, the _Vaudeville_, as it is commonly +called, has, I think, insensibly declined. It has, however, been said +that its destiny seems insured by the character of the French, and +that being the first theatre to bend to the caprices of the day, it +can never be out of fashion. Certainly, if satire be a good +foundation, it ought to be the most substantial dramatic +establishment in Paris. It rests on public malignity, which is its +main support. Hence, one might conclude that it will last as long as +there is evil doing or evil saying, an absurdity to catch at, an +author to parody, a tale of scandal to relate, a rogue to abuse, and, +in short, as long as the chapter of accidents shall endure. At this +rate, the _Vaudeville_ must stand to all eternity. + +Whatever may be its defects, it unquestionably exemplifies the +character of the nation, so faithfully pourtrayed by Beaumarchais, in +the following lines of the _vaudeville_ which concludes the _Mariage +de Figaro_: + + _"Si l'on opprime, il peste, il crie, + Il s'agite en cent façons, + Tout finit par des chansons." bis._ + +[Footnote 1: The _Théâtre Louvois_ is rapidly on the decline.] + +[Footnote 2: These are pieces the hero of which is a celebrated +personage, such as RABELAIS, SCARRON, VOLTAIRE, ROUSSEAU, +MALESHERBES, FREDERIC, king of Prussia, &c. &c.] + + + +LETTER LXIX. + +_Paris, February 17, 1802._ + +After having traversed the _Pont Neuf_, from the north side of the +Seine, you cannot avoid noticing a handsome building to the right, +situated on the _Quai de Conti_, facing the river. This is the Mint, +or + +HÔTEL DE LA MONNAIE. + +The construction of this edifice was suggested by M. LAVERDY, +Minister of State, and executed under the direction of M. ANTOINE, +architect. I do not recollect any building of the kind in Europe that +can be compared to it, since it far surpasses the _Zecca_ at Venice. + +The Abbé Terray (whose name will not be readily forgotten by the +State-annuitants of his time, and for whom Voltaire, as one, said +that he preserved his only tooth) when Comptroller-general of the +Finances, laid the first stone of the _Hôtél de la Monnaie_, in April +1771. + +An avant-corps, decorated with six Ionic pillars, and supported by +two wings, from the division of the façade, which is three hundred +and thirty-six feet in breadth by eighty-four in elevation. It is +distributed into two stories above the ground-floor. Perpendicularly +to the six pillars, rise six statues, representing Peace, Commerce, +Prudence, Law, Strength, and Plenty. + +In this avant-corps are three arches, the centre one of which is the +principal entrance of the building. The vestibule is decorated with +twenty-four fluted Doric pillars, and on the right hand, is a +stair-case, leading to the apartments intended for the use of the +officers belonging to the Mint, and in which they hold their +meetings. This stair-case is lighted by a dome supported by sixteen +fluted pillars of the Ionic order. + +The whole building contains six courts: the principal court is one +hundred and ten feet in depth by ninety-two in breadth. All round it +are covered galleries, terminated by a circular wall alternately +pierced with arches and gates. + +The entrance of the hall for the money-presses is ornamented by four +Doric pillars. This hall is sixty-two feet long by about forty broad, +and contains nine money-presses. Above it is the hall of the sizers +or persons who prepare the blank pieces for stamping. Next come the +flatting-mills. Here, in a word, are all the apartments necessary for +the different operations, and aptly arranged for the labours of +coinage. + +In the principal apartment of the avant-corps of the _Hôtel de la +Monnaie_, towards the _Quai de Conti_, is the cabinet known in Paris +by the name of the + +MUSÉE DES MINES. + +This cabinet or Museum was formed in 1778 by M. SAGE, who had then +spent eighteen years in collecting minerals. When he began to employ +himself on that science forty-five years ago, there existed in this +country no collection which could facilitate the study of mineralogy. +Docimacy vas scarcely known here by name. France was tributary to +foreign countries thirty-seven millions of livres (_circa_ £1,541,666 +sterling) a year for the mineral and metallic substances which she +drew from them, although she possesses them within herself. M. SAGE +directed his studies and labours to the research and analysis of +minerals. For twenty years he has delivered _gratis_ public courses +of chymistry and mineralogy. For the advancement of those sciences, +he also availed himself of the favour he enjoyed with some persons at +court and in the ministry, and this was certainly making a very +meritorious use of it. To his care and interest is wholly due the +collection of minerals placed in this building. The apartment +containing it has, by some, been thought to deviate from the simple +and severe style suitable to its destination, and to resemble too +much the drawing-room of a fine lady. But those who have hazarded +such a reproach do not consider that, at the period when this cabinet +was formed, it was not useless, in order to bring the sciences into +fashion, to surround them with the show of luxury and the elegance of +accessory decoration. Who knows even whether that very circumstance, +trifling as it may appear, has not somewhat contributed to spread a +taste for the two sciences in question among the great, and in the +fashionable world? + +However this may be, the arrangement of this cabinet is excellent, +and, in that respect, it is worthy to serve as a model. The +productions of nature are so disposed that the glazed closets and +cases containing them present, as it were, an open book in which the +curious and attentive observer instructs himself with the greater +facility and expedition, as he can without effort examine and study +perfectly every individual specimen. + +The inside of the Museum is about forty-five feet in length, +thirty-eight in breadth, and forty in elevation. In the middle is an +amphitheatre capable of holding two hundred persons. In the +circumference are glazed cabinets or closets, in which are arranged +methodically and analytically almost all the substances known in +mineralogy. The octagonal gallery, above the elliptical amphitheatre, +contains large specimens of different minerals. To each specimen is +annexed an explanatory ticket. One of the large lateral galleries +presents part of the productions of the mines of France, classed +according to the order of the departments where they are found. The +new transversal gallery contains models of furnaces and machines +employed in the working of mines. The third gallery is also destined +to contain the minerals of France, the essays and results of which +are deposited in a private cabinet. The galleries are decorated with +tables and vases of different species of marble, porphyry, and +granite, also from the mines of France, collected by SAGE. The cupola +which rises above, is elegantly ornamented from the designs of +ANTOINE, the architect of the building. + +This Museum is open to the public every day from nine o'clock in the +morning till two, and, though it has been so many years an object of +curiosity, such is the care exerted in superintending it, that it has +all the freshness of novelty. + +In a niche, on the first landing-place of the stair-case, is the bust +of M. SAGE, a tribute of gratitude paid to him by his pupils. SAGE'S +principal object being to naturalize in France mineralogy, docimacy, +and metallurgy, he first obtained the establishment of a _Special +School of Mines_, in which pupils were maintained by the State. Here, +he directed their studies, and enjoyed the happiness of forming +intelligent men, capable of improving the science of metallurgy, and +promoting the search of ores, &c. + +For a number of years past, as I have already observed, SAGE has +delivered _gratis_, in this Museum; public courses of chymistry and +mineralogy. He attracts hither many auditors by the ease of his +elocution, and the address, the grace even which he displays in his +experiments. If all those who have attended his lectures are to be +reckoned his pupils, there will be found in the number names +illustrious among the _savans_ of France. Unfortunately, this veteran +of science has created for himself a particular system in chymistry, +and this system differs from that of LAVOISIER, FOURCROY, +GUYTON-MORVEAU, BERTHOLLET, CHAPTAL, &c. The sciences have also their +schisms; but the real _savans_ are not persecutors. Although SAGE was +not of their opinion on many essential points, his adversaries always +respected him as the man who had first drawn the attention of the +government towards the art of mines, instigated the establishment of +the first school which had existed for this important object, and +been the author of several good analyses. On coming out of prison, +into which he had been thrown during the reign of terror, he found +this cabinet of mineralogy untouched. It would then have been easy, +from motives of public utility, to unite it to the new School of +Mines. But the heads of this new school had, for the most part, +issued from the old one, and SAGE was dear to them from every +consideration. It was from a consequence of this sentiment that SAGE, +who had been a member of the _Academy of Sciences_, not having been +comprised in the list of the members of the National Institute at the +time of its formation, has since been admitted into that learned +body, not as a chymist indeed, but as a professor of mineralogy, a +science which owes to him much of its improvement. + +The new School of Mines is now abolished, and practical ones are +established in the mountains, as I have before mentioned. While I am +speaking of mineralogy, I shall take you to view the + +CABINET DU CONSEIL DES MINES. + +This cabinet of mineralogy, formed at the _Hôtel des Mines_, _Rue de +l'Université_, _No. 293_, is principally intended to present a +complete collection of all the riches of the soil of the French +Republic, arranged in local order. A succession of glazed closets, +contiguous and similar to each other, that is about six feet and a +half in height by sixteen inches in depth, affords every facility of +observing them with ease and convenience. On these cases the names of +the departments are inscribed in alphabetical order, and the +vacancies which still exist in this geographical collection, are +daily filled up by specimens sent by the engineers of mines, who, +being spread over the different districts they are charged to visit, +employ themselves in recognizing carefully the mineral substances +peculiar to each country, in order to submit their views to the +government respecting the means of rendering them useful to commerce +and to the arts. + +The departmental collection, being thus arranged on the sides of the +gallery, leaves vacant the middle of the apartments, which is +furnished with tables covered with large glazed cases, intended for +receiving systematic collections, and the most remarkable mineral +substances from foreign countries, distributed in geographical order. + +An apartment is specially appropriated to the systematic order +adopted by HAÜY in his new treatise on mineralogy; another is +reserved for the method of WERNER. + +In both these oryctognostic collections, minerals of all countries +are indiscriminately admitted. They are arranged by _classes_, +_orders_, _genera_, _species_, and _varieties_, with the +denominations adopted by the author of the method, and consequently +designated by specific names in French for HAÜY'S method, and in +German for that of WERNER. The proximity of the two apartments where +they are exhibited, affords every advantage for comparing both +methods, and acquiring an exact knowledge of mineralogical synonymy. +Each of the two methods contains also a geological collection of +rocks and various aggregates, classed and named after the principles +which their respective authors have thought fit to adopt. + +The other apartments are likewise furnished with tables covered with +glazed cases, where are exhibited, in a manner very advantageous for +study, the most remarkable minerals of every description from foreign +countries, among which are: + +1. A numerous series of minerals from Russia, such as red chromate of +lead, white carbonate of lead, green phosphate of lead; native +copper, green and blue carbonate of copper; gold ore from Berezof; +iron ore, granitical rocks, fossil shells, in good preservation, from +the banks of the Moscorika, and others in the siliceous state, +jaspers, crystals of quartz, beril, &c. + +2. A collection from the iron and copper mines of Sweden, as well as +various crystals and rocks from the same country. + +3. A very complete and diversified collection of minerals from the +country of Saltzburg. + +4. Another of substances procured in England, such as fluates and +carbonates of lime from Derbyshire; pyrites, copper and lead ore, +zinc, and tin from Cornwall. + +5. A collection of tin ore, cobalt, uranite, &c. from Saxony. + +6. A series of minerals from Simplon, St. Gothard, the Tyrol, +Transylvania, as well as from Egypt and America. All these articles, +without being striking from their size, and other accessory qualities +to be remarked in costly specimens, incontestably present a rich fund +of instruction to persons delirous of fathoming science, by +multiplying the points of view under which mineral productions may be +observed. + +Such is the present state of the mineralogical collection of the +_Conseil des Mines_, which the superintendants will, no doubt, with +time and attention, bring to the highest degree of perfection. It is +open to the public every Monday and Thursday: but, on the other days +of the week, amateurs and students have access to it. + +A few years before the revolution, France was still considered as +destitute of an infinite number of mineral riches, which were thought +to belong exclusively to several of the surrounding countries. +Germany was quoted as a country particularly favoured, in this +respect, by Nature. Yet France is crossed by mountains similar to +those met with in Germany, and these mountains contain rocks of the +same species as those of that country which is so rich in minerals. +What has happened might therefore have been foreseen; namely, that, +when intelligent men, with an experienced eye, should examine the +soil of the various departments of the Republic, they would find in +it not only substances hitherto considered as scarce, but even +several of those whose existence there had not yet been suspected. +Since the revolution, the following are the + +_Principal Mineral Substances discovered in France._ + +_Dolomite_ in the mountains of Vosges and in the Pyrenees. + +_Carburet of iron_ or _plumbago_, in the south peak of Bigorre. The +same variety has been been found near Argentière, and the valley of +Chamouny, department of Mont-Blanc. + +A rock of the appearance of _porphyry_, with a _calcareous_ base, in +the same valley of Chamouny. + +_Tremolite_ or _grammatite_ of HAÜY, in the same place. These two +last-mentioned substances were in terminated crystals. + +_Red oxyd of titanium_, in the same place. + +_New violet schorl_, or _sphene_ of HAÜY, (_rayonnante en goutière_ +of SAUSSURE) in the same place. + +_Crystallized sulphate of strontia_, in the mines of Villefort in La +Lozère, in the environs of Paris, at Bartelemont, near the _Salterns_ +in the department of La Meurthe. + +_Fibrous and crystallized sulphate of strontia_, at Bouvron, near +Toul. + +_Earthy sulphate of strontia_, in the vicinity of Paris, near the +forest of Montmorency, and to the north-east of it. + +_Onyx-agate-quartz_, at Champigny, in the department of La Seine. + +_Avanturine-quartz_, in the Deux-Sevres. + +_Marine bodies_, imbedded in the soil, a little above the _Oule de +Gavernie_. + +_Anthracite_, and its direction determined in several departments. + +_Other marine bodies_, at the height of upwards of 3400 _mètres_ or +3683 yards, on the summit of Mont-Perdu, in the Upper Pyrenées. + +_Wolfram_, near St. Yriex, in Upper Vienne. + +_Oxyd of antimony_, at Allemont, in the department of L'Isère. + +_Chromate of iron_, near Gassin, in the department of _Le Var_, at +the _bastide_ of the cascade. + +_Oxyd of uranite_, at St. Simphorien de Marmagne, in the department +of La Côte d'Or. + +_Acicular arsenical lead ore_, at St. Prix, in the department of +Saone and Loire. This substance was found among some piles of +rubbish, near old works made for exploring a vein of lead ore, which +lies at the foot of a mountain to the north-east, and at three +quarters of a league from the _commune_ of St. Prix. + +In this country have likewise been found several varieties of new +interesting forms relative to substances already known; several +important geological facts have been ascertained; and, lastly, the +emerald has here been recently discovered. France already possesses +eighteen of the twenty-one metallic substances known. Few countries +inherit from Nature the like advantages. + +With respect to the administration of the mines of France, the +under-mentioned are the regulations now in force. + +A council composed of three members, is charged to give to the +Minister of the Interior ideas, together with their motives, +respecting every thing that relates to mines. It corresponds, in the +terms of the law, with all the grantees and with all persons who +explore mines, salterns, and quarries. It superintends the research +and extraction of all substances drawn from the bosom of the earth, +and their various management. It proposes the grants, permissions, +and advances to be made, and the encouragements to be given. Under +its direction are the two practical schools, and twenty-five +engineers of mines, nine of whom are spread over different parts of +the French territory. General information relative to statistics, +every thing that can concur in the formation of the mineralogical map +of France and complete the collection of her minerals, and all +observations and memoirs relative to the art of mines or of the +different branches of metallurgy, are addressed by the engineers to +the _Conseil des Mines_ at Paris. + + + +LETTER LXX. + +_Paris, February 20, 1802_. + +Having fully described to you all the theatres here of the first and +second rank, I shall confine myself to a rapid sketch of those which +may be classed in the third order.[1] + +THÉÂTRE MONTANSIER. + +This house stands at the north-west angle of the _Palais du +Tribunat_. It is of an oval form, and contains three tiers of boxes, +exclusively of a large amphitheatre. Before the revolution, it bore +the name of _Théâtre des Petits Comédiens du Comte de Beaujolais_, +and was famous for the novelty of the spectacle here given. Young +girls and boys represented little comedies and comic operas in the +following manner. Some gesticulated on the stage; while others, +placed in the side-scenes, spoke or sang their parts without being +seen. It was impossible to withhold one's admiration from the perfect +harmony between the motions of the one and the speaking and singing +of the other. In short, this double acting was executed with such +precision that few strangers detected the deception. + +To these actors succeeded full-grown performers, who have since +continued to play interludes of almost every description. Indeed, +this theatre is the receptacle of all the nonsense imaginable; +nothing is too absurd or too low for its stage. Here are collected +all the trivial expressions to be met with in this great city, +whether made use of in the markets, gaming-houses, taverns, or +dancing-rooms. + +CAROLINE and BRUNET, or BRUNET and CAROLINE. They are like two +planets, round which move a great number of satellites, some more +imperceptible than others. If to these we add TIERCELIN, an actor of +the grotesque species, little more is to be said. Were it not for +BRUNET, who makes the most of his comic humour, in playing all sorts +of low characters, and sometimes in a manner truly original, and +Mademoiselle CAROLINE, whose clear, flexible, and sonorous voice +insures the success of several little operas, the _Théâtre +Montansier_ would not be able to maintain its ground, notwithstanding +the advantages of its centrical situation, and the attractions of its +lobby, where the impures of the environs exhibit themselves to no +small advantage, and literally carry all before them. + +We now come to the theatres on the _Boulevard_, at the head of which +is to be placed + +L'AMBIGU COMIQUE. + +This little theatre is situated on the _Boulevard du Temple_, and, of +all those of the third order, has most constantly enjoyed the favour +of the public. Previously to the revolution, AUDINOT drew hither +crowded houses by the representation of comic operas and bad _drames_ +of a gigantic nature, called here _pantomimes dialoguées_. The +effects of decoration and show were carried farther at this little +theatre than at any other. Ghosts, hobgoblins, and devils were, in +the sequel, introduced. All Paris ran to see them, till the women +were terrified, and the men disgusted. + +CORSE, the present manager, has of late added considerably to the +attraction of the _Ambigu Comique_, by not only restoring it to what +it was in the most brilliant days of AUDINOT, but by collecting all +the best actors and dancers of the _Boulevard_, and improving on the +plan adopted by his predecessor. He has neglected nothing necessary +for the advantageous execution of the new pieces which he has +produced. The most attractive of these are _Victor_, _le Pélerin +blanc_, _L'Homme à trois visages_, _Le Jugement de Salomon_, &c. + +The best performers at this theatre are CORSE, the manager, TAUTIN, +and Mademoiselle LEVESQUE. + + * * * * * + +In regard to all the other minor theatres, the enumeration of which I +have detailed to you in a preceding letter,[2] I shall briefly, +observe that the curiosity of a stranger may be satisfied in paying +each of them a single visit. Some of these _petits spectacles_ are +open one day, shut the next, and soon after reopened with +performances of a different species. Therefore, to attempt a +description of their attractions would probably be superfluous; and, +indeed, the style of the pieces produced is varied according to the +ideas of the speculators, the taste of the managers, or the abilities +of the performers, who, if not "the best actors in the world," are +ready to play either "tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, +pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem +unlimited." + +[Footnote 1: The Theatre of the _Porte St. Martin_ not having been +open, when this letter was written, it is not here noticed. It may be +considered as of the second rank. Its representations include almost +every line of acting; but those for which the greatest expense is +incurred are melo-drames and pieces connected with pantomime and +parade. The house is the same in which the grand French opera was +performed before the revolution.] + +[Footnote 2: See Vol. i. Letter XXI.] + + + +LETTER LXXI. + +_Paris, February 22, 1802._ + +The variety of matter which crowds itself on the mind of a man who +attempts to describe this immense capital, forms such a chaos, that +you will, I trust, give me credit for the assertion, when I assure +you that it is not from neglect or inattention I sometimes take more +time than may appear strictly necessary to comply with your wishes. +Considering how deeply it involves the peace and comfort of +strangers, as well as inhabitants, I am not at all surprised at the +anxiety which you express to acquire some knowledge of the + +POLICE OF PARIS. + +In the present existing circumstances, it might be imprudent, if not +dangerous, to discuss, freely openly, so delicate a question. I shall +take a middle course. Silence would imply fear; while boldness of +expression might give offence; and though I certainly am not afraid +to mention the subject, yet to offend, is by no means my wish or +intention. In this country, the Post-Office has often been the +channel through which the opinion of individuals has been collected. +What has been, may again occur; and in such critical times, who +knows, but the government may conceive itself justified in not +considering as absolutely sacred the letters intrusted to that mode +of conveyance? Under these considerations, I shall beg leave to refer +you to a work which has gone through the hands of every inquisitive +reader; that is the _Tableau de Paris_, published in 1788: but, on +recollection, as this letter will, probably, find you in the country, +where you may not have an immediate opportunity of gratifying your +curiosity, and as the book is become scarce, I shall select from it +for your satisfaction a few extracts concerning the Police. + +This establishment is necessary and useful for maintaining order and +tranquillity in a city like Paris, where the very extremes of luxury +and wretchedness are continually in collision. I mean _useful_, when +no abuse is made of its power; and it is to be hoped that the present +government of France is too wise and too just to convert an +institution of public utility into an instrument of private +oppression. + +Since the machinery of the police was first put in order by M. +D'ARGENSON, in 1697, its wheels and springs have been continually +multiplied by the thirteen ministers who succeeded him in that +department. The last of these was the celebrated M. LENOIR. + +The present Minister of the Police, M. FOUCHÉ, has, it seems, +adopted, in a great measure, the means put in practice before the +revolution. His administration, according to general report, bears +most resemblance to that of M. LENOIR: he is said, however, to have +improved on that vigilant magistrate: but he surpasses him, I am +told, more in augmentation of expenses and agents, than in real +changes.[1] + +In selecting from the before-mentioned work the following _widely +scattered_ passages, and assembling them as a _piece of Mosaic_, it +has been my endeavour to enable you to form an impartial judgment of +the police of Paris, by exhibiting it with all its perfections and +imperfections. Borrowing the language of MERCIER, I shall trace the +institution through all its ramifications, and, in pointing out its +effects, I shall "nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." + +If we take it for granted, that the police of Paris is now exercised +on the same plan as that pursued towards the close of the old +_régime_, this sketch will be the more interesting, as its +resemblance to the original will exempt me from adding a single +stroke from my own pencil. + +"D'ARGENSON was severe," says MERCIER, "perhaps because he felt, in +first setting the machine in motion, a resistance which his +successors have less experienced. For a long time it was imagined +that a Minister of Police ought to be harsh; he ought to be firm +only. Several of these magistrates have laid on too heavy a hand, +because they were not acquainted with the people of Paris; a people +of quick feeling, but not ferocious[2], whose motions are to be +divined, and consequently easy to be led. Whoever should be void of +pity in that post, would be a monster." + +MERCIER then gives the fragment by FONTENELLE, on the police of Paris +and on M. D'ARGENSON, of which I shall select only what may be +necessary for elucidating the main subject. + +"The inhabitants of a well-governed city," says FONTENELLE, "enjoy +the good order which is there established, without considering what +trouble it costs those who establish or preserve it, much in the same +manner as all mankind enjoy the regularity of the motions of +celestial bodies, without having any knowledge of them, and even the +more the good order of a police resembles by its uniformity that of +the celestial bodies, the more is it imperceptible, and, +consequently, the more it is unknown, the greater is its perfection. +But he who would wish to know it and fathom it, would be terrified. +To keep up perpetually in a city, like Paris, an immense consumption, +some sources of which may always be dried up by a variety of +accidents; to repress the tyranny of shop-keepers in regard to the +public, and at the same time animate their commerce; to prevent the +mutual usurpations of the one over the other, often difficult to +discriminate; to distinguish in a vast crowd all those who may easily +conceal there a hurtful industry; to purge society of them, or +tolerate them only as far as they can be useful to it by employments +which no others but themselves would undertake, or discharge so well; +to keep necessary abuses within the precise limits of necessity which +they are always ready to over-leap; to envelop them in the obscurity +to which they ought to be condemned, and not even draw them from it +by chastisement too notorious; to be ignorant of what it is better to +be ignorant of than to punish, and to punish but seldom and usefully; +to penetrate by subterraneous avenues into the bosom of families, and +keep for them the secrets which they have not confided, as long as it +is not necessary to make use of them; to be present every where +without being seen; in short, to move or stop at pleasure an immense +multitude, and be the soul ever-acting, and almost unknown, of this +great body: these are, in general, the functions of the chief +magistrate of the police. It should seem that one man alone could not +be equal to them, either on account of the quantity of things of +which he must be informed, or of that of the views which he must +follow, or of the application which he must exert, or of the variety +of conduct which he most observe, and of the characters which he must +assume: but the public voice will answer whether M. D'ARGENSON has +been equal to them. + +"Under him, cleanliness, tranquillity, plenty, and safety were +brought to the highest degree of perfection in this city. And, +indeed, the late king (Lewis XIV) relied entirely on his care +respecting Paris. He could have given an account of a person unknown +who should have stolen into it in the dark; this person, whatever +ingenuity he exerted in concealing himself, was always under his eye; +and if, at last, any one escaped him, at least what produced almost +the same effect, no one would have dared to think himself +well-concealed. + +"Surrounded and overwhelmed in his audiences by a crowd of people +chiefly of the lower class, little informed themselves of what +brought them, warmly agitated by interests very trifling, and +frequently very ill understood, accustomed to supply the place of +discourse by senseless clamour, he neither betrayed the inattention +nor the disdain which such persons or such subjects might have +occasioned." + +"FONTENELLE has not," continues MERCIER, "spoken of the severity of +M. D'ARGENSON, of his inclination to punish, which was rather a sign +of weakness than of strength. Alas! human laws, imperfect and rude, +cannot dive to the bottom of the human heart, and there discover the +causes of the delinquencies which they have to punish! They judge +only from the surface: they would acquit, perhaps, those whom they +condemn; they would strike him whom they suffer to escape. But they +cannot, I confess, do otherwise. Nevertheless, they ought to neglect +nothing that serves to disclose the heart of man. They ought to +estimate the strength of natural and indestructible passions, not in +their effects, but in their principles; to pay attention to the age, +the sex, the time, the day; these are nice rules, which could not be +found in the brain of the legislator, but which ought to be met with +in that of a Minister of the Police." + +"There are also epidemical errors in which the multitude of those who +go astray, seems to lessen the fault; in which a sort of +circumspection is necessary, in order that punishment may not be in +opposition to public interest, because punishment would then appear +absurd or barbarous, and indignation might recoil on the law, as well +as on the magistrate." + +"What a life has a Minister of Police! He has not a moment that he +can call his own; he is every day obliged to punish; he is afraid to +give way to indulgence, because he does not know that he may not one +day have to reproach himself with it. He is under the necessity of +being severe, and of acting contrary to the inclination of his heart; +not a crime is committed but he receives the shameful or cruel +account: he hears of nothing but vicious men and vices; every instant +he is told: 'there's a murder! a suicide! a rape!' Not an accident +happens but he must prescribe the remedy, and hastily; he has but a +moment to deliberate and act, and he must be equally fearful to abuse +the power intrusted to him, and not to use it opportunely. Popular +rumours, flighty conversations, theatrical factions, false alarms, +every thing concerns him. + +"Is he gone to rest? A fire rouses him from his bed. He must be +answerable for every thing; he must trace the robber, and the lurking +assassin who has committed a crime; for the magistrate appears +blameable, if he has not found means to deliver him up quickly to +justice. The time that his agents have employed in this capture will +be calculated, and his honour requires that the interval between the +crime and the imprisonment should be the shortest possible. What +dreadful duties! What a laborious life! And yet this place is +coveted! + +"On some occasions, it is necessary for the Minister of Police to +demean himself like a true _Greek_, as was the case in the following +instance: + +"A person, being on the point of making a journey, had in his +possession a sum of twenty thousand livres which embarrassed him; he +had only one servant, whom he mistrusted, and the sum was tempting. +He accordingly requested a friend to be so obliging as to take care +of it for him till his return. + +"A fortnight after, the friend denied the circumstance. As there was +no proof, the civil law could not pronounce in this affair. Recourse +was had to the Minister of Police, who pondered a moment, and sent +for the receiver, making the accuser retire into an adjoining room: + +"The friend arrives, and maintains that he has not received the +twenty thousand livres. 'Well,' said the magistrate, 'I believe you; +and as you are innocent you run no, risk in writing to your wife the +note that I am going to dictate. Write. + +"'"My dear wife, all is discovered. I shall be punished if I do not +restore you know what. Bring the sum: your coming quickly to my +relief is the only way for me to get out of trouble and obtain my +pardon." + +"'This note,' added the magistrate, 'will fully justify you. Your +wife can bring nothing since you have received nothing, and your +accuser will be foiled.' + +"The note was dispatched; the wife, terrified, ran with the twenty +thousand livres. + +"Thus the Minister of Police can daily make up for the imperfection +and tardiness of our civil laws; but he ought to use this rare and +splendid privilege with extreme circumspection. + +"The chief magistrate of the police is become a minister of +importance; he has a secret and prodigious influence; he knows so +many things, that he can do much mischief or much good, because he +has in hand a multitude of threads which he can entangle or +disentangle at his pleasure; he strikes or he saves; he spreads +darkness or light: his authority is as delicate as it is extensive. + +"The Minister of Police exercises a despotic sway over the +_mouchards_ who are found disobedient, or who make false reports: as +for these fellows, they are of a class so vile and so base, that the +authority to which they have sold themselves, has necessarily an +absolute right over their persons. + +"This is not the case with those who are apprehended in the name of +the police; they may have committed trifling faults: they may have +enemies in that crowd of _exempts_, spies, and satellites, who are +believed on their word. The eye of the magistrate may be incessantly +deceived, and the punishment of these crimes ought to be submitted to +a more deliberate investigation; but the house of correction ingulfs +a vast number of men who there become still more perverted, and who, +on coming out, are still more wicked than when they went in. Being +degraded in their own eyes, they afterwards plunge themselves +headlong into all sorts of irregularities. + +"These different imprisonments are sometimes rendered necessary by +imperious circumstances; yet it were always to be wished that the +detention of a citizen should not depend on a single magistrate, but +that there should be a sort of tribunal to examine when this great +act of authority, withdrawn from the eye of the law, ceases to be +illegal. + +"A few real advantages compensate for these irregular forms, and +there are, in fact, an infinite number of irregularities which the +slow and grave process of our tribunals can neither take cognizance +of, nor put a stop to, nor foresee, nor punish. The audacious or +subtle delinquent would triumph in the winding labyrinth of our civil +laws. The laws of the police, more direct, watch him, press him, and +surround him mose closely. The abuse, is contiguous to the benefit, I +admit; but a great many private acts of violence, base and shameful +crimes, are repressed by this vigilant and active force which ought, +nevertheless, to publish its code and submit it to the inspection of +enlightened citizens." + +"Could the Minister of Police communicate to the philosopher all he +knows, all he learns, all he sees, and likewise impart to him certain +secret things, of which he alone is well-informed, there would be +nothing so curious and so instructive under the pen of the +philosopher; for he would astonish all his brethren. But this +magistrate is like the great penitentiary; he hears every thing, +relates nothing, and is not astonished at certain delinquencies in +the same degree as another man. By dint of seeing the tricks of +roguery, the crimes of vice, secret treachery, and all the filth of +human actions, he has necessarily a little difficulty in giving +credit to the integrity and virtue of honest people. He is in a +perpetual state of mistrust; and, in the main, he ought to possess +such a character; for, he ought to think nothing impossible, after +the extraordinary lessons which he receives from men and from things. +In a word, his place commands a continual, and scrutinizing +suspicion." + + * * * * * + +_February 22, in continuation._ + +"Even should not the Parisian have the levity with which he is +reproached, reason would justify him in its adoption. He walks +surrounded by spies. No sooner do two citizens whisper to each other, +than up comes a third, who prowls about in order to listen to what +they are saying. The spies of the police are a regiment of +inquisitive fellows; with this difference, that each individual +belonging to this regiment has a distinct dress, which he changes +frequently every day; and nothing so quick or so astonishing, as +these sorts of metamorphoses. + +"The same spy who figures as a private gentleman in the morning, in +the evening represents a priest: at one time, he is a peaceable limb +of the law; at another, a swaggering bully. The next day, with a +gold-headed cane in his hand, he will assume the deportment of a +monied man buried in calculations; the most singular disguises are +quite familiar to him. In the course of the twenty-four hours, he is +an officer of distinction and a journeyman hair-dresser, a shorn +apostle and a scullion. He visits the dress-ball and the lowest sink +of vice. At one time with a diamond ring on his finger, at another +with the most filthy wig on his head, he almost changes his +countenance as he does his apparel; and more than one of these +_mouchards_ would teach the French _Roscius_ the art of _decomposing_ +himself; he is all eyes, all ears, all legs; for he trots, I know not +how, over the pavement of every quarter of the town. Squatted +sometimes in the corner of a coffee-room, you would take him for a +dull, stupid, tiresome fellow, snoring till supper is ready: he has +seen and heard all that has passed. At another time, he is an orator, +and been the first to make a bold speech; he courts you to open your +mind; he interprets even your silence, and whether you speak to him +or not, he knows what you think of this or that proceeding. + +"Such is the universal instrument employed in Paris for diving into +secrets; and this is what determines the actions of persons in power +more willingly than any thing that could be imagined in reasoning or +politics. + +"The employment of spies has destroyed the ties of confidence and +friendship. None but frivolous questions are agitated, and the +government dictates, as it were, to citizens the subject on which +they shall speak in the evening in coffee-houses, as well as in +private circles. + +"The people have absolutely lost every idea of civil or political +administration; and if any thing could excite laughter in the midst +of an ignorance so deplorable, it would be the conversation of such a +silly fellow who constantly imagines that Paris must give the law and +the _ton_ to all Europe, and thence to all the world. + +"The men belonging to the police are a mass of corruption which the +Minister of that department divides into two parts: of the one, he +makes spies or _mouchards_; of the other, satellites, _exempts_, that +is, officers, whom he afterwards lets loose against pickpockets, +swindlers, thieves, &c., much in the same manner as a huntsman sets +hounds on wolves and foxes. + +"The spies have other spies at their heels, who watch over them, and +see that they do their duty. They all accuse each other reciprocally, +and worry one another for the vilest gain." + +I cannot here avoid interrupting my copious but laboriously-gathered +selection from MERCIER, to relate an anecdote which shews in what a +detestable light _mouchards_ are considered in Paris. + +A man who appeared to be in tolerably good circumstances, fell in +love, and married a girl whom the death of her parents and +accumulated distress had driven to a life of dissipation. At the end +of a few months, she learnt that her husband was a spy of the police. +"Probably," said, she to him, "you did not take up this trade till +after you had reflected that in following that of a thief or a +murderer, you would have risked your life." On saying this, she ran +out of the house, and precipitated herself from the _Pont Royal_ into +the Seine, where she was drowned.--But to resume the observations of +MERCIER. + +"It is from these odious dregs," continues our author, "that public +order arises. + +"When the _mouchards_ of the police have acted contrary to their +instructions, they are confined in the house of correction; but they +are separated from the other prisoners, because they would be torn to +pieces by those whom they have caused to be imprisoned, and who would +recognize them. They inspire less pity on account of the vile trade +which they follow. One sees with surprise, and with still more pain, +that these fellows are very young. Spies, informers at sixteen!--O! +what a shocking life does this announce!" exclaims MERCIER. "No; +nothing ever distressed me more than to see boys act such a part.... +And those who form them into squads, who drill them, who corrupt such +inexperienced youth!" + +Such is the admirable order which reigns in Paris, that a man +suspected or described is watched so closely, that his smallest steps +are known, till the very moment when it is expedient to apprehend +him. + +"The description taken of the man is a real portrait, which it is +impossible to mistake; and the art of thus describing the person by +words, is carried to so great a nicety, that the best writer, after +much reflection on the matter, could add nothing to it, nor make use +of other expressions. + +"The Theseuses of the police are on foot every night to purge the +city of robbers, and it might be said that the lions, bears, and +tigers are chained by political order. + +"There are also the court-spies, the town-spies, the bed-spies, the +street-spies, the spies of impures, and the spies of wits: they are +all called by the name of _mouchards_, the family name of the first +spy employed by the court of France. + +"Men of fashion at this day follow the trade of _mouchards_; most of +them style themselves _Monsieur le Baron_, _Monsieur le Comte_, +_Monsieur le Marquis_. There was a time, under Lewis XV, when spies +were so numerous, that it was impossible for friends, who assembled +together, to open their heart to each other concerning matters which +deeply affected their interest. The ministerial inquisition had +posted its sentinels at the door of every room, and listeners in +every closet. Ingenuous confidences, made from friends to friends, +and intended to die in the very bosom where they had been deposited, +were punished as dangerous conspiracies. + +"These odious researches poisoned social life, deprived men of +pleasures the most innocent, and transformed citizens into enemies +who trembled to unbosom themselves to each other. + +"One fourth of the servants in Paris serve as spies; and the secrets +of families, which are thought the most concealed, come to the +knowledge of those interested in being acquainted with them. + +"Independently of the spies of the police, ministers have spies +belonging to themselves, and keep them in pay: these are the most +dangerous of all, because they are less suspected than others, and it +is more difficult to know them. By these means, ministers know what +is said of them; yet, of this they avail themselves but little. They +are more intent to ruin their enemies, and thwart their adversaries, +than to derive a prudent advantage from the free and ingenuous hints +given them by the multitude. + +"It is entertaining enough to consider that, in proper time and +place, spies are watching him who, at his pleasure, sets spies to +watch other citizens. Thus, the links which connect mankind in +political order are really incomprehensible. He who does not admire +the manner in which society exists, and is supported by the +simultaneous reaction of its members, and who sees not the serpent's +_tail_ entering its _mouth_, is not born for reflection. + +"But the secrets of courts are not revealed through spies; they get +wind by means of certain people who are not in the least mistrusted; +in like manner the best built ships leak through an imperceptible +chink, which cannot be discovered. + +"What is interesting in courts, and particularly so in ours," says +MERCIER, "is that there is a degree of obscurity spread over all its +proceedings. We wish to penetrate what is concealed, we endeavour to +know till we learn; thus it is that the most ingenious machine +preserves its highest value only till we have seen the springs which +set it in motion. + +"After having considered the different parts which form the police of +the capital, we still perceive all the radii reaching from the centre +to the circumference. How many ramifications issue from the same +stem! How far the branches extend! What an impulse does not Paris +give to other neighbouring cities! + +"The police of Paris has an intimate correspondence with that of +Lyons and other provincial cities: for it is evident that it would be +imperfect, if it could not follow the disturber of public order, and +if the distance of a few leagues skreened him from researches. + +"The correspondence of the Parisian police is not therefore limited +to its walls; it extends much farther; and it is in towns where +imprudent or rash persons would imagine that they might give their +tongue greater freedom, that the vigilant magistrate pries into +conversation, and keeps a watchful eye over those who would measure +their audacity by the degree of distance from the capital. + +"Thus the police of Paris, after having embraced France, penetrates +also into Switzerland, Italy, Holland, and Germany;[3] and when +occasion requires, its eye is open on all sides to what can interest +the government. When it wishes to know any fact, it is informed of it +to a certainty; when it wishes to strike a serious blow, it seldom +misses its aim. + +"It may easily be conceived that the machine would be incomplete, and +that its play would fail in the desired effect, did it not embrace a +certain extent. It costs but little to give to the lever the +necessary length. Whether the spy be kept in pay at Paris, or a +hundred leagues off, the expense is the same, and the utility becomes +greater. + +"Experience has shewn that these observations admit of essential +differences in the branches of the police. Weights and measures must +be changed, according to time, place, persons, and circumstances. +There are no fixed rules; they must be created at the instant, and +the most versatile actions are not destitute of wisdom and reason. + +"Of this wholesale legislators are not aware: it is reserved for +practitioners to seize these shades of distinction. There must be a +customary, and, as it were, every-day policy, in order to decide well +without precipitation, without weakness, and without rigour. What +would be a serious fault at Paris, would be a simple imprudence at +Lyons, an indifferent thing elsewhere, and so on reciprocally. + +"Now this science has not only its details and its niceties, it has +also its variations, and sometimes even its oppositions. Ministers +must have a steady eye and great local experience, in order to be +able to strike true, and strike opportunely, without espousing +imaginary terrors; which, in matters of police, is the greatest fault +that can be committed.[4] + +"LYCURGUS, SOLON, LOCKE, and PENN! you have made very fine and +majestic laws; but would you have divined these? Although secret, +they exist; they have their wisdom, and even their depth. The +distance of a few leagues gives to matters of police two colours, +which bear to each other no resemblance; and there is no principal +town which is not obliged, in modeling its police on that of Paris, +to introduce into it the greatest modifications. The motto of every +Minister of Police ought to be this: _The letter of the law kills, +its spirit gives life._ + +"The safety of Paris, during the night, is owing to the guard[5] and +two or three hundred _mouchards_, who trot about the streets, and +recognize and follow suspected persons. It is chiefly by night that +the police makes its captions." + +The manner in which these captions are made is humorously, gravely, +feelingly, and philosophically described by the ingenious MERCIER. +Long as this letter already is, I am confident that you will not +regret its being still lengthened by another extract or two relative +to this interesting point; thus I shall terminate the only +elucidation that you are likely to obtain on a subject which has so +strongly excited your curiosity. + +"The comic," says our lively author, "is here blended with the +serious. The fulminating order, which is going to crush you, is in +the pocket of the _exempt_, who feels a degree of pleasure in the +exercise of his dreadful functions. He enjoys a secret pride in being +bearer of the thunder; he fancies himself the eagle of Jove: but his +motion is like that of a serpent. He glides along, dodges you, +crouches before you, approaches your ear, and with down-cast eyes and +a soft-toned voice, says to you, at the same time shrugging his +shoulders: '_Je suis au désespoir, Monsieur; mais j'ai un ordre, +Monsieur, qui vous arrête, Monsieur; de la part de la police, +Monsieur_.'----'_Moi, Monsieur_?'----'_Vous-même, Monsieur_.'----You +waver an instant between anger and indignation, ready to vent all +sorts of imprecations. You see only a polite, respectful, well-bred +man, bowing to you, mild in his speech, and civil in his manners. +Were you the most furious of mankind, your wrath would be instantly +disarmed. Had you pistols, you would discharge them in the air, and +never against the affable _exempt_. Presently you return him his +bows: there even arises between you a contest of politeness and good +breeding. It is a reciprocity of obliging words and compliments, till +the moment when the resounding bolts separate you from the polite +man, who goes to make a report of his mission, and whose employment, +by no means an unprofitable one, is to imprison people with all +possible gentleness, urbanity, and grace. + +"I am walking quietly in the street; before me is a young man +decently dressed. All at once four fellows seize on him, collar him, +push him against the wall, and drag him away. Natural instinct +commands me to go to his assistance; a tranquil witness says to me +coolly: 'Don't interfere; 'tis nothing, sir, but a caption made by +the police.' The young man is handcuffed, and he disappears. + +"I wish to enter a narrow street, a man belonging to the guard is +posted there as a sentinel: I perceive several of the populace +looking out of the windows. 'What's the matter, sir?' say I.---- +'Nothing,' replies he; 'they are only taking up thirty girls of the +town at one cast of the net.' Presently the girls, with top-knots of +all colours, file off, led by the soldiers of the guard, who lead +them gallantly by the hand, with their muskets clubbed. + +"It is eleven o'clock at night, or five in the morning, there is a +knock at your door; your servant opens it; in a moment your room is +filled with a squad of satellites. The order is precise, resistance +is vain; every thing that might serve as a weapon is put out of your +reach; and the _exempt_, who will not, on that account, boast the +less of his bravery even takes your brass pocket-inkstand for a +pistol. + +"The next day, a neighbour, who has heard a noise in the house, asks +what it might be: 'Nothing, 'tis only a man taken up by the police.' +----'What has he done?'----'No one can tell; he has, perhaps, +committed a murder, or sold a suspicious pamphlet.'----'But, sir, +there's some difference between those two crimes.'----'May be so; but +he is carried off.' + +"You have been apprehended; but you have not been shewn the order; +you have been put into a carriage closely shut up; you know not +whither you are going to be taken; but you may be certain that you +will visit the wards or dungeons of some prison. + +"Whence proceeds the decree of proscription? You cannot rightly +guess. + +"It is not necessary to write a thick volume against arbitrary +arrests. When one has said, _it is an arbitrary act_, one may, +without any difficulty, infer every possible consequence. But all +captions are not equally unjust: there are a multitude of secret and +dangerous crimes which it would be impossible for the ordinary course +of the law to take cognizance of, to put a stop to, and punish. When +the minister is neither seduced nor deceived, when he yields not to +private passion, to blind prepossession, to misplaced severity, his +object is frequently to get rid of a disturber of the public peace; +and the police, in the manner in which the machine is set up, could +not proceed, at the present day, without this quick, active, and +repressive power. + +"It were only to be wished that there should be afterwards a +particular tribunal, which should weigh in an exact scale the motives +of each caption, in order that imprudence and guilt, the pen and the +poniard, the book and the libel, might not be confounded. + +"The inspectors of police determine on their part a great many +subaltern captions; as they are generally believed on their word, and +as they strike only the lowest class of the people, the chief readily +concedes to them the details of this authority. + +"Some yield to their peevishness; others, to their caprice: but who +knows whether avarice has not also a share in their proceedings, and +whether they do not often favour him who pays at the expense of him +who does not pay? Thus the liberty of the distressed and lowest +citizens would have a tarif; and this strange tax would bear hard on +the very numerous portion of _prostitutes_, _professed gamblers_, +_quacks_, _hawkers_, _swindlers_, and _adventurers_, all people who +do mischief, and whom it is necessary to punish; but who do more +mischief when they are obliged to pay, and purchase, during a certain +time, the privilege of their irregularities. + +"We have imitated from the English their Vauxhall, their Ranelagh, +their whist, their punch, their hats, their horse-races, their +jockies, their betting; but," concludes MERCIER, "when shall we copy +from them something more important, for instance, that bulwark of +liberty, the law of _habeas corpus_?" + +[Footnote 1: The office of Minister of the Police has since been +abolished. M. FOUCHÉ is now a Senator, and the machine of which he +was said to be so expert a manager, is confided to the direction of +the Prefect of Police, who exercises his functions under the +immediate authority of the Ministers, and corresponds with them +concerning matters which relate to their respective departments. The +higher duties of the Police are at present vested in the _Grand +Juge_, who is also Minister of Justice. The former office is of +recent creation.] + +[Footnote 2: Voltaire thought otherwise; and he was not mistaken.] + +[Footnote 3: I shall exemplify this truth by two remarkable facts. +About the year 1775, when M. DE SARTINE was Minister of the Police, +several forgeries were committed on the Bank of Vienna; Count DE +MERCY, then Austrian ambassador at Paris, was directed to make a +formal application for the delinquent to be delivered up to justice. +What was his astonishment on receiving, a few hours after, a note +from M. DE SARTINE, informing him that the author of the said +forgeries had never been in Paris; but resided in Vienna, at the same +time mentioning the street, the number of the house, and other +interesting particulars! + +A circumstance which occurred in 1796, proves that, since the +revolution, the system of the Parisian police continues to extend to +foreign countries. The English Commissary for prisoners of war was +requested by a friend to make inquiry, on his arrival in Paris, +whether a French lady of the name of BEAUFORT was living, and in what +part of France she resided. He did so; and the following day, the +card, on which he had written the lady's name, was returned to him, +with this addition: "She lives at No. 47, East-street, +Manchester-square, London."] + +[Footnote 4: The same principle holds good in politics.] + +[Footnote 5: The municipal guard of Paris at present consists of 2334 +men. The privates must be above 30 and under 45 years of age.] + + + +LETTER LXXII. + +_Paris, February 26, 1802._ + +Referring to an expression made use of in my letter of the 16th of +December last,[1] you ask me "What the sciences, or rather the +_savans_ or men of science, have done for this people?" With the +assistance of a young Professor in the _Collège de France_, who bids +fair to eclipse all his competitors, it will not be difficult for me +to answer your question. + +Let me premise, however, that the _savans_ to whom I allude, must not +be confounded with the philosophers, called _Encyclopædists_, from +their having been the first to conceive and execute the plan of the +_Encyclopædia_. These _savans_ were DIDEROT, D'ALEMBERT, and +VOLTAIRE, all professed atheists, who, by the dissemination of their +pernicious doctrine, introduced into France an absolute contempt for +all religion. This infidelity, dissolving every social tie, every +principle between man and man, between the governing and the +governed, in the sequel, produced anarchy, rapine, and all their +attendant horrors. + +At the beginning of the revolution, every mind being turned towards +politics, the Sciences were suddenly abandoned: they could have no +weight in the struggle which then occupied every imagination. +Presently their existence was completely forgotten. Liberty formed +the subject of every writing and every discourse: it seemed that +orators alone possessed the power of serving her; and this error was +partly the cause of the calamities which afterwards overwhelmed +France. The greater part of the _savans_ remained simple spectators +of the events which were preparing: not one of them openly took part +against the revolution. Some involved themselves in it. Those men +were urged by great views, and hoped to find, in the renewal of +social organization, a mean of applying and realizing their theories. +They thought to master the revolution, and were carried away by its +torrent; but at that time the most sanguine hopes were indulged. If +the love of liberty be no more than a phantom of the brain, if the +wish to render men better and happier be no more than a matter of +doubt, such errors may be pardoned in those who have paid for them +with their life. + +It is in the recollection of every one that the National Convention +consisted of two parties, which, under the same exterior, were +hastening to contrary ends: the one, composed of ignorant and +ferocious men, ruled by force; the other, more enlightened, +maintained its ground by address. The former, restless possessors of +absolute power, and determined to grasp at every thing for preserving +it, strove to annihilate the talents and knowledge which made them +sensible of their humiliating inferiority. The others, holding the +same language, acted in an opposite direction. But being obliged, in +order to preserve their influence, never to shew themselves openly, +they employed their means with an extreme reserve, and this +similarity at once explains the good they did, the evil they +prevented, and the calamities which they were unable to avert. + +At that time, France was on the very brink of ruin. _Landrecies_, _Le +Quesnoy_, _Condé_ and _Valenciennes_ were in the power of her +enemies. _Toulon_ had been given up to the English, whose numerous +fleets held the dominion of the seas, and occasionally effected +debarkations. This country was a prey to famine and terror; _La +Vendée_, _Lyons_, and _Marseilles_ were in a state of insurrection. +No arms, no powder; no ally that could or would furnish any; and its +only resource lay in an anarchical government without either plan or +means of defence, and skilful only in persecution. In a word, every +thing announced that the Republic would perish, before it could enjoy +a year's existence. + +In this extremity, two new members were called to the Committee of +Public Welfare. These two men organized the armies, conceived plans +of campaign, and prepared supplies. + +It was necessary to arm nine hundred thousand men; and what was most +difficult, it was necessary to persuade a mistrustful people, ever +ready to cry out "treason!" of the possibility of such a prodigy. For +this purpose, the old manufactories were comparatively nothing; +several of them, situated on the frontiers, were invaded by the +enemy. They were revived every where with an activity till then +unexampled. _Savans_ or men of science were charged to describe and +simplify the necessary proceedings. The melting of the church-bells +yielded all the necessary metal.[2] Steel was wanting; none could be +obtained from abroad, the art of making it was unknown. The _Savans_ +were asked to create it; they succeeded, and this part of the public +defence thus became independent of foreign countries. + +The exigencies of the war had rendered more glaring the urgent +necessity of having good topographical maps, and the insufficiency of +those in use became every day more evident. The geographical +engineers, which corps had been suppressed by the Constituent +Assembly, were recalled to the armies, and although they could not, +in these first moments, give to their labours the necessary extent +and detail, they nevertheless paved the way to the great results +since obtained in this branch of the art military. Nothing is more +easy than to destroy; nothing is so difficult, and, above all, so +tedious as to reconstruct. + +The persons then in power had likewise had the prudence to preserve +in their functions such pupils and engineers in the civil line as +were of an age to come under the requisition. Whatever might be the +want of defenders, it was felt that it requires ten years' study to +form an engineer; while health and courage suffice for making a +soldier. This disastrous period affords instances of foresight and +skill which have not always been imitated in times more tranquil. + +The Sciences had just rendered great services to the country. They +were calumniated; those who had made use of them were compelled to +defend them, and did so with courage. A circumstance, equally +singular and unforeseen, occasioned complete recourse to be had to +their assistance. + +An officer arrived at the Committee of Public Welfare: he announced +that the republican armies were in presence of the enemy; but that +the French generals durst not march their soldiers to battle, because +the brandies were poisoned, and that the sick in the hospitals, +having drunk some, had died. He requested the Committee to cause them +to be examined, asked for orders on this subject, and wished to set +off again immediately. + +The most skilful chymists were instantly assembled: they were ordered +to analyze the brandies, and to indicate, in the course of the day, +the poison and the remedy. + +These _savans_ laboured without intermission, trusting only to +themselves for the most minute details. Scarcely was time allowed +them to finish their operations, when they were summoned to appear +before the Committee of Public Welfare, over which ROBESPIERRE +presided. + +They announced that the brandies were not poisoned, and that water +only had been added to them, in which was slate in suspension, so +that it was sufficient to filter them, in order to deprive them of +their hurtful quality. + +ROBESPIERRE, who hoped to discover a treason, asked the Commissioners +if they were perfectly sure of what they had just advanced. As a +satisfactory answer to the question, one of them took a strainer, +poured the liquor through it, and drank it without hesitation. All +the others followed his example. "What!" said ROBESPIERRE to him, "do +you dare to drink these poisoned brandies?"----"I durst do much +more," answered he, "when I put my name to the Report." + +This service, though in itself of little importance, impressed the +public mind with a conception of the utility of the _savans_, a +greater number of whom were called into the Committee of Public +Welfare. There they were secure from subaltern informers, with which +France abounded. Having concerns only with the members charged with +the military department, who were endeavouring to save them, they +might, by keeping silence, escape the suspicious looks of the tyrants +of the day. There was then but one resource for men of merit and +virtue, namely, to conceal their existence, and cause themselves to +be forgotten. + +In the midst of this sanguinary persecution, all the means of defence +employed by France, issued from the obscure retreat where the genius +of the Sciences had taken refuge. + +Powder was the article for which there was the most urgent occasion. +The soldiers were on the point of wanting it. The magazines were +empty. The administrators of the powder-mills were assembled to know +what they could do. They declared that the annual produce amounted to +three millions of pounds only, that the basis of it was saltpetre +drawn from India, that extraordinary encouragements might raise them +to five millions; but that no hopes ought to be entertained of +exceeding that quantity. When the members of the Committee of Public +Welfare announced to the administrators that they must manufacture +seventeen millions of pounds of powder in the space of a few months, +the latter remained stupified. "If you succeed in doing this," said +they, "you must have a method of making powder of which we are +ignorant." + +This, however, was the only mean of saving the country. As the French +were almost excluded from the sea, it was impossible to think of +procuring saltpetre from India. The _savans_ offered to extract all +from the soil of the Republic. A general requisition called to this +labour the whole mass of the people. Short and simple directions, +spread with inconceivable activity, made, of a difficult art, a +common process. All the abodes of men and animals were explored. +Saltpetre was sought for even in the ruins of Lyons; and soda, +collected from among the ashes of the forests of La Vendée. + +The results of this grand movement would have been useless, had not +the Sciences been seconded by new efforts. Native saltpetre is not +fit for making powder; it is mixed with salts and earths which render +it moist, and diminish its activity. The process employed for +purifying it demanded considerable time. The construction of +powder-mills alone would have required several months, and before +that period, France might have been subjugated. Chymistry invented +new methods for refining and drying saltpetre in a few days. As a +substitute for mills, pulverized charcoal, sulphur, and saltpetre +were mixed, with copper balls, in casks which were turned round by +hand. By these means, powder was made in twelve hours; and thus was +verified that bold assertion of a member of the Committee of Public +Welfare: "Earth impregnated with saltpetre shall be produced," said +he, "and, in five days after, your cannon shall be loaded." + +Circumstances were favourable for fixing, in all their perfection, +the only arts which occupied France. Persons from all the departments +were sent to Paris, in order to be instructed in the manufacture of +arms and saltpetre. Rapid courses of lectures were given on this +subject. They contributed little to the general movement, which had +saved the Republic, but they had an effect no less important, that of +bringing to light the astonishing facility of the French for +acquiring the arts and sciences; a happy gift which forms one of the +finest features in the character of the nation. + +Notwithstanding so many services rendered by the Sciences, the +learned were not less persecuted; the most celebrated among them were +the most exposed. The venerable DAUBENTON, the co-operator in the +labours of BUFFON, escaped persecution only because he had written a +work on the improvement of sheep, and was taken for a simple +shepherd. COUSIN was not so fortunate; yet, in his confinement, he +had the stoicism to compose works of geometry, and give lessons of +physics to his companions of misfortune. + +LAVOISIER, that immortal character, whose generosity in promoting the +progress of science could be equalled only by his own enlightened +example in cultivating it, was also apprehended. As one of the +Commissioners for fixing the standard of weights and measures, great +hopes were entertained that he might be restored to liberty. Measures +were taken with that intention; but these were not suited to the +spirit of the moment. The commission was dissolved, and LAVOISIER +left in prison. Shortly after, this ever to be lamented _savant_ was +taken to the scaffold. He would still be living, had his friends +acted on the cupidity of the tyrants who then governed, instead of +appealing to their justice. + +About this period, some members of the Convention having introduced a +discussion in favour of public instruction, it was strongly opposed +by the revolutionary party, who saw in the Sciences nothing but a +poison which enervated republics. According to them, the finest +schools were the popular societies. To do good was then impossible, +and to shew an inclination to do it, exposed to the greatest danger +the small number of enlightened men France still possessed. + +In this point of view, every thing was done that circumstances +permitted. A military school was created, where young men from all +the departments were habituated to the exercise of arms and the life +of a camp. It was called _L'École de Mars_. Its object was not to +form officers, but intelligent soldiers, who, spread in the French +armies, should soon render them the most enlightened of Europe, as +they were already the most inured to the hardships of war. + +Thus, a small number of men, whose conduct has been too ill +appreciated, alone retarded, by constant efforts, the progress of +barbarism and struggled in a thousand ways against the oppression +which others contented themselves with supporting. + +At length, the bloody throne, raised by ROBESPIERRE, was overthrown: +hope succeeded to terror; and victory, to defeat. Then, the Sciences, +issuing from the focus in which they had been concentered and +concealed, reappeared in all their lustre. The services they had +rendered, the dangers which had threatened them, were felt and +acknowledged. The plan of campaign, formed by the scientific men, +called to the Committee of Public Welfare, had completely succeeded. +The French armies had advanced on the rear of those of the allies, +and, threatening to cut off their retreat, not only forced them to +abandon the places they had taken, but also marched from conquest to +conquest on their territory. + +The means of having iron, steel, saltpetre, powder, and arms, had +been created during the reign of terror. The following were the +results of this grand movement at the beginning of the third year of +the Republic. + +Twelve millions of pounds of saltpetre extracted from the soil of +France in the space of nine months. Formerly, scarcely one million +was drawn from it. + +Fifteen founderies at work for the casting of brass cannon. Their +annual produce increased to 7000 pieces. There existed in France but +two establishments of this description before the revolution. + +Thirty founderies for iron ordnance, yielding 13,000 pieces per year. +At the breaking out of the war, there were but four, which yielded +annually 900 pieces of cannon. + +The buildings for the manufacture of shells, shot, and all the +implements of artillery, multiplied in the same proportion. + +Twenty new manufactories for side-arms, directed by a new process. +Before the war, there existed but one. + +An immense manufactory of fire-arms established all at once in Paris, +and yielding 140,000 muskets per year, that is, more than all the old +manufactories together. Several establishments of this nature formed +on the same plan in the different departments of the Republic. + +One hundred and eighty-eight workshops for repairing arms of every +description. Before the war, there existed but six. + +The establishment of a manufactory of carbines, the making of which +was till then unknown in France. + +The art of renewing the touch-hole of cannon discovered, and carried +immediately to a perfection which admits of its being exercised in +the midst of camps. + +A description of the means by which tar, necessary for the navy, may +be speedily extracted from the pine-tree. + +Balloons and telegraphs converted into machines of war. + +All the process of the arts relative to war simplified and improved +by the application of the most learned theories. + +A secret establishment formed at Meudon for that purpose. Experiments +there made on the oxy-muriate of potash, on fire-balls, on +hollow-balls, on ring-balls, &c. + +Great works begun for extracting from the soil of France every thing +that serves for the construction, equipment, and supplies of ships of +war. + +Several researches for replacing or reproducing the principal +materials which the exigencies of the war had consumed, and for +increasing impure potash, which the making of powder had snatched +from the other manufactories. + +Simple and luminous directions for fixing the art of making soap, and +bringing it within reach of the meanest capacity. + +The invention of the composition of which pencils are now made in +France, the black lead for which was previously drawn from England; +and what was inappreciable in those critical circumstances, the +discovery of a method for tanning, in a few days, leather which +generally required several years' preparation. + +In a word, if we speak of the territorial acquisitions, which were +the result of the victories obtained by means of the extraordinary +resources created by the men of science, France has acquired an +extent of 1,498 square leagues, and a population of 4,381,266 +individuals; namely, Savoy, containing 411,700 inhabitants; the +County of Nice, 93,166; Avignon, the _Comtat Venaissin_, and Dutch +Flanders, 200,500; Maëstricht and Venloo, 90,000; Belgium, 1,880,000; +the left bank of the Rhine, 1,658,500; Geneva and its territory, +40,000; and Mulhausen, 7,200. + +P.S. Paris is now all mirth and gaiety; in consequence of the revived +pleasures of the Carnival. I shall not give you my opinion of it till +its conclusion. + +[Footnote 1: See Vol. I. Letter XXXIV.] + +[Footnote 2: The bells produced 27,442,852 pounds of metal. This +article, valued at 10 _sous_ per pound, represents 15 millions of +francs (_circa_ £625,000 sterling). A part served for the fabrication +of copper coin, the remainder furnished pieces of ordnance.] + + + +LETTER LXXIII + +_Paris, February 28, 1802._ + +In all great cities, one may naturally expect to find great vices; +but in regard to gaming, this capital presents a scene which, I will +venture to affirm, is not to be matched in any part of the world. No +where is the passion, the rage for play so prevalent, so universal: +no where does it cause so much havock and ruin. In every class of +society here, gamesters abound. From men revelling in wealth to those +scarcely above beggary, every one flies to the gaming-table; so that +it follows, as a matter of course, that Paris must contain a great +number of _Maisons de jeu_, or + +PUBLIC GAMING-HOUSES. + +They are to be met with in all parts of the town, though the +head-quarters are in the _Palais du Tribunat_, or, as it is most +commonly called, the _Palais Royal_. Whenever you come to Paris, +and see, on the first story, a suite of rooms ostentatiously +illuminated, and a blazing reverberator at the door, you may be +certain that it is a house of this description. + +Before the revolution, gaming was not only tolerated in Paris, but +public gaming-houses were then licensed by the government, under the +agreeable name of _Académies de jeu_. There, any one might ruin +himself under the immediate superintendance of the police, an officer +belonging to which was always present. Besides these academies, women +of fashion and impures of the first class were allowed to keep a +gaming-table or _tripot de jeu_, as it was termed, in their own +house. This was a privilege granted to them in order that they might +thereby recover their shattered fortune. When all the necessary +expenses were paid, these ladies commonly shared the profits with +their protectors, that is, with their friends in power, through whose +protection the _tripot_ was sanctioned. Every one has heard of the +fatal propensity to gaming indulged in by the unfortunate Marie +Antoinette. The French women of quality followed her pernicious +example, as the young male nobility did that of the Count d'Artois +and the Duke of Orleans; so that, however decided might be the +personal aversion of Lewis XVI to gaming, it never was more in +fashion at the court of France than during his reign. This is a fact, +which can be confirmed by General S---th and other Englishmen who +have played deep at the queen's parties. + +At the present day, play is, as I have before stated, much recurred +to as a financial resource, by many of the _ci-devant_ female +_noblesse_ in Paris. In their parties, _bouillotte_ is the prevailing +game; and the speculation is productive, if the company will sit and +play. Consequently, the longer the sitting, the greater the profits. +The same lady who moralizes in the morning, and will read you a +lecture on the mischievous consequences of gaming, makes not the +smallest hesitation to press you to sit down at her _bouillotte_ in +the evening, where she knows you will almost infallibly be a loser. +No protection, I believe, is now necessary for a lady who chooses to +have a little private gaming at her residence, under the specious +names of _société_, _bal_, _thé_, or _concert_. But this is not the +case with the _Maisons de jeu_, where the gaming-tables are public; +or even with private houses, where the object of the speculation is +publicly known. These purchase a license in the following manner. A +person, who is said to have several _sleeping_ partners, engages to +pay to the government the sum of 3,600,000 francs (_circa_ £150,000 +sterling) a year for the power of licensing all gaming-houses in this +capital, and also to account for a tenth part of the profits, which +enter the coffer of the minister at the head of the department of the +police. This contribution serves to defray part of the expense of +greasing the wheels of that intricate machine. Without such a +license, no gaming-house can be opened in Paris. Sometimes it is paid +for by a share in the profits, sometimes by a certain sum per +sitting. + +These _Maisons de jeu_, where dupes are pitted against cheats, are +filled from morning to night with those restless beings, who, in +their eager pursuit after fortune, almost all meet with +disappointment, wretchedness, ruin, and every mischief produced by +gaming. This vice, however, carries with it its own punishment; but +it is unconquerable in the heart which it ravages. It lays a man +prostrate before those fantastic idols, distinguished by the +synonymous names of fate, chance, and destiny. It banishes from his +mind the idea of enriching himself, or acquiring a competence by slow +and industrious means. It feeds, it inflames his cupidity, and +deceives him in order to abandon him afterwards to remorse and +despair. + +From the mere impulse of curiosity, I have been led to visit some of +the principal _Maisons de jeu_. I shall therefore represent what I +have seen. + +In a spacious suite of apartments, where different games of chance +are played, is a table of almost immeasurable length, covered with a +green cloth, with a red piece at one end, and a black, one at the +other. It is surrounded by a crowd of persons of both sexes, squeezed +together, who, all suspended between fear and hope, are waiting, with +eager eyes and open mouth, for the favourable or luckless chance. I +will suppose that the banker or person who deals the cards, announces +"_rouge perd, couleur gagne_." The oracle has spoken. At these words +of fate, on one side of the table, you see countenances smiling, but +with a smile of inquietude, and on the other, long faces, on which is +imprinted the palid hue of death. However, the losers recover from +their stupor: they hope that the next chance will be more fortunate. +If that happens, and the banker calls out "_rouge gagne, couleur +perd_;" then the scene changes, and the same persons whom you have +just seen so gay, make a sudden transition from joy to sadness, and +_vice versa_. This contrast no language can paint, and you must see +it, in order to conceive how the most headstrong gamblers can spend +hour after hour in such a continual state of agitation, in which they +are alternately overwhelmed by rage, anguish, and despair. Some are +seen plucking out their hair by the roots, scratching their face, and +tearing their clothes to pieces, when, after having lost considerable +sums, frequently they have not enough left to pay for a breakfast or +dinner. What an instructive lesaon for the novice! What a subject of +reflection for the philosophic spectator! At these scenes of folly +and rapacity it is that the demon of suicide exults in the triumphs +he is on the point of gaining over the weakness, avarice, and false +pride of mortals. If the wretched victim has not recourse to a +pistol, he probably seeks a grave at the bottom of the river. + +Among these professed gamblers, it often happens that some of them, +in order to create what they term _resources_, imagine tricks and +impostures scarcely credible. I shall relate an anecdote which I +picked up in the course of my inquiries respecting the garning-houses +in Paris. It may be necessary to premise that the counterfeit louis, +which are in circulation in this country, and have nearly the +appearance of the real coin, are employed by these knaves; they +commonly produce them at night, because they then run less risk of +being detected in passing them; but these means are very common and +almost out of date. + +In the great gaming-houses in Paris, it is customary to have on the +table several _rouleaux_ of louis d'or. An old, experienced gambler +came one day to a house of this class, with his pockets full of +leaden _rouleaux_ of the exact form and size of those containing +fifty louis d'or. He placed at one of the ends of the table (either +black or red) one of his leaden _rouleaux_: he lost. The master of +the bank took up his _rouleau_, and, without opening it, put it with +the good _rouleaux_ in the middle of the table, where the bank is +kept. The old gambler, without being disconcerted, staked another. He +won, and withdrew the good _rouleau_ given him, leaving the +counterfeit one on the table, at the same time calling out, "I stake +ten louis out of the _rouleau_." The cards were drawn; he won: the +banker, to pay him the ten louis, took a _rouleau_ from the bank. +Chance willed that he lighted on the leaden _rouleau_. He endeavoured +to break it open by striking it on the table: the _rouleau_ withstood +his efforts. The gambler, without deranging his features, then said +to the banker; "Mind you don't break it." The banker, disconcerted, +tore the paper, and, on opening it, found it to contain nothing but +lead. There being no positive proof against the gambler, he was +permitted to retire, and his only punishment was to be in future +excluded from this gaming-house. But he had the consolation of +knowing that ninety-nine others would be open to him. However, this +and other impostures have led to a regulation, that, in all these +houses, the value of every stake should be apparent to the eye, and +openly exposed on the table. + +From what I have said you might infer that _trente-et-un_ (or _rouge +et noir_) is the most fashionable game played here; but, though this +is the case, it is not the only one in high vogue. Many others, +equally pernicious, are pursued at the same time, such as _la +roulette_, _passe-dix_, and _biribi_, at which cheats and sharpers +can, more at their ease, execute their feats of dexterity and schemes +of plunder. Women frequent the gaming-tables as well as the men, and +often pledge their last shift to make up a stake. It is shocking to +contemplate a young female gamester, the natural beauty of whose +countenance is distorted into deformity by a succession of agonizing +passions. Yet so distressing an object is no uncommon thing in Paris. + +You may, perhaps, be curious to know what are these games, of +_trente-et-un_, _biribi_, _passe-dix,_ and _la roulette_. Never +having played at any of them, such a description as I might pretend +to give, could at best be but imperfect. For which, reason I shall +not engage in the attempt. + +It is confidently affirmed that in the principal towns of France, +namely, Bordeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, Rouen, &c. the rage for play is +no less prevalent than in the capital, where gaming-houses daily +increase in number.[1] They are now established in every quarter in +Paris, even the poorest, and there are some where the lowest of the +populace can indulge in a _penchant_ for gaming, as the stake is +proportioned to their means. This is the ruin of every class of +inhabitants and of foreigners; so much so, that suicides here +increase in exact proportion to the increase of gaming-houses. + +Is it not astonishing that the government should suffer, still more +promote the existence of an evil so pernicious in every point of +view? From the present state of the French finances, it would, +notwithstanding, appear that every consideration, however powerful, +must yield to the want of money required for defraying the expenses +of the department of the Police. + +_Minima de malis_ was the excuse of the old government of France for +promoting gaming. "From the crowd of dissipated characters of every +description, accumulated in great cities," said its partisans, +"governments find themselves compelled to tolerate certain abuses, in +order to avoid evils of greater magnitude. They are forced to +compound with the passions which they are unable to destroy; and it +is better that men should be professed gamblers than usurers, +swindlers, and thieves." Such was the reasoning employed in behalf of +the establishment of the _Académies de jeu_, which existed prior to +the revolution. Such is the reasoning reproduced, at the present day, +in favour of the _Maisons de jeu_; but, when I reflect on all the +horrors occasioned by gaming, I most ardently wish that every +argument in favour of so destructive a vice, may be combated by a pen +like that of Rousseau, which, Sir William Jones says, "had the +property of spreading light before it on the darkest objects, as if +he had written with phosphorus on the walls of a cavern." + +[Footnote 1: During the Carnival of the present year (1803) the +masked balls at the grand French Opera were quite deserted, in +consequence of a new gaming-house, established solely for foreigners, +having, by the payment of considerable sums to the government, +obtained permission to give masked balls. These balls were all the +rage. There was one every Tuesday, and the employment of the whole +week was to procure cards of invitation; for persons were admitted by +_invitation_ only, no money being taken. The rooms, though spacious, +were warm and comfortable; the company, tolerably good, and extremely +numerous, but chiefly composed of foreigners. _Treute-et-un_, +_biribi_, _pharaon_, _creps_, and other fashionable games were +played, so that the _speculators_ could very well afford to give all +sorts of refreshments, and an elegant supper _gratis_.] + + + +LETTER LXXIV. + +_Paris, March 1, 1802_. + +Of all the institutions subsisting here before the revolution, that +which has experienced the greatest enlargement is the + +MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. + +This establishment, formerly called _Le Jardin du Roi_, and now more +commonly known by the name of _Le Jardin des Plantes_, received its +present denomination by a decree of the National Convention, dated +the 10th of June 1793. It is situated on the south bank of the Seine, +nearly facing the Arsenal, and consists of a botanical garden, a +collection of natural history, a library of works relating to that +science, an amphitheatre for the lectures, and a _ménagerie_ of +living animals. + +Originally, it was nothing more than a garden for medicinal plants, +formed under that title, in 1626, by GUY DE LA BROSSE, principal +physician to Lewis XIII, who sanctioned the establishment by letters +patent. The king's physicians were almost always intendants of this +garden till the year 1739, when it was placed under the direction of +BUFFON. Before his time, the cabinet was trifling. It consisted only +of some curiosities collected by GEOFFROY, and a few shells which had +belonged to TOURNEFORT; but, through the zeal of BUFFON, and the care +of his co-operator DAUBENTON, it became a general _dépôt_ of natural +history, and its riches had increased still more than its utility. On +the breaking out of the revolution, it had been protected through +that sort of respect which the rudest men have for the productions of +nature, whence they either receive or expect relief for their +sufferings. It had even been constantly defended by the revolutionary +administration, under whose control and dependence it was placed. +Regarding it, in some measure, as their private property, their pride +was interested in its preservation; and had any attempt been made to +injure it, they would infallibly have caused an insurrection among +the inhabitants of the surrounding _faubourg_. These singular +circumstances, joined to the good understanding prevailing among the +professors, had maintained this fine establishment in a state, if not +increasing, at least stationary. On the revival of order, ideas were +entertained of giving to it an extension which had already been +projected and decreed, even during the reign of terror. + +The botanical garden was enlarged; the extent of the ground intended +for the establishment was doubled; a _ménagerie_ was formed; new +hot-houses and new galleries were constructed; the addition of new +professors was confirmed, and all the necessary disbursements were +made with magnificence. Thus, in the same place where every +production of nature was assembled, natural history was for the first +time taught in its aggregate; and these courses of lectures, become +celebrated by the brilliancy of the facts illustrated in them, the +number of pupils who frequent them, and the great works of which they +have been the cause or the motive, have rendered the MUSEUM OF +NATURAL HISTORY one of the first establishments of instruction +existing in Europe. + +Formerly, there were but three professors attached to this +establishment. At present, there are no less than thirteen, who each +give a course of forty lectures. The courses of zoology and +mineralogy take place in the halls of the cabinet containing the +collections corresponding to each of those sciences. The courses of +botany, anatomy, and chemistry are delivered in the great +amphitheatre, and that of natural iconography in the library. The +days and hours of the lectures are announced every year by particular +advertisements. + +The establishment is administered, under the authority of the +Minister of the Interior, by the professors, who choose, annually, +from among themselves, a director. At present, that situation is held +by FOURCROY. Although this celebrated professor, in his lectures on +chemistry, must principally attach himself to minerals, the +particular object of chemical inquiry, he is far from neglecting +vegetable and animal substances, the analysis of which will, in time, +spread great light on organic bodies. The most recent discoveries on +the exact constitution of bodies are made known in the course of +these lectures, and a series of experiments, calculated for +elucidating the demonstrations, takes place under the eyes of the +auditors. + +No one possesses more than FOURCROY the rare talent of classing well +his subjects, of presenting facts in a striking point of view, and of +connecting them by a succession of ideas extremely rapid, and +expressed in a voice whose melody gives an additional charm to +eloquence. The pleasure of hearing him is peculiarly gratifying; and, +indeed, when he delivers a lecture, the amphitheatre, spacious as it +is, is much too small to contain the crowd of auditors. Then, the +young pupils are seen with their eyes stedfastly fixed on their +master, catching his word with avidity, and fearing to lose one of +them; thus paying by their attention the most flattering tribute to +the astonishing facility of this orator of science, from whose lips +naturally flow, as from a spring, the most just and most select +expressions. Frequently too, carried away by the torrent of his +eloquence, they forget what they have just heard, to think only of +what he is saying. FOURCROY speaks in this manner for upwards of two +hours, without any interruption, and, what is more, without tiring +either his auditors or himself. He writes with no less facility than +he speaks. This is proved by the great number of works which he has +published. But in his writings, his style is more calm, more smooth +than that of his lectures. + +Each professor superintends and arranges the part of the collections +corresponding to the science which he is charged to teach. For this +purpose, there are also assistant naturalists, whose employment is to +prepare the various articles of natural history. The keeper of the +cabinet, under the authority of the director, takes all the measures +necessary for the preservation of the collections. The principal ones +are: + +1. The cabinet of natural history, containing the animal kingdom, +divided into its classes; the mineral kingdom; the fossils, woods, +fruits, and other vegetable productions, together with the herbals. +This cabinet, which occupies the buildings on the right, on entering +from the street, is open to students on Mondays, Wednesdays, and +Saturdays, from eleven o'clock till two, and to the public in general +every Tuesday and Friday in the afternoon. + +2. The library, chiefly composed of works relating to natural +history, contains, among other valuable articles, an immense +collection of animals and plants, painted on vellum. Three painters +are charged to continue this collection under the superintendance of +the professors. The library is open to the public every day from +eleven o'clock to two. + +3. The cabinet of anatomy, containing the preparations relative to +the human race and to animals. It is situated in a separate building, +and for the present open to students only. + +4. The botanical school, containing the plants growing in the open +ground, and the numerous hot-houses in which are cultivated those +peculiar to warm countries. + +5. The _ménagerie_ of foreign animals. At the present moment, they +are dispersed in various parts of the garden; but they are shortly to +be assembled in a spacious and agreeable place. + +6. The chemical laboratory and the collection of chemical +productions. + +To these may be added a laboratory for the preparation of objects of +natural history, and another for that of objects of anatomy. + +Notwithstanding the improved state to which BUFFON had brought this +establishment, yet, through the united care of the several scientific +men who have since had the direction of it, the constant attention +bestowed on it by the government, and even by the conquests of the +French armies, its riches have been so much increased, that its +collection of natural history may at this day be considered as the +finest in being. The department of the minerals and that of the +quadrupeds are nearly complete; that of the birds is one of the most +considerable and the handsomest known; and the other classes, without +answering yet the idea which a naturalist might conceive of thenm, +are, nevertheless, superior to what other countries have to offer. + +Among the curious or scarce articles in this Museum, the following +claim particular notice: + +In the class of quadrupeds, adult individuals, stuffed, such as the +camelopard, the hippopotamus, the single-horned rhinoceros, the +Madagascar squirrel, the Senegal lemur, two varieties of the +oran-outang, the proboscis-monkey, different specimens of the indri, +some new species of bats and opossums, the Batavian kangaroo, and +several antelopes, ant-eaters, &c. + +In the class of birds, a great number of new or rare species, and +among those remarkable either for size or beauty, are the golden +vulture, the great American eagle, the Impey peacock, the Ju[<blot>] +pheasant or argus, the plantain-eater, &c. + +Among the reptiles, the crocodile of the Ganges, the fimbriated +tortoise of Cayenne, &c. + +Among the shells, the glass patella, and a number of valuable, +scarce, or new species. + +The collection of insects has just been completed through the +assiduity of the estimable LAMARCK, the professor who has charge of +that department. + +In the mineral kingdom, independently of the numerous and select +choice of all the specimens, are to be remarked as objects of +particular curiosity, the petrifactions of crocodiles' bones found in +the mountain of St. Pierre at Maëstricht, and the collection of +impressions of fishes from Mount Bolca, near Verona. + +At the present moment, the _ménagerie_ contains a female elephant +only, the male having died since my arrival in Paris, three +dromedaries, two camels, five lions, male and female, a white bear, a +brown bear, a mangousta, a civet, an alligator, an ostrich, and +several other scarce and curious animals, the number and variety of +which receive frequent additions. In other parts of the garden are +inclosures for land and sea fowls, as well as ponds for fishes. + +The denomination of _Jardin des Plantes_ is very appropriate to this +garden, as it furnishes to all the botanical establishments +throughout France seeds of trees and plants useful to the +p[<blot>]ess of agriculture and of the arts; and hence the indigent +poor are supplied with such medicinal plants as are proper for the +cure or relief of their complaints. + + + +LETTER LXXV. + +_Paris, March 3, 1802._ + +It has been repeatedly observed that civilized nations adhere to +their ancient customs for no other reason than because they are +ancient. The French have, above all, a most decided partiality for +those which afford them opportunities of amusement. It must therefore +have been a subject of no small regret to them, on the annual return +of those periods, to find the government taking every measure for the +suppression of old habits. For some years since the revolution, all +disguises and masquerades were strictly prohibited; but, though the +executive power forbade pasteboard masks, its authority could not +extend to those mental disguises which have been occasionally worn by +many leading political characters in this country. No sooner was the +prohibition against masquerading removed, than the Parisians gave +full scope to the indulgence of their inclination; and this year was +revived, in all its glory, the celebration of + +THE CARNIVAL. + +Yesterday was the conclusion of that mirthful period, during which +Folly seemed to have taken possession of all the inhabitants of this +populous city. Every thing that gaiety, whim, humour, and +eccentricity could invent, was put in practice to render it a sort of +continued jubilee. From morn to night, the concourse of masks of +every description was great beyond any former example; but still +greater was the concourse of spectators. All the principal streets +and public gardens were thronged by singular characters, in +appropriate dresses, moving about in small detached parties or in +numerous close bodies, on foot, on horseback, or in carriages. The +_Boulevards_, the _Rue de la Loi_, and the _Rue St. Honoré_, +exhibited long processions of masks and grotesque figures, crowded +both in the inside and on the outside of vehicles of all sorts, from +a _fiacre_ to a German waggon, drawn by two, four, six, and eight +horses; while the _Palais Royal_, the _Tuileries_, the _Place de la +Concorde_, and the _Champs Elysées_ were filled with pedestrian wits, +amusing the surrounding multitude by the liveliness of their sallies +and the smartness of their repartee. Here S[<blot>]pins, +Scaramouches, Punchinellos, Pierrots, Harlequins, and Columbines, +together with nuns, friars, abbés, bishops, and _marquis_ in +caricature, enlivened the scene: there, sultans, sultanas, +janissaries, mamlûks, Turks, Spaniards, and Indians, in stately +pride, attracted attention. On one side, a Mars and Venus, an Apollo +and Daphne, figured under the attributes of heathen mythology: on +another, more than one Adam and Eve recalled to mind the origin of +the creation. + +To the eye of an untravelled Englishman, the novelty of this sight +must have been a source of no small entertainment. If he was of a +reflecting mind, however, it must have given rise to a variety of +observations, and some of them of a rather serious nature. In +admiring the order and decency which reigned amidst so much mirth and +humour, he must have been desirous to appreciate the influence of +political events on the character of this people. In a word, he must +have been anxious to ascertain how far the return of our Gallic +neighbours to their ancient habits, announces a return to their +ancient institutions. + +It is well known that the Carnival of modern times is an imitation of +the Saturnalia of the ancients, and that the celebration of those +festivals was remarkable for the liberty which universally prevailed; +slaves being, at that period, permitted to ridicule their masters, +and speak with freedom on every subject. During the last years of the +French monarchy, the Parisians neglected not to avail themselves of +this privilege. When all classes were confounded, at the time of the +Carnival, the most elevated became exposed to the lash of the lowest; +and, under the mask of satire, the abuses which had crept into +religious societies, and the corruption which prevailed in every +department of the State, escaped not their bold censure. From a +consciousness, no doubt, of their own weakness, the different +governments that have ruled over France since the revolution, dreaded +the renewal of scenes in which their tottering authority might be +overthrown; but such an apprehension cannot have been entertained by +the present government, as manifestly appears from the almost +unlimited license which has reigned during the late Carnival. +Notwithstanding which, it is worthy of remark that no satirical +disguises were met with, no shafts of ridicule were aimed at the +constituted authorities, no invective was uttered against such and +such an opinion, no abuse was levelled against this or that party. +Censure and malice either slept or durst not shew themselves, though +freedom of expression seemed to be under no restraint. + +Formerly, when the people appeared indifferent to the motley +amusements of the Carnival, and little disposed to mix in them, +either as actors or spectators, it was not uncommon for the +government to pay for some masquerading. The _mouchards_ and +underlings of the police were habited as grotesque characters, +calculated to excite curiosity, and promote mirth. They then spread +themselves, to the number of two or three thousand, over different +parts of the town, and gave to the streets of Paris a false colouring +of joy and gladness; for the greater the misery of the people, the +more was it thought necessary to exhibit an outward representation of +public felicity. But these political impostures, having been seen +through, at length failed in their effect, and were nearly +relinquished before the revolution. At that time, nothing diverted +the populace so much as _attrapes_ or bites; and every thing that +engendered gross and filthy ideas was sure to please. Pieces of +money, heated purposely, were scattered on the pavement, in order +that persons, who attempted to pick them up, might burn their +fingers. Every sort of bite was practised; but the greatest +attraction and acme of delight consisted of _chianlits_, that is, +persons masked, walking about, apparently, in their shirt, the tail +of which was besmeared with mustard. + +At the present day, these coarse and disgusting jokes are evidently +laid aside, as some of a more rational kind are exhibited; such as +the nun, partly concealed in a truss of straw, and strapped on the +catering friar's back; the effect of the galvanic fluid; and many +others too numerous to mention. No factitious mirth was this year +displayed; it was all natural; and if it did not add to the small sum +of happiness of the distressed part of the Parisian community, it +must, for a while at least, have made them forget their wretchedness. +With few exceptions, every one seemed employed in laughing or in +exciting laughter. Many of the characters assumed were such as +afforded an opportunity of displaying a particular species of wit or +humour; but the dress of some of the masquerading parties, being an +excellent imitation of the rich costumes of Asia, must have been +extremely expensive. + +To conclude, the masked balls at the Opera, on the last days of the +Carnival, were numerously attended. Very few characters were here +attempted, and those were but faintly supported. Adventures are the +principal object of the frequenters of these balls, and I have reason +to think that the persons who went in quest of them were not +disappointed. In short, though I have often passed the Carnival in +Paris, I never witnessed one that went off with greater _éclat_. As +the Turkish Spy observes, a small quantity of ashes, dropped, the day +after its conclusion, on the head of these people in disguise, cools +their frenzy. From being mad and foolish, they become calm and +rational. + + + +LETTER LXXVI. + +_Paris, March 5, 1802._ + +As I foresee that my private affairs will, probably, require my +presence in England sooner than I expected, I hasten to give you an +idea of the principal public edifices which I have not, yet noticed. +One of these is the _Luxembourg_ Palace, now called the + +PALAIS DU SÉNAT CONSERVATEUR. + +Mary of Medicis, relict of Henry IV, having purchased of the Duke of +Luxembourg his hotel and its dependencies, erected on their site this +palace. It was built in 1616, under the direction of JACQUES DE +BROSSE, on the plan of the _Pitti_ palace at Florence. + +Next to the _Louvre_, the _Luxembourg_ is the most spacious palace in +Paris. It is particularly distinguished for its bold character, its +regularity, and the beauty of its proportions. The whole façade is +ornamented with coupled pilasters: on the ground-floor, the Tuscan +order is employed, and above, the Doric, with alternate rustics. In +the four pavilions, placed at the angles of the principal pile, the +Ionic has been added to the other two orders, because they are more +elevated than the rest of the buildings. Towards the _Rue de +Tournon_, the two pavilions communicate by a handsome terrace, in the +middle of which is a circular saloon, surmounted by a dome of the +most elegant proportion. Beneath this dome is the principal entrance. +The court is spacious, and on each side of it are covered arches +which form galleries on the ground-floor and in front of the upper +story. + +The twenty-four pictures which Mary of Medicis had caused to be +painted by the celebrated RUBENS, for the gallery of the +_Luxembourg_, had been removed from it some years before the +revolution. At that time even, they were intended for enriching the +Museum of the _Louvre_. Four of them are now exhibited there in the +Great Gallery. They are allegorical; with the other twenty, they +represent the prosperous part of the history of that queen, and form +a striking contrast to the adversity she afterwards experienced +through the persecution of Cardinal Richelieu. + +To gratify his revenge, he ordered all the furniture, &c. belonging +to Mary of Medicis to be sold, together with the statues which then +decorated the courts and garden of the _Luxembourg_, and pursued with +inveteracy the unfortunate queen who had erected this magnificent +edifice. Being exiled from France in 1631, she wandered for a long +time in Flanders, and also in England, till the implacable cardinal +prevailed on Charles I, to command her to quit the kingdom. In 1642, +she took refuge at Cologne, and, at the age of 68, there died in a +garret, almost through hunger and distress. + +Before the revolution, this palace belonged to MONSIEUR, next brother +to Lewis XVI. It has since been occupied by the Directory, each of +whose members here had apartments. No material change has yet been +made in it; nor does any thing announce that the partial alterations +intended, either in its exterior or interior, will speedily be +completed. + + "----_Pendent opera interrupta minæque, &c._" + +At the present day, the _Luxembourg_ is appropriated to the +Conservative Senate, whose name it has taken, and who here hold their +sittings in a hall, fitted up in a style of magnificence still +superior to that of the Legislative Body. But the sittings of the +former are not public like those of the latter; and as I had no more +than a peep at their fine hall, I cannot enter into a description of +its beauties. + +However, I took a view of their garden, in which I had formerly +passed many a pleasant hour. Here, workmen are employed in making +considerable improvements. It was before very irregular, particularly +towards the south, where the view from the palace was partly +concealed by the buildings of the monastery of the Carthusians. By +degrees, these irregularities are made to disappear, and this garden +will shortly be laid out in such a manner as to correspond better +with the majesty of the palace, and display its architecture to +greater advantage. Alleys of trees, which were decayed from age, have +been cut down, and replaced by young plants of thriving growth. In +front of the south façade is to be a tasteful parterre, with an +oblong piece of water in its centre. Beyond the garden is a large +piece of ground formerly belonging to the Carthusian monastery, which +is now nearly demolished; this ground is to be converted into a +national nursery for all sorts of valuable fruit-trees. Being +contiguous to the garden of the Senate, with which it communicates, +it will furnish a very extensive promenade, and consequently add to +the agreeableness of the place. + +The present Minister of the Interior, CHAPTAL, who cultivates the +arts and sciences with no less zeal than success, purposes to make +here essays on the culture of vine-plants of every species, in order +to obtain comparative results, which will throw a new light on that +branch of rural economy. + +A great number of vases and statues are placed in the garden of the +Senate. Many of these works are indifferently executed, though a few +of them are in a good style. Certainly, a more judicious and more +decorous choice ought to have been made. It was not necessary to +excite regret in the mind of the moralist, by placing under the eyes +of the public figures of both sexes which are repugnant to modesty. + +If it be really meant to attempt to mend the loose morals of the +nation, why are nudities, which may be considered as the leaven of +corruption, exposed thus in this and other national gardens in Paris? + + * * * * * + +_March 5, in continuation_. + +St. Foix, in his "_Essais historiques sur Paris_" speaking of the +Bastille, says, "it is a castle, which, without being strong, is one +of the most formidable in Europe." In their arduous struggle for +liberty, the French have scarcely left a vestige of this dread abode, +in which have been immured so many victims of political vengeance. I +will not pretend to affirm that such is the description of prisoners +now confined in + +LE TEMPLE. + +But when the liberty of individuals lies at the mercy of arbitrary +power, every one has a right to draw his own inference. + +This edifice takes its name from the Templars, whose chief residence +it was till they were annihilated in 1313. Philip the Fair and +Clement V contrived, under various absurd pretences, to massacre and +burn the greater part of the knights of this order. The knights of +St. John of Jerusalem were put in possession of all the property of +the Templars, except such part as the king of France and the Pope +thought fit to share between them. The _Temple_ then became the +provincial house of the Grand Priory of France. + +The Grand Priory consisted of the inclosure within the walls of the +_Temple_, where stood a palace for the Grand Prior, a church, and +several houses inhabited by shopkeepers and mechanics; but, with the +considerable domains annexed to it, this post, before the revolution, +yielded to the eldest son of the Count d'Artois, as Grand Prior, an +annual revenue of 200,000 livres. The inclosure was at that time a +place of refuge for debtors, where they enjoyed the privilege of +freedom from arrest. + +The palace was erected by JACQUES SOUVRÉ, Grand Prior of France. Near +it, is a large Gothic tower of a square form, flanked by four round +turrets of great elevation, built by HUBERT, treasurer to the +Templars, who died in 1222. + +It was in this building, which was considered as one of the most +solid in France, that Lewis XVI was confined from the middle of +September 1792 to the day of his execution. From the 13th of August +till that period, the royal family had occupied the part of the +palace which has been preserved. This tower, when it had been +entirely insulated and surrounded by a ditch, was inclosed by a high +wall, which also included part of the garden. The casements were +provided with strong iron bars, and masked by those shutters, called, +I believe, _trunk-lights_. As for the life which the unhappy monarch +led in this prison, a detailed narrative of it has been published in +England, by Cléry, his faithful _valet-de-chambre_. + +I have not been very anxious to approach the _Temple_, because I +concluded that, if fame was not a liar, there was no probability of +my having an opportunity of seeing any part of it, except the outer +wall. The result was a confirmation of my opinion. Who are its +occupiers? What is their number? What are their crimes? These are +questions which naturally intrude themselves on the mind, when one +surveys the turrets of this new Bastille--for, whether a place of +confinement for state-prisoners be called _La Bastille_ or _Le +Temple_, nevertheless it is a state-prison, and reminds one of +slavery, which, as Sterne says, is, in any disguise, a bitter +draught; and though thousands, in all ages, have been made to drink +of it, still it is not, on that account, less bitter. + + + +LETTER LXXVII + +_Paris, March 8, 1802_. + +Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be always able to +answer your inquiries without hesitation. Considering the round of +amusements in which I live, I flatter myself you will readily admit +that it requires no small share of good-will and perseverance to +devote so much time to scribbling for your entertainment. As for +information, you will, on your arrival in Paris, know how much or how +little you have derived from the perusal of my letters. You will then +have it in your power to compare and judge. With the originals before +you, you cannot be at a loss to determine how far the sketches +resemble them. + +Some of your inquiries have been already answered in my former +letters. Among the number, however, you will find no reply on the +subject of the + +PRESENT STATE OF THE FRENCH PRESS. + +This question being of a nature no less delicate than that concerning +the police, you cannot but commend my discretion in adopting a +similar method to gratify your curiosity; that is, to refer you to +the intelligent author whom I quoted on the former occasion. If +common report speaks the truth--_Sit mihi fas audita loqui?_--the +press here is now in much the same state in which it was before the +revolution. I shall therefore borrow again the language of MERCIER, +who is a famous dreamer, inasmuch as many of his dreams have been +realized: yet, with all his foresight and penetration, I question +whether he ever dreamt that his picture of the French press, drawn in +the interval between the years 1781 and 1788, would still be, in some +respects, a true one at the beginning of the year 1802. But, as +Boileau shrewdly remarks, + + "_Le vrai peut quelquefois n'être pas vraisemblable._" + +"The enemies of books," says our author, "are the enemies of, +knowledge, and consequently of mankind. The shackles with which the +press is loaded, are an incitement for setting them at defiance. If +we were to enjoy a decent liberty, we should no longer have recourse +to licentiousness. There are political evils which the liberty of the +press prevents, and this is already a great benefit. The interior +police of States requires to be enlightened by disinterested +writings. There is no one but the philosopher, satisfied with the +esteem alone of his fellow-citizens, that can raise himself above the +clouds formed by personal interest, and set forth the abuses of +insidious custom. In short, the liberty of the press will always be +the measure of civil liberty; and it is a species of thermometer, +which shews, at one glance, what a people have lost or gained. + +"If we adopt this maxim, we are every day losing; for every day the +press is more restricted. + +"Suffer people to think and speak; the public will judge: they will +even find means to correct authors. The surest method to purify the +press, is to render it free: obstacles irritate it: prohibitions and +difficulties engender the pamphlets complained of. + +"Could despotism kill thought in its sanctuary, and prevent us from +communicating the essence of our ideas to the mind of our +fellow-creatures, it would do so. But not being able quite to pluck +out the philosopher's tongue, and cut off his hands, it establishes +an inquisition, peoples the frontiers with searchers, spreads +satellites, and opens every package, in order to interrupt the +infallible progress of morality and truth. Useless and puerile +effort! Vain attack on the natural right of general society, and on +the patriotic rights of a particular one! Reason, from day to day, +strikes nations with a greater lustre, and will at last shine +unclouded. It answers no purpose to fear or persecute genius: nothing +will extinguish in its hands the torch of truth: the decree which its +mouth pronounces, will be repeated by all posterity against the +unjust man. He wished to snatch from his fellow-creatures the most +noble of all privileges, that of thinking, which is inseparable from +that of existing: he will have manifested his weakness and folly; and +he will merit the twofold reproach of tyranny and impotence. + +"When a very flat, very atrocious, and very calumniating libel +appears under a fellow's coat, 'tis a contest who shall have it +first. People pay an exorbitant price for it; the hawker who cannot +read, and who wishes only to get bread for his poor family, is +apprehended, and sent to prison, where he shifts for himself as well +as he can. + +"The more the libel is prohibited, the more eager we are for it. When +we have read it, and we see that nothing compensates for its mean +temerity, we are ashamed to have sought after it. We scarcely dare +say, _we have read it_: 'tis the scum of low literature, and what is +there without its scum? + +"Contempt would be the surest weapon against those miserable +productions which are equally destitute of truth and talent. + +"When will men in power know how to disdain equally the interested +encomiums of intriguing flatterers and the satires produced by +hunger? + +"Besides, those who sit in the first boxes must always expect some +shafts levelled at them by those who are in the pit; this becomes +almost inevitable. They must needs pay for their more commodious +place: at least we attribute to those who rule over us more +enjoyments: they have some which they will avow, solely with a view +to raise themselves above the multitude. The human heart is naturally +envious. Let men in power then forgive or dissemble seasonably: +satire will fall to the ground; it is by shewing themselves +impassible, that they will disarm ardent malignity. + +"Nevertheless, there is a kind of odious libel, which, having every +characteristic of calumny, ought to be repressed. This is commonly +nothing more than the fruit of anonymous and envenomed revenge: for +what are the secret intrigues of courts to any man of letters? He +will know time enough that which will suit the pen of history. + +"A libeller should be punished, as every thing violent ought to be. +But the parties interested should abstain from pronouncing; for where +then would be the proportion between the punishment and the crime? + +"I apply not the name of libels to those atrocious and gratuitous +accusations against the private life of persons in power or +individuals unconnected with the government. Such injurious and +unmeaning shafts are an attack on honour: their authors should be +punished. + +"The police detected and apprehended one of its inspectors, who, +being charged to discover those libels, proposed the composition of +similar ones to some half-starved authors. After having laid for them +this infernal snare for the gain of a little money, he informed +against them, and sold them to the government. + +"These miscreants, blinded by the eager thirst of a little gold, +divert themselves with the uneasiness of the government, and the more +they see it in the trances of apprehension, the more they delight in +magnifying the danger, and doubling its alarms. + +"Liberty has rendered the English government insensible to libels. +Disdain is certain, before the work is commenced. If the satire is +ingenious, people laugh at it, without believing it; if it is flat, +they despise it. + +"Why cannot the French government partly adopt this indifference? A +contempt, more marked, for those vile and unknown pens that endeavour +to wound the sensibility of pride, would disgust the readers of the +flat and lying satires after which they are so eager, only because +they imagine that the government is really offended by them. + +"It is to be observed that the productions that flatter more or less +public malignity, spread in fugitive sparks a central fire, which, if +compressed, would, perhaps, produce an explosion. + +"Magistrates have not yet been seen disdaining those obscure shafts, +rendering themselves invulnerable from the openness of their +proceedings, and considering that praise will be mute, as long as +criticism cannot freely raise its voice. + +"Let them then punish the flattery by which they are assailed, since +they are so much afraid of the libel that always contains some good +truths: besides, the public are there to judge the detractor; and no +unjust satire ever circulated a fort-night, without being branded +with contempt. + +"Ministers reciprocally deceive each other when they are attacked in +this manner; the one laughs at the storm which has just burst on the +other, and promotes secretly what he appears to prosecute openly and +with warmth. It would be a curious thing if one could bring to light +the good tricks which the votaries of ambition play each other in the +road to power and fortune. + +"There is nothing now printed in Paris, in the line of politics and +history, but satires and falsehoods. Foreigners look down with pity +on every thing that emanates from the capital on these matters. Other +subjects begin to feel the consequences of this, because the +restraint laid on the mind is manifested even in books of simple +amusement. The presses of Paris are no longer to serve but for +posting-bills, and invitations to funerals and weddings. Almanacks +are already a subject too elevated, and the inquisition examines and +garbles them. + +"When I see a book," says MERCIER, "sanctioned by the government, I +would lay a wager, without opening it, that this book contains +political falsehoods. The chief magistrate may well say: 'This piece +of paper shall be worth a thousand francs;' but he cannot say: 'Let +this error become truth,' or, 'let this truth no longer be anything +but an error.' He may say it, but he can never compel men's minds to +adopt it. + +"What is admirable in printing, is that these fine works, which do +honour to human genius, are not to be commanded or paid for; on the +contrary, it is the natural liberty of a generous mind, which unfolds +itself in spite of dangers, and makes a present to human nature, in +spite of tyrants. This is what renders the man of letters so +commendable, and insures to him the gratitude of future ages. + +"O! worthy Englishmen! generous people, strangers to our shameful +servitude, carefully preserve among you the liberty of the press: it +is the pledge of your freedom. At this day, you alone are the +representatives of nearly all mankind; you uphold the dignity of the +name of man. The thunderbolts, which strike the pride and insolence +of arbitrary power, issue from your happy island. Human reason has +found among you an asylum whence she may instruct the world. Your +books are not subject to an inquisition; and it would require a long +comment to explain to you in what manner permission is at length +obtained for a flimsy pamphlet, which no one will read, to be exposed +for sale, and remain unsold, on the _Quai de Gévres_. + +"We are so absurd and so little in comparison to you," adds MERCIER, +"that you would be at a loss to conceive the excess of our weakness +and humiliation." + + + +LETTER LXXVIII + +_Paris, March 9, 1802._ + +Among the national establishments in this metropolis, I know of none +that have experienced so great an amelioration, since the revolution, +as the + +HOSPITALS AND OTHER CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS; + +The civil hospitals in Paris now form two distinct classes. The one +comprehends the hospitals for the sick: the other, those for the +indigent. The former are devoted to the relief of suffering human +nature; the latter serve as an asylum to children, to the infirm, and +to the aged indigent. All persons who are not ill enough to be +admitted of necessity into the hospital the nearest to their +residence, are obliged to present themselves to the _Bureau Central +d'Admissions_. Here they are examined, and if there be occasion, they +receive a ticket of admission for the hospital where their particular +disorder is treated. At the head of the hospitals for the sick stands +that so long known by the appellation of the + +HÔTEL-DIEU. + +Formerly, nothing more horrid could be conceived than the spectacle +presented in this asylum for the afflicted. It was rather a +charnel-house than an hospital; and the name of the Creator, over +the gate, which recalled to mind the principle of all existence, +served only to decorate the entrance of the tomb of the living. + +The _Hôtel-Dieu_, which is situated in the _Parvis Notre-Dame_, _Ile +du Palais_, was founded as far back as the year 660 by St. Landry, +for the reception of the sick and maimed of both sexes, without any +exception of persons. Jews, Turks, infidels, pagans, protestants, and +catholics were alike admitted, without form or recommendation. Yet, +though it contained but 1200 beds, and the number of patients very +often exceeded 5000, and, on an average, was never less than 2500, +till the year 1786, no steps were taken for enlarging the hospital, +or providing elsewhere for those who could not be conveniently +accommodated in it. The dead were removed from the wards only on +visits made at a fixed time; so that it happened not unfrequently +that a poor helpless patient was compelled to remain for hours wedged +in between two corpses. The air or the neighbourhood was contaminated +by the noisome exhalations continually arising from this abode of +pestilence, and that which was breathed within the walls of the +hospital was so contagious, as to turn a trifling complaint into a +dangerous disorder, and a simple wound into a mortification. + +In 1785, the attention of the government being called to this serious +evil by various memoirs, the _Academy of Sciences_ was directed to +investigate the truth of the bold assertions made in these +publications. A commission was appointed; but as the revenues of the +_Hôtel-Dieu_ were immense, for a long time it was impossible to +obtain from the Governors any account of their application. However, +the Commissioners, directing their attention to the principal object, +reported as follows: "We first compared the _Hôtel-Dieu_ and the +_Hôpital de la Charité_ relative to their mortality. In 52 years, the +_Hôtel-Dieu_, out of 1,108,741 patients lost 244,720, which is one +out of four and a half. _La Charité_, where but one dies out of seven +and a half, would have lost only 168,700, whence results the +frightful picture that the _Hôtel-Dieu_, in 52 years, has snatched +from France 99,044 persons, whose lives would have been saved, had +the _Hôtel-Dieu_ been as spacious, in proportion, as _La Charité_. +The loss in these 52 years answers to 1906 deaths per year, and that +is nearly the tenth part of the total and annual loss of Paris. The +preservation of this hospital in the site it now occupies, and on its +present plan, therefore produces the same effect as a sort of plague +which constantly desolates the capital." + +In consequence of this report, the hospital was enlarged so as to +contain about 2000 beds. Since the revolution, the improvements +introduced into the interior government of the _Hotel-Dieu_ have been +great and rapid. Each patient now has a bed to himself. Those +attacked by contagious disorders are transferred to the _Hospice St. +Louis_. Insane persons are no longer admitted; men, thus afflicted, +are sent to a special hospital established at _Charenton_; and women, +to the _Salpétrière_. Nor are any females longer received into the +_Hôtel-Dieu_ to lie-in; an hospital having been established for the +reception of pregnant women. At the _Hôtel-Dieu_, every method has +been put in practice to promote the circulation of air, and expel the +insalubrious miasmata. One of these, I think, well deserves to be +adopted in England. + +In the French hospitals, one ward at least is now always kept empty. +The moment it becomes so by the removal of the patients into another, +the walls are whitewashed, and the air is purified by the fumigation +with muriatic acid, according to the plan first proposed by +GUYTON-MORVEAU. This operation is alternately performed in each +ward in succession; that which has been the longest occupied being +purified the first, and left empty till it is again wanted. + +The number of hospitals in Paris has been considerably augmented. +They are all supported by the government, and not, like those in +England, by private benefactions. Sick children of both sexes, from +the time of suckling to the age of sixteen, are no longer admitted +into the different hospitals; but are received into a special +hospital, extremely well arranged, and in a fine, airy situation, +beyond the _Barrière de Sèvres_. Two institutions have been formed +for the aged, infirm and indigent, who pay, on entrance, a moderate +sum. One of these charities is without the _Barrière d'Enfer_; the +other, in the _Faubourg St. Martin_. In the same _faubourg_, a +_Maison de Santé_ is established, where the sick are treated on +paying thirty _sous_ a day. + +An hospital for gratuitous vaccination, founded by the Prefect of the +department of La Seine, is now open for the continual treatment of +the cow-pox, and the distribution of the matter to all parts of +France. + +In general, the charitable institutions in Paris have also undergone +very considerable improvements since the revolution; for instance, +the male orphans, admitted, to the number of two thousand, into the +asylum formerly called _La Pitié_, in the _Faubourg St. Victor_, used +to remain idle. They were employed only to follow funeral +processions. At present, they are kept at work, and instructed in +some useful trade. + +A new institution for female orphans has been established in the +_Faubourg St. Antoine_; for, here, the two sexes are not at present +received into the same house, whether hospital or other charitable +institution. In consequence of which, Paris now contains two +receptacles for _Incurables_, in lieu of the one which formerly +existed. + +The place of the _Hôpital des Enfans-Trouvés_ is also supplied by an +establishment, on a large scale, called the + +HOSPICE DE LA MATERNITÉ. + +It is divided into two branches, each of which occupies a separate +house. The one for foundlings, in the _Rue de la Bourbe_, is intended +for the reception of children abandoned by their parents. Here they +are reared, if not sent into the country to be suckled. The other, in +the _Rue d'Enfer_, which may be considered as the General Lying-in +Hospital of Paris, is destined for the reception of pregnant women. +Upwards of 1500 are here delivered every year. + +As formerly, no formality is now required for the admission of +new-born infants. In the old Foundling-Hospital, the number annually +received exceeded 8000. It is not near so great at present. To those +who reflect on the ravages made among the human race by war, during +which disease sweeps off many more than are killed in battle, it is a +most interesting sight to behold fifty or sixty little foundlings +assembled in one ward, where they are carefully fed till they are +provided with wet nurses. + +I must here correct a mistake into which I have been betrayed, in my +letter of the 26th of December, respecting the present destination of + +LA SALPÊTRIÈRE. + +It is no longer used as a house of correction for dissolute women. +Prostitutes, taken up by the police, are now carried to St. Lazare, +in the _Rue St. Denis_. Those in want of medical aid, for disorders +incident to their course of life, are not sent to _Bicêtre, but to +the _ci-devant_ monastery of the Capucins, in the _Rue Caumartin_. + +At present, the _Salpêtrière forms an _hospice_ for the reception of +indigent or infirm old women, and young girls, brought up in the +Foundling-Hospital, are placed here to be instructed in needle-work +and making lace. Female idiots and mad women are also taken care of +in a particular part of this very extensive building. + +The Salpêtrière was erected by Lewis XIII, and founded as an +hospital, by Lewis XIV, in 1656. The facade has a majestic +appearance. Before the revolution, this edifice was said to lodge +6000 souls, and even now, it cannot contain less than 4000. By the +_Plan of Paris_, you will see its situation, to the south-east of the +_Jardin des Plantes_. + +I shall also avail myself of the opportunity of correcting another +mistake concerning + +BICÊTRE. + +This place has now the same destination for men that the Salpétrière +has for women. There is a particular hospital, lately established, +for male venereal patients, in the _Rue du Faubourg St. Jacques_. + + * * * * * + +_March 9, in continuation._ + +Previously to the decree of the 19th of August 1792, which suppressed +the universities and other scientific institutions, there existed in +France Faculties and Colleges of Physicians, as well as Colleges and +Commonalities of Surgeons. From one of those unaccountable +contradictions of which the revolution affords so many instances, +these were also suppressed at a time when they were becoming most +necessary for supplying the French armies with medical men. But as +soon as the fury of the revolutionary storm began to abate, the +re-establishment of Schools of Medicine was one of the first objects +that engaged attention. + +Till these latter times, Medicine and Surgery, separated from each +other, mutually contended for pre-eminence. Each had its forms and +particular schools. They seemed to have divided between them +suffering human nature, instead of uniting for its relief. On both +sides, men of merit despised such useless distinctions; they felt +that the curative art ought to comprehend all the knowledge and all +the means that can conduce to its success; but these elevated ideas +were combated by narrow minds, which, not being capable of embracing +general considerations, always attach to details a great importance. +The revolution terminated these disputes, by involving both parties +in the same misfortunes. + +At the time of the re-establishment of Public Instruction, the + +_Schools of Health_, founded at Paris, Montpelier, and Strasburg, on +plans digested by men the most enlightened, presented a complete body +of instruction relative to every branch of the curative art. Physics +and chemistry, which form the basis of that art, were naturally +included, and nothing that could contribute to its perfection, in the +present state of the sciences, was forgotten. The plan of instruction +is fundamentally the same in all these schools; but is more extensive +in the principal one, that is, in the + +SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF PARIS. + +This very striking monument of modern architecture, situated in the +_Faubourg St. Germain_, owes its erection to the partiality which +Lewis XV entertained for the art of surgery. That monarch preferred +it to every science; he was fond of conversing on it, and took such +an interest in it, that, in order to promote its improvement, he +built this handsome edifice for the _ci-devant Académie et Écoles de +Chirurgie_. The architect was GONDOUIN. + +The façade, extending nearly two hundred feet, presents a peristyle +of the Ionic order. The interior distribution of this building +corresponds with the elegance of its exterior. It contains a valuable +library, a cabinet of anatomical preparations (among which is a +skeleton that presents a rare instance of a general _anchilosis_) and +imitations in wax, a chemical laboratory, a vast collection of +chirurgical and philosophical instruments, and a magnificent +amphitheatre, the first stone of which was laid by Lewis XVI in +December 1774. This lecture-room will conveniently hold twelve +hundred persons, and its form and arrangement are such, that a pupil +seated the farthest from the subject under dissection, can see all +the demonstrations of the Professor as well as if placed near the +marble table. + +In one wing of the building is an _Hospice de Perfectionnement_, +formerly instituted for the reception of rare chirurgical cases only; +but into which other patients, labouring under internal disorders of +an extraordinary nature, are now likewise admitted. + +To this school are attached from twenty to thirty Professors, who +lecture on anatomy and physiology; medical chemistry and pharmacy; +medical physics; pathology, internal and external; natural history, +as connected with medicine, and botany; operative medicine; external +and internal clinical cases, and the modern improvements in treating +them; midwifery, and all disorders incident to women; the physical +education of children; the history of medicine, and its legitimate +practice; the doctrine of Hippocrates, and history of rare cases; +medical bibliography, and the demonstration of the use of drugs and +chirurgical instruments. There are also a chief anatomist, a painter, +and a modeller in wax. The lectures are open to the public as well as +to the students, who are said to exceed a thousand. Besides this part +of instruction, the pupils practise anatomical, chirurgical, and +chemical operations. To the number of one hundred and twenty, they +form a practical school, divided into three classes, and are +successively distributed into three of the clinical hospitals in +Paris. At an annual competition, prizes are awarded to the greatest +proficients. + +Although this school is so numerously attended, and has produced +several skilful professors, celebrated anatomists, and a multitude of +distinguished pupils, yet it appears that, since there has been no +regular admission for physicians and surgeons, the most complete +anarchy has prevailed in the medical line. The towns and villages in +France are overrun by quacks, who deal out poison and death with an +audacity which the existing laws are unable to check. Under the title +of _Officiers de Santé_, they impose on the credulity of the public, +in the most dangerous manner, by the distribution of nostrums for +every disorder. To put a stop to this alarming evil, it is in +contemplation to promulgate a law, enacting that no one shall in +future practise in France as a physician or surgeon, without having +been examined and received into one of the six Special Schools of +Medicine, or as an officer of health, without having studied a +certain number of years, walked the hospitals, and also passed a +regular examination.[1] + +At the medical school of Paris are held the meetings of the + +SOCIETY OF MEDICINE. + +It was instituted for the purpose of continuing the labours of the +_ci-devant_ Royal Society of Medicine and the old Academy of Surgery. +With this view, it is charged to keep up a correspondence, not only +with the medical men resident within the limits of the Republic, but +also with those of foreign countries, respecting every object that +can tend to the progress of the art of healing. + + * * * * * + +As far back as the year 1777, there existed in Paris a college of +Pharmacy. The apothecaries, composing this college, had formed, at +their own expense, an establishment for instruction relative to the +curative art, in their laboratory and garden in the _Rue de +l'Arbalêtre_. Since the revolution, the acknowledged utility of this +institution has caused it to be maintained under the title of the + +GRATUITOUS SCHOOL OF PHARMACY. + +Here are delivered _gratis_, by two professors in each department, +public lectures on pharmaceutic chemistry, pharmaceutic natural +history, and botany. When the courses are finished, prizes are +annually distributed to the pupils who distinguish themselves most by +their talents and knowledge. + +In the year 1796, the apothecaries of Paris, animated by a desire to +render this establishment still more useful, formed themselves into a +society, by the name of the + +FREE SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES. + +Its object is to contribute to the progress of the arts and sciences, +particularly pharmacy, chemistry, botany, and natural history. This +society admits, as free and corresponding associates, _savans_ of all +the other departments of France and of foreign countries, who +cultivate those sciences and others analogous to them. Some of the +most enlightened men in France are to be found among its members. + +The advantageous changes made in the teaching of medicine, since the +revolution, appear to consist chiefly in the establishment of +clinical lectures. The teaching of the sciences, accessory to +medicine, partakes more or less advantageously of the great progress +made in that of chemistry. It seems that, in general, the students in +medicine grant but a very limited confidence to accredited opinions, +and that they recur to observation and experience much more than they +did formerly. As for the changes which have occurred in the practice +of medicine, I think it would be no easy matter to appreciate them +with any degree of exactness. Besides, sufficient time has not yet +elapsed since the establishment of the new mode of teaching, for them +to assume a marked complexion. It is, however, to be observed that, +by the death of the celebrated DÉSAULT, Surgery has sustained a loss +which is not yet repaired, nor will be perhaps for ages. + +[Footnote 1: A law to this effect is now made.] + + + +LETTER LXXIX. + +_Paris, March 12, 1802._ + +From the account I have given you of the Public Schools here, you +will have perceived that, since the revolution, nothing has been +neglected which could contribute to the mental improvement of the +male part of the rising generation. But as some parents are averse to +sending their children to these National Schools, there are now +established in Paris a great number of + +PRIVATE SEMINARIES FOR YOUTH OF BOTH SEXES. + +Several of these are far superior to any that previously existed in +France, and are really of a nature to excite admiration, when we +consider the cruel divisions which have distracted this country. But +it seems that if, for a time, instruction, both public and private, +was suspended, no sooner were the French permitted to breathe than a +sudden and salutary emulation arose among those who devoted +themselves to the important task of conducting these private schools. +The great advantage which they appear to me to have over +establishments of a similar description in England, is that the +scholars are perfectly grounded in whatever they are taught; the want +of which, among us, occasions many a youth to forget the greater part +of what he has learned long before he has attained the years of +manhood. + +If several of the schools for boys here are extremely well conducted, +some of those for girls appear to be governed with no less care and +judgment. In order to be enabled to form an opinion on the present +mode of bringing up young girls in France, I have made a point of +investigating the subject. I shall, in consequence, endeavour to shew +you the contrast which strikes me to have occurred here in + +FEMALE EDUCATION. + +In France, convents had, at all times, prior to the revolution, +enjoyed the exclusive privilege of bringing up young women; and some +families had, for a century past, preserved the habit of sending all +their daughters to be St. Ursulas, in order to enter afterwards into +the world as virtuous wives and tender mothers. The natural result +was, that, if the principles of excessive piety which had been +communicated to them remained deeply engraved in their heart, they +employed the whole day in the duties required by the catholic +religion; and the confessor who dictated all these habitual +practices, not unfrequently became the director of the temporal +concerns of the family, as well as the spiritual. If the young girls, +in emerging from the cells of a convent, were disposed to lay aside +their religious practices, in order to adopt the customs and +pleasures of the world, this sudden transition, from one extreme to +the other, made them at once abandon, not only the puerile minutiæ, +but also the sacred principles of religion. There was no medium. They +either became outrageous devotees, and, neglecting the respectable +duties of housewives and mistresses of a family, wrapped themselves +up in a great hood, and were incessantly on their knees before the +altars of the churches, or, on the other hand, rushed into +extravagance and dissipation, and, likewise, deserting a family which +claimed their care, dishonoured themselves by the licentiousness of +their manners. + +At the present time, many women of good abilities and character, +deprived of their property by the vicissitudes of the revolution, +have established, in Paris and its environs, seminaries, where young +girls receive such advice as is most useful to females who are +destined to live in the world, and acquirements, which, by employing +them agreeably several hours in the day, contribute to the interior +happiness of their family, and make them find charms in a domestic +life. In short, the superiority of female education in France is +decidedly in favour of the present system, whether considered in +regard to mental improvement, health, or beauty. With respect to the +morals inculcated in these modern French boarding schools, the best +answer to all the prejudices might be entertained against them, is +that the men, who have married women there educated, find that they +prove excellent wives, and that their accomplishments serve only to +embellish their virtues. + + + +LETTER LXXX. + +_Paris, March 14, 1802_. + +I plead guilty to your censure in not having yet furnished you with +any remarks on the origin of this capital; but you will recollect +that I engaged only to give you a mere sketch; indeed, it would +require more time and talent than I can command to present you with a +finished picture. I speak of things just as they happen to occur to +my mind; and provided my letters bring you acquainted with such +objects here as are most deserving of attention, my purpose will be +fully accomplished. However, in compliance with your pressing +request, I shall now briefly retrace the + +PROGRESSIVE AGGRANDISEMENT OF PARIS. + +Without hazarding any vague conjectures, I may, I think, safely +affirm that Cæsar is the first historian who makes mention of this +city. In the seventh book of his Commentaries, that conqueror relates +that he sent his lieutenant Labienus towards Lutetia; this was the +name given by the Gauls to the capital of the Parisii. It was then +entirely contained within that island on the Seine, which, at the +present day, is called _l'Ile du Palais_. + +In comparison to the capitals of the other provinces of Gaul, +_Lutetia_ was but a sorry village; its houses were small, of a round +form, built of wood and earth, and covered with straw and reeds. + +After having conquered _Lutetia_, the Romans embellished it with a +palace, surrounded it by walls, and erected, at the head of each of +the two bridges leading to it, a fortress, one of which stood on the +site of the prison called _Le Grand Châtelet_; and the other, on that +of _Le Petit Châtelet_. The Yonne, the Marne, and the Oise, being +rivers which join the Seine, suggested the idea of establishing a +trading company by water, in order to facilitate, by those channels, +the circulation of warlike stores and provisions. These merchants +were called _Nautæ Parisiaci_. The Romans also erected, near the left +bank of the Seine, a magnificent palace and an aqueduct. This palace +was called _Thermæ_, on account of its tepid baths. + +Julian, being charged to defend Gaul against the irruptions of the +barbarians, took up his residence in these _Thermæ_ in 360, two years +before he was proclaimed emperor, in the square which was in front of +this palace. "I was in winter-quarters in my dear _Lutetia_," says he +in his _Misopogon_. "Thus is named, in Gaul, the little capital of +the Parisii."--"It occupies," observes Abbon, "an inconsiderable +island, surrounded by walls, the foot of which is bathed by the +river. The entrance to it, on each side, is by a wooden bridge." + +Towards the middle of the fifth century, this city passed from the +dominion of the Romans to that of the Francs. It was besieged by +Childeric I. In 508, Clovis declared it the capital of his kingdom. +The long stay which that prince made in it, contributed to its +embellishment. Charlemagne founded in it a celebrated school. A +little time after, another was established in the abbey of _St. +Germain-des-Prés_. In the course of the ninth century, it was +besieged and pillaged three times by the Normans. + +Philip Augustus surrounded Paris with walls, and comprised in that +inclosure a great number of small towns and hamlets in its vicinity. +This undertaking occupied twenty years, having been begun in 1190, +and finished in 1211. The same king was also the first who caused the +streets of this city to be paved. The wars of the English required +new fortifications; and, under king John, ditches were dug round the +city; and the _Bastille_, erected. These works were continued during +the reigns of Charles V and Charles VI. + +Francis I, the restorer of literature and of the arts, neglected +nothing that might conduce to the farther embellishment of this +capital. He caused several new streets to be made, many Gothic +edifices to be pulled down, and was, in France, the first who revived +Greek architecture, the remains of which, buried by the hand of time, +or mutilated by that of barbarians, being collected and compared at +Rome, began to improve the genius of celebrated artists, and, in the +sequel, led to the production of masterpieces. + +The kings, his successors, executed a part of the projects of that +prince, and this extensive city imperceptibly lost its irregular and +Gothic aspect. The removal of the houses, which, not long since, +encumbered the bridges, and intercepted the current of air, has +diffused cheerfulness and salubrity. + +You will pardon me, I trust, if I here make a retrograde movement, +not to recapitulate the aggrandisement of Paris, but to retrace +rapidly the progressive amelioration of the manners of its +inhabitants. The latter paved the way to the former. + +Under the first kings of France of the third race, justice was +administered in a summary way; the king, the count, and the viscount +heard the parties, and gave a prompt sentence, or else left the +controversy to be decided by a pitched battle, if it was of too +intricate a nature. No colleges then existed here; the clergy only +keeping schools near the Cathedral of _Notre-Dame_ for those who were +intended for holy orders. The nobles piqued themselves on extreme +ignorance, and as many of them could not even sign their own name, +they dipped their glove in ink, and stamped it on the parchment as +their signature. They lived on their estates, and if they were +obliged to pass three or four days in town, they affected to appear +always in boots, in order that they might not be taken for _vassals_. +Ten men were sufficient for the collection of all the taxes. There +were no more than two gates to the city; and under Lewis surnamed _le +Gros_, from his corpulency, the duties at the north gate produced no +more than twelve francs a year. + +Philip Augustus, being fond of literature, welcomed and protected men +of learning. It had appeared to revive under Charlemagne; but the +ravages of the Normans occasioned it to sink again into oblivion till +the reign of Lewis the Young, father of Philip Augustus. Under the +latter, the schools of Paris became celebrated; they were resorted +to, not only from the distant provinces, but from foreign countries. +The quarter, till lately called _l'Université_, became peopled; and, +in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was covered by colleges +and monasteries. Philip the Fair rendered the Parliament sedentary. +He prohibited duelling in civil contentions; and a person might have +recourse to a court of justice, without being under the necessity of +fighting. Anne de Bretagne, great and majestic in every thing, was +desirous of having a court. Ladies who, till then, were born in one +castle only to marry and die in another, came to Paris. They were +unwilling to leave it, and men followed them thither. All these +circumstances increased its inhabitants to a thirtieth part beyond +their former number. + +The wars of religion under Charles IX and Henry III rendered gold and +silver a little more common, by the profanations of the Calvinists, +who pillaged the churches, and converted into specie the sacred +vases, as well as the shrines and statues of saints. The vast sums of +money which the court of Spain lavished in Paris, to support the +League, had also diffused a certain degree of affluence among no +inconsiderable number of citizens; and it is to be remarked that, +under Henry IV, several handsome streets were finished in less than a +year. + +Henry IV was the first of the kings of France who embellished Paris +with regular squares, or open spaces, decorated with the different +orders of architecture. After having nearly finished the _Pont Neuf_, +he built the _Place Royale_, now called _Place des Fédérés_, and also +the _Place Dauphine_. + +Towards the end of the administration of Cardinal Richelieu, there no +longer existed in France more than one master; and the petty tyrants +in the provinces, who had fortified themselves so long in their +castles against the royal authority, were seen to come to court, to +solicit the most paltry lodging with all the servility of courtiers, +and at the same time erect mansions in town with all the splendour of +men inflated by pride and power. At last came the reign of Lewis XIV, +and presently Paris knew no limits. Its gates were converted into +arcs of triumph, and its ditches, being filled up and planted with +trees, became public walks. When one considers the character of that +monarch, it should seem that Paris ought to have been more +embellished under his reign. In fact, had Lewis XIV expended on Paris +one-fourth part of the money which he lavished on Versailles,[1] it +would have become the most astonishing city in Europe. + +However, its great extent and population, magnificent edifices, +celebrated national establishments of learning and science, rich +libraries, curious cabinets, where lessons of knowledge and genius +present themselves to those who have a taste for them, together with +its theatres and other places of public entertainment, have long +rendered Paris deserving of the admiration of enlightened nations. + +Before the revolution, Paris contained 46 parish churches, and 20 +others answering the same purpose, 11 abbeys, and 133 monasteries or +convents of men and women, 13 colleges, 15 public seminaries, and 26 +hospitals. To these must be added the three royal habitations, the +_Louvre_, the _Tuileries_, and the _Luxembourg_, also the _Hôtel des +Invalides_, the _Palais Royal_, the _Palais Bourbon_, and a great +number of magnificent hotels, inhabited by titled or wealthy persons. + +Since the revolution, several of these buildings have been destroyed; +almost all the monasteries and convents, together with the churches +belonging to them, have been sold as national property, and either +demolished for the sake of the materials, or converted to different +uses. Fifteen principal churches, besides the _Pantheon_, the +_Invalides_, _Val-de-Grace_, the _Sorbonne_, and a few others, were +preserved as national temples, intended for the celebration of +_decadary fétes_, and for a time rendered common to every sort of +worship. Most of the old churches were of Gothic architecture, and +not much to be commended with respect to art; but several of them +were models of boldness, from the lightness of their construction. + +The colleges, as I have before observed, are replaced by public +schools and private seminaries of every description. The number of +the houses in Paris, many of which are from five to eight stories in +height, has been estimated at upwards of 80,000. The number of its +inhabitants appears to have been over-rated. By an official +statement, in which foreigners are not included, it contains no more +than 630,000 souls. + +During the last year of the republican era, the number of males born +in Paris was 9296; and that of females, 9177; making the general +total of births 18,473, of which the males, born out of wedlock, +amounted to 1792; and the females, to 1852. The number of persons +deceased, within the same period, was 10,446 males, and 10,301 +females; making together 20,747. The annual decrease in population +was consequently 2274 souls. The number of marriages was 3826; and +that of divorces, 720; which is nearly 2 out of 11. + +The ancient division of Paris consisted of three parts; namely, _La +Cité_, _l'Université_, and _La Ville_. _La Cite_ comprised all the +_Ile du Palais_. This is the parent-stock of the capital, whence have +extended, like so many branches, the numerous quarters by which it is +surrounded. _L'Université_ was bordered by the Seine, the _Faubourg +St. Bernard_, _St. Victor_, _St. Marcel_, _St. Jacques_, and the +_Faubourg St. Germain_. The number of colleges in this quarter, had +obtained it the name of _Le Pays Latin_. _La Ville_ comprehended all +the rest of the capital, not included in the suburbs. + +At present, Paris is divided into twelve mayoralties (as you will see +by the _Plan_), each of which is presided by a central office of +municipal police. The _Faubourgs_ retain their ancient names; but +those of many of the streets have been changed in the course of the +revolution. The _Chaussée d'Antin_, which comprises the new streets +north of the _Boulevard Italien_, is now the most fashionable part of +the town. The houses here are chiefly inhabited by bankers and +persons living in affluence; and apartments in this neighbourhood are +considerably dearer than in the _Faubourg St. Germain_, which, +comparatively speaking, is deserted. + +I have already described the _Porte St. Denis_ and the _Porte St. +Martin_, which are nothing more than arcs of triumph. In proportion +as the limits of the capital became extended, the real gates were +removed, but reappeared under the name of _barrières_. These costly +edifices were constructed during the ministry of CALONNE, under the +direction of LEDOUX, the architect, who has taken a pleasure in +varying their form and character. One represents an observatory; +another, a chapel; some have the appearance of rusticated buildings; +others, that of temples. Under the old _régime_ too, the +farmers-general had inclosed Paris with a high wall, the extent of +which has been estimated at upwards of 10,000 toises. This wall +displeased the eye of the Parisians, and, when they were out of +humour, induced them to murmur loudly. Whence the following +_jeu de mots_: + + _"Le mur, murant Paris, rend Paris murmurout."_ + +During the revolution, it was by no means uncommon to shut the +_barrières_, in order to serve the purposes of party, and favour the +arrest of particular persons. To the number of sixty, they are placed +at the principal outlets of the suburbs, and occupied by custom-house +officers, whose business is to collect duties, and watch that no +contraband goods find their way into the city. Formerly, when every +carriage entering Paris was stopped and examined (which is not the +case at present), the self-importance of these _commis des barrières_ +could be equalled only by their ignorance. + +A traveller arriving from Egypt brought with him a mummy. The case +being long, he chose not to fasten it on to his post-chaise, but sent +it to Paris by water. When it was landed at the _barrière_, the +custom-house officers opened it, and, finding it to contain a +black-looking body, decided that this was a man who had been baked +in an oven. They took the linen bandages for his burnt shirt, and, +after drawing up a _procès-verbal_ in due form, sent the mummy to +the _Morne_, where dead bodies are exposed in order to be owned. +When the proprietor reached Paris, he went to the _barrière_ to +claim his mummy. The _commis_ listened to him and stared at him with +astonishment. He grew angry, and at length broke out into a violent +passion; when one of the searchers, in a whisper, advised him to +decamp, if he wished to avoid the gallows. The traveller, stupified, +was obliged to apply to the Minister of the Police, and, with some +difficulty, recovered from the _Morne_ his Egyptian prince or +princess, who, after having been preserved 2000 years, was on the +point of being buried in a catholic cemetery, instead of figuring in +a cabinet of curiosities. + +[Footnote 1: The article of lead alone for the water-pipes cost +thirty-two millions of livres or £1,333,333 sterling; but + + "Rich in her weeping country's spoils, Versailles! + May boast a thousand fountains, that can cast + The tortur'd waters to the distant heav'ns"--] + + + +LETTER LXXXI. + +_Paris, March 17, 1802._ + +An object which must infallibly strike the eye of the attentive +observer, who has not visited this capital within the last ten years,g +is the change in the style of + +FRENCH FURNITURE. + +This remark may, at first sight, appear trivial; but a second view of +the subject will produce reflections on the frivolity of this people, +even amidst their intestine commotions, and at the same time shew +that they are, in no small degree, indebted to the influence of those +events for the taste which is to be distinguished in the new +productions of their industry, and, in general, for the progress they +have made, not only in the mechanical arts, but also in the sciences +of every description. This will appear the more extraordinary, as it +should seem natural to presume that the persecution which the +protectors of the arts and sciences experienced, in the course of the +revolution, was likely to produce quite a contrary effect. But the +man of science and the artist, each abandoned to himself, acquired, +in that forlorn situation, a knowledge and a taste which very +frequently are the result of long study only, seconded by +encouragement from the wealthy. + +The apartments of the fine ladies, of the rich, of the bankers, and +merchants in Paris, and generally speaking, of all those who, from +their business and connexions, have most intercourse with the public +and with foreigners, are furnished in the modern mode, that is, in +the antique taste. Many of the French artists, being destitute of +employment, were compelled through necessity to seek it; some entered +into the warehouse of the upholsterer to direct the shape and +disposition of his hangings; some, into the manufactory of the +paper-maker to furnish him with new patterns; and others, into the +shop of the cabinet-maker to sell him sketches of antique forms. Had +the easels of these artists been occupied by pictures no sooner +finished than paid for, the Grecian bed would not have expelled the +_lit à la Polonaise_, in vogue here before the revolution; the +Etruscan designs would not have succeeded to the Chinese paper; nor +would the curtains with Persian borders have been replaced by that +elegant drapery which retraces the pure and simple taste of the +people of Attica. + +The elegant forms of the modern French _secrétaires_, commodes, +chairs, &c. have also been copied from the Greeks and Romans. The +ornaments of these are either bronzed or gilt, and are uncommonly +well finished. In general, they represent heads of men, women, and +animals, designed after the antique. Caryatides are sometimes +introduced, as well as Egyptian attributes; the arms of the chairs +being frequently decorated with sphinxes. In short, on entering the +residence of a _parvenu_, you would fancy yourself suddenly +transported into the house of a wealthy Athenian; and these new +favourites of Fortune can, without crossing the threshold of their +own door, study chaste antiquity, and imbibe a taste for other +knowledge, connected with it, in which they are but little versed. + +Mahogany is the wood employed for making these modern articles of +furniture, whose forms are no less varied than elegant; advantages +which cause them to be preferred to the ancient. But the latter, +though heavy in their construction, are, nevertheless, thought, by +some persons, superior to the former in point of solidity and +convenience. The old-fashioned bedsteads and chairs are generally of +oak, painted or gilt, and are covered with silk or tapestry of +different patterns. The _ci-devant_ nobles appear to be greatly +attached to them, and preserve them as monuments, which supply the +place of the titles and parchments they were forced to burn during +the sanguinary periods of the revolution. But this taste is not +exclusive; several of the Parisian _bourgeois_, either from economy, +or from a wish to appear to have belonged to that class, shew no less +eagerness to possess these spoils of the _noblesse_, as furniture for +their apartments. + +While I am speaking of furniture, it naturally occurs to me that I +have not yet taken you to visit + +LES GOBELINS. + +This national manufactory, which is situated in the _Faubourg St. +Marcel_, takes its name from two famous Flemish dyers, who settled in +Paris under Francis I. In 1662, COLBERT purchased part of the old +premises where the _Gobelins_ had carried on their business, and +there opened an establishment under the direction of LE BRUN. It was +not confined to the manufacture of tapestry only, but was composed of +painters, sculptors, engravers, goldsmiths, watch-makers, lapidaries, +and other artists and workmen of almost every description, whose +pupils and apprentices here acquired their freedom. + +Since the revolution, tapestry alone is manufactured here, on two +sorts of looms, distinguished by the denominations of _haute_ and +_basso lisse_, which are fully explained in an interesting _Notice_, +published by the intelligent director, GUILLAUMOT, who, it seems, has +introduced into each of these branches several recent improvements. + +The art of making tapestry originated in England and Flanders, where +the cartoons of RAPHAEL and JULIO ROMANO were coarsely copied. It was +gradually improved in France, and is now brought here to the greatest +perfection. Indeed, a piece of _Gobelin_ tapestry may be called a +picture painted with wool and silk; but its admirable execution +produces an illusion so complete, that skilful painters have been +seen to lay their hands on this tapestry, to convince themselves that +it was not a real painting. + +Tapestry is now entirely out of fashion; and, with the exception of a +few small fancy-pieces, the productions of this manufactory are +intended solely for the decoration of the national palaces and other +public buildings. In 1790 the blood-thirsty MARAT strove hard to +annihilate this establishment, by exaggerating the expenses of its +maintenance. In 1789, their real amount was 144,000 francs; 116 +journeymen and 18 apprentices were then employed, and paid in +proportion to their merit and to the quantity of work they performed. +In 1791, they were divided into classes, and paid by the day. This +regulation produces less work, but its execution is more perfect, +since no motive of interest induces the workman to neglect his +performance. At present, its expenses cannot be so great, as the +number of persons employed is less than 100. Should the penury of the +finances not allow the means of re-establishing pupils, this +manufactory will be extinguished like a lamp for want of oil. Twenty +years are necessary to make a good manufacturer of tapestry; those of +the first abilities are now nearly 70 years of age, and therefore it +seems high time to prepare for them competent successors. + +At _Chaillot_, we shall find another national manufactory, somewhat +analogous to the former, and which also claims the attention of the +curious observer. From having been fixed in a place originally +occupied by a soap-house, it is called + +LA SAVONNERIE. + +It was established, as far back as 1615, at the instigation of PIERRE +DUPONT, who, being forced to quit his native land by the civil +commotions arising from the League, went to the Levant. Having seen +carpets made without taste or design in that country, he conceived +the idea of introducing a manufactory of this kind into France, where +it would be susceptible of considerable improvement from the exercise +of the arts unknown in Turkey. The project was approved by Henry IV, +who first gave DUPONT an establishment in the _Louvre_, which was +afterwards transferred to its present situation. + +Like the _Gobelins_, the national manufactory of the _Savonnerie_ is, +and has been, constantly supported by the government, and like it +too, contributes to the decoration of the national palaces, &c. +Nothing, in the shape of carpets, can answer this purpose better than +those manufactured here, the colours of which are extremely +brilliant. The close, velvety texture of the manufacture gives a +peculiar expression to objects which are copied from nature, such as +the hair of animals, the down of fruit, and the lustre of flowers. + +From its foundation till the year 1789, this manufactory continued to +be under the direction of a contractor, who delivered the carpeting +to the government at the rate of 220 francs per square ell. At the +revolution, new regulations were established; the workmen were paid +by the day, and classed according to their merit. In consequence, +though less work is performed, it is executed with greater +perfection. + +The present government has lately ordered the old patterns, which +were overloaded with ornaments and flowers, to be suppressed, and +replaced by compositions more simple, more elegant, and infinitely +more tasteful. I understand that the workmen are to be put to +task-work, under the superintendance of the respectable administrator +DUVIVIER, who informs me that the present price of this carpeting +amounts to 300 francs per square _mètre_ (_circa_ 3 ft. 3 inc. +English measure). In 1789, thirty persons were employed here, at from +30 to 50 _sous_ a day. At present, there are no more than twenty, who +daily earn, on an average, 3 francs, and are lodged in the buildings +of the manufactory. + +Before I lay down my pen, I shall notice a national establishment, +equally connected with the subject of this letter; I mean the + +MANUFACTORY OF PLATE-GLASS. + +Like all the other French manufactories, this has suffered from the +revolution and the war; but it has now nearly resumed its former +activity, owing to the effects of the peace and the laudable +exertions of the government to revive commerce. At this time, it +gives employment to about 600 persons. + +Before COLBERT founded the present establishment, which is situated +in the _Rue de Reuilli_, _Faubourg St. Antoine_, the French drew +their plate-glass from Venice; but they have left their masters in +this branch very far behind them, and now make mirrors of dimensions +of which the Venetians had no idea. These plates are cast at St. +Gobin, near La Fère, in the department of L'Aisne, and sent to Paris +to be polished and silvered. Here you may witness the process +employed in each of these different operations. + +A method of joining together two small plates of glass in such a +manner that no mark appears, has, I am informed, been lately +discovered in Paris. It is said, however, not to be applicable to +those of large dimensions. After the operation of this species of +soldering, the plates are silvered. + + + +LETTER LXXXII. + +_Paris, March 19, 1802._ + +As the period of my stay here is drawing rapidly towards a +conclusion, I find much less leisure for writing; otherwise I should, +in my last letter, have made you acquainted with an establishment not +irrelevant to the leading subject of it, and which, when completed, +cannot fail to attract general notice and admiration. + +Every one has heard of the PIRANESI. In the year 1800, PIETRO and +FRANCESCO, the surviving sons of the celebrated GIOVANNI-BATTISTA, +transported to France their immense collection of drawings, with all +their plates and engravings. They were welcomed, protected, and +encouraged by the French government. Anxious to give to these +ingenious artists every facility for the success of an undertaking +that they had conceived, it has granted to them the spacious and +handsome premises of the _ci-devant Collège de Navarre_, in the _Rue +de la Montagne St. Geneviève_, which the PIRANESI will shortly open +as an + +ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS. + +That ancient college is extremely well calculated for such a +destination, from the extent of its buildings, its remoteness from +noise, and the airiness of its situation. By this liberal conduct to +the PIRANESI, the French government has shewn the warm interest it +takes in the progress of those arts. The establishment of these +Romans is to be divided into three branches. The first is placed in +the _Collège de Navarre_; the second is to be in the _Palais du +Tribunat_; and the third, at _Morfontaine_. + +Three hundred artists of different nations, some of whom are known by +master-pieces, while others announce the genius necessary for +producing them, are to be distributed in the seven classes of this +academy, which include the fine arts of every description. Each +artist being at liberty to follow the branch to which he is most +partial, it may easily be conceived how noble an emulation will be +roused by such an assemblage of talents. Several are now employed +here in the workshops of Painting, Sculpture, Mosaic, and Engraving. +Let us see in what manner. + +The ground-floor is devoted to Sculpture. Here are made, in plaster +and terra cotta, models of the finest monuments of Greece and Italy, +which are executed in stone of the richest species, such as porphyry, +granite, red antique, Parian and Carrara marble. From the hands of +the two CARDELLI, and other eminent artists, are seen to issue copies +of the most magnificent bas-reliefs of ancient Rome, and the most +beautiful friezes of RAPHAEL, MICHAEL ANGELO, JULIO ROMANO, and other +great masters of the Italian school; tripods, obelisks, antique +vases, articles of furniture in the Egyptian and Chinese taste, +together with objects taken from nature, such as the most curious +animals in the national _ménagerie_, likewise occupy their talents. +All these subjects are executed in different sizes, and form, +together or separately, decorations for apartments or tables, +particularly pilasters, and plateaux, in which the richness of the +materials is surpassed by that of the workmanship. + +On the same floor is the workshop of Mosaic. It is under the +direction of BELLONI, who has invented methods, by means of which he +has introduced Mosaic into articles of furniture, and for the +pavement of rich apartments, at prices far inferior to what might be +imagined. The principal articles here exhibited, as specimens, are: +--1. Superb marble tables and stands, in which are inserted ornaments +and pictures in Mosaic, or incrustated in the Florentine manner--2. A +large pavement, where the beauty and variety of the marbles are +relieved by embellished incrustations--3. Small pictures, in which +the painting, in very fine Mosaic, is raised on an even ground of one +piece of black marble--4. Large tables, composed of specimens of +fine-grained stones, such as jasper, agate, carnelion, lapis lazuli, +&c. and also of valuable marbles, distributed into compartments and +after a design imitated from the antique, and enriched with a few +incrustated pictures, representing animals and flowers. Besides +these, here are to be seen other essays of a kind entirely new. These +are marbles, intended for furniture, coloured in an indelible manner. +Sometimes the figures and ornaments in them are coloured in the +ground; sometimes they are in colour, but raised on a ground of white +marble. + +On the first story is the workshop for Engraving. Here the artists +are employed in engraving the seven hills of Rome, ancient circuses +of that celebrated city, plans of the _forum_, obelisks of Rome and +Egypt, ruins of Pompeia, drawn on the spot by the late J. B. +PIRANESI, together with modern subjects, such as the splendid +edifices of Paris, the beautiful views of the environs, the national +fêtes, and every thing that can deservedly interest artists and +persons of taste. On the same story are the plates of the PIRANESI +calcography, the place where they are printed, and the warehouse +where they are deposited. The engravings, now nearly executed, will +form upwards of twenty volumes; and those begun will equal that +number. + +The second story is occupied by painters in oil-colours; the third, +by those in water-colours; the fourth, by draughtsmen in Indian ink +and bistre; and the fifth serves for the lodging of the artists, +particularly the most skilful among them, who direct the different +branches of this establishment. The principal pile of building is +crowned by a _Belvedere_, which commands an extensive view of Paris, +and seems calculated for promoting the inspirations of genius. Here +are copied, in oil, water-colours, Indian ink and bistre, the fresco +paintings of RAPHAEL, MICHAEL ANGELO, and JULIO ROMANO; the Vatican, +the Farnesian palace, the Villa Altoviti, and the Villa Lante +alternately furnishing models no less happily chosen than carefully +executed. The antiquities of Herculaneum, so interesting from the +knowledge they afford us of the customs of the ancient Romans, and +from the elegant decorations of which they have procured us the +models, the ruins of Palmyra and Balbeck, those of Greece and Sicily, +together with views of Constantinople and of the country in which it +is situated, are here rendered with the most exact truth, joined to +the most harmonious colouring. Here too are represented; in the three +manners before-mentioned, views and sites of Egypt, Greece, Italy, +France, and all other countries; cascades, such as those of TERNI, +NARNI, and TIVOLI; sea-pieces; landscapes, parks; and gardens; +arabesques after RAPHAEL; new and picturesque plants; in a word, +decorations formed of an assemblage of every thing most perfect in +art and nature. + +On the first and second stories are also two exhibition-rooms, for +such pictures and works of sculpture as are finished, where the eye +wanders agreeably amidst a crowd of objects of an enlivening or +serious nature. Here it is that the amateur, after having seen the +artists at work in the classes of this academy, fixes his choice on +the kind of production which most takes his fancy. These two rooms +contain the different articles which are afterwards to be displayed +in the two porticos of the _Palais du Tribunat_. + +Those elegant and spacious porticos, situated in the most centrical +part of Paris, facing the _Rue St. Honoré_, have likewise been +granted to the PRIANESI through the special favour of the government. +Not only all the productions of their establishment, but also the +principal master-pieces in painting, sculpture, and architecture, +produced by artists of all nations, will there be exhibited; so that +those porticos will present, as it were, an Encyclopædia of the Fine +Arts.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The principal protector of the undertaking of the +PIRANESI is JOSEPH BONAPARTE, who has not confined himself to +assisting them in the capital. Being desirous to introduce the arts +into the country where he passes the finest season of the year, and +to promote the discovery of the PIRANESI, relative to the properties +of the argill found at _Morfontaine_, he has given to them for +several years the use of a large building and a very extensive piece +of ground, ornamented with bowers, where all the subjects modelled at +the _Collège de Navarre_, in _terra cotta_ or in porcelain of +_Morfontaine_, undergo the process of baking. In the last-mentioned +place, the PIRANESI purpose to establish a foundery for sculpture in +bronze and other metals. The government daily affords to them +encouragement and resources which insure the success of their +establishment. To its other advantages are added a library, and a +printing-office.] + + + +LETTER LXXXIII. + +_Paris, March 22, 1802._ + +As to the mechanical arts, if you are desirous to view some of the +modern improvements and inventions in that line, you must accompany +me to the _Rue St. Martin_, where, in the _ci-devant_ priory, is an +establishment of recent date, entitled the + +CONSERVATORY OF ARTS AND TRADES. + +Here is a numerous collection of machines of every description +employed in the mechanical arts. Among these is the _belier +hydraulique_, newly invented by MONTGOLFIER, by means of which a +stream of water, having a few feet of declivity, can be raised to the +top of a house by a single valve or sucker, so disposed as to open, +to admit the water, and shut, when it is to be raised by compression. +By increasing the compression, it can be raised to 1000 feet, and may +be carried to a much greater elevation. The commissioners appointed +by the Institute to examine this machine, reported that it was new, +very simple, very ingenious, and might be extremely useful in turning +to account little streams of water for the purposes of agriculture, +manufactories, &c. + +This reminds me of another singular hydraulic machine, of which I +have been informed by a person who attended a trial made of it not +long since in Paris. + +A basin placed at the height of twenty feet, was filled with water, +the fall of which set in motion several wheels and pumps that raised +the water again into the basin. The machine was fixed in a place, +glazed on all sides, and locked by three different keys. It kept in +play for thirty-two days, without the smallest interruption; but the +air, the heat, and the wood of the machine, having undoubtedly +diminished the water, it no longer ascended into the basin. Till the +thirty-second day, many persons imagined that the perpetual motion +had been discovered. However, this machine was extremely light, well +combined, and very simple in its construction. I ought to observe +that it neither acted by springs nor counterpoise; all its powers +proceeding from the fall of the water. + +The conservatory also contains several models of curious buildings, +too numerous to mention. + +The mechanical arts in France appear to have experienced more or less +the impulse given to the sciences towards the close of the eighteenth +century. While calamities oppressed this country, and commerce was +suspended, the inventive and fertile genius of the French was not +dormant. + +The clothiers have introduced woollen articles manufactured on a new +plan; and their fine broad cloths and kerseymeres have attained great +perfection. The introduction of the Spanish merinos into France has +already produced in her wools a considerable amelioration. + +Like a phoenix, Lyons is reviving from its ashes, and its silks now +surpass, if possible, their former magnificence. Brocaded silk is at +present made in a loom worked by one man only, in lieu of two, which +the manufacture of that article hitherto demanded. Another new +invention is a knitting-loom, by means of which 400 threads are +interwoven with the greatest exactness, by merely turning a winch. + +The cotton manufactures are much improved, and the manufactories in +that line are daily increasing in number and perfection. A new +spinning-machine has produced here, I am told, 160,000 ells in length +out of a pound of cotton. The fly-shuttle is now introduced into most +of the manufactories in this country, and 25 pieces of narrow goods +are thus made at once by a single workman. In adopting ARKWRIGHT'S +system, the French have applied it to small machines, which occupy no +more room than a common spinning-wheel. + +Among other branches in which the French mechanics have particularly +distinguished themselves, since the revolution, is the making of +astronomical and philosophical instruments. + +All the machines used here in coining have also been modified and +improved. By one of these, the piece is struck at the same time on +the edge and on the flat side in so perfect a manner, that the money +thus coined cannot he counterfeited. + +I have already mentioned the invention of a composition which +supplies the place of black lead for pencils, and the discovery of a +new and very expeditious method of tanning leather. + +New species of earthen-ware have been invented, and those already +known have received considerable improvement. + +Chemists have put the manufacturers in possession of new means of +decomposing and recomposing substances. Muriat of tin is now made +here with such economy, that it is reduced to one-eighth of its +former price. This salt is daily used in dying and in the manufacture +of printed calicoes. Carbonates of strontia and of baryt, obtained by +a new process, will shortly be sold in Paris at 3 francs the +_kilogramme_. This discovery is expected to have a great influence on +several important arts, such as the manufacture of glass, of soap, +&c. + +Articles of furniture, jewellery, and every branch dependent on +design, are now remarkable for a purer taste than that which they +formerly exhibited. + +Indeed, the characteristic difference of the present state of French +industry, and that in which it was before the revolution, is that +most of the proprietors of the manufactories have received a +scientific education. At that time, many of them were strangers to +the principles applicable to the processes of their art; and, in this +respect, they lay at the mercy of the routine, ignorance, and caprice +of their workmen. At present, the happy effects of instruction, more +widely-diffused, begin to be felt, and, in proportion as it is +extended, it excites a spirit of emulation which promises no small +advantage to French commerce. + + + +LETTER LXXXIV. + +_Paris, March 23, 1802._ + +In the richness of her territory, the abundance of her population, +the activity of her inhabitants, and the knowledge comprised in her +bosom, France possesses great natural advantages; but the effect +which they might have produced on her industry, has been counteracted +by the errors of her old government, and the calamities attendant on +the revolution. Some public-spirited men, thinking the moment +favourable for restoring to them all their influence, have lately +met; and from this union has sprung the + +SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF NATIONAL INDUSTRY. + +It is formed on a scale still more extensive than the _Society for +the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce_, instituted at +London. Its meetings are held in the _Louvre_; but, though fixed in +the metropolis, it embraces the whole extent of the Republic, and +every department will participate in the benefits which it proffers. + +The chief objects of this society are: To collect, from all quarters, +discoveries and inventions useful to the progress of the arts; to +bestow annually premiums and gratuitous encouragements; to propagate +instruction, by disseminating manuals on different objects relative +to the arts, by combining the lights of theory with the results of +practice, and by constructing at its own expense, and disseminating +among the public in general, and particularly in the manufactories, +such machines, instruments, and apparatus as deserve to be more +generally known and brought into use; to make essays and experiments +for ascertaining the utility which may be expected from new +discoveries; to make advances to artists who may be in distress, or +deficient in the means to put in practice the processes of their +inventions; to unite by new ties all such persons as from their +situation in life, their taste, or their talents, feel an interest in +the progress of the arts; to become the centre of similar +institutions, which are called for in all the principal +manufacturing-towns of the Republic; in a word, to _excite emulation, +diffuse knowledge, and assist talents_. + +To attain these objects, various committees, consisting of men the +most conversant in knowledge relative to the arts, are already +appointed, and divide among them _gratuitously_ the whole of the +labour. + +This society, founded, on principles so purely patriotic, will, no +doubt, essentially second the strenuous efforts of the government to +reanimate the different branches of national industry. The free and +spontaneous concurrence of the men of whom it is composed, may unite +the power of opinion to that of other means; and public opinion +produces naturally that which power and authority obtain only by a +slow and difficult progress. + +But, while those branches of industry, more immediately connected +with the arts, are stimulated by these simultaneous encouragements, +that science, on the practice of which depends the welfare of States, +is not neglected. Independently of the Council of Agriculture, +Commerce and Arts, established under the presidency of the Minister +of the Interior, here is a + +FREE SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE. + +Its object is to improve agriculture, not only in the department of +La Seine, but throughout France. For this purpose, it maintains a +regular correspondence with all the agricultural societies of the +other departments. It publishes memoirs, in which are inserted the +results of its labours, as well as the notices and observations read +at the meetings by any one of its members, and the decision which has +followed. + +Every year it proposes prizes for the solution of some question +important to the amelioration of agriculture. + +What, at first view, appears extraordinary, is not, on that account, +less founded on truth. Amidst the storms of the revolution, +agriculture has been improved in France. At a period of happiness and +tranquillity, the soil was not so well cultivated as in times of +terror and mourning; because, during the latter, the lands enjoyed +the franchises so long wanted. Hands never failed; for, when the men +marched to the armies, women supplied their place; and no one was +ashamed to handle the spade or the plough. + +However, if, in 1789, agriculture in France was far from a state of +prosperity, it was beginning to receive new light from the labours of +the agricultural societies. That of Paris had given a great impulse +to the culture of artificial meadows, potatoes, hemp, flax, and +fruit-trees. Practical directions, spread with profusion in the +country, had diverted the inhabitants from the routine which they had +blindly followed from generation to generation. + +Before the revolution, the French began to imitate us in gelding +their horses, and giving to their lackies, their coachmen, and their +equipages an English appearance; instead of copying us in the +cultivation of our land, and adopting the principles of our rural +economy. This want of foresight they are now anxious to repair, by +increasing their pastures, and enriching them by an extensive variety +of plants, augmenting the number of their cattle, whether intended +for subsistence or reproduction, and improving the breed by a mixture +of races well assorted, procuring a greater quantity of manure, +varying their culture so as not to impoverish the soil, and +separating their lands by inclosures, which obviate the necessity of +constantly employing herdsmen to tend their cattle. + +Agriculture has, unquestionably, suffered much, and is still +suffering in the western departments. Notwithstanding the succour +afforded by the government to rebuild and repair the deserted +cottages and barns, to supply them with men and cattle, to set the +ploughs to work, and revive industry, it is still evident that the +want of confidence which maintains the value of money at an +exorbitant rate, the love of stock-jobbing, the impossibility of +opening small loans, the excessive price of manual labour, +contributions exacted in advance, and the distress of most of the +land-owners, who are not in a condition to shew favour to their +tenants, are scourges which still overwhelm the country. But I am +credibly informed that, in general, the rural inhabitants now lend a +more attentive ear to instruction, and that prejudices have less +empire over their reason. The great landed proprietors, whom terror +had induced to fly their country, have, on recovering possession of +their patrimony, converted their parks into arable land. Others, who +are not fond of living in town, are daily repairing to their estates, +in order to superintend the cultivation of them. No one disdains the +simple title of farmer. Old publications relative to agriculture are +reprinted in a form more within reach of the capacity of the people; +though treatises on domestic animals are still much wanted. + +At Rambouillet, formerly the country-seat of the duke of Penthièvre, +is an experimental national farm. Fine cattle are now held in high +estimation. Flocks of sheep of the Spanish breed are daily +increasing; and the number of those of a pure race, already imported, +or since bred in France, exceeds 8000.[1] Wide roads, which led to +one solitary castle only, have been ploughed, and sown. The rage for +ornamental gardens and pleasure-grounds is dying away. The breeding +of horses, a branch of industry which the war and the requisition had +caused to be abandoned, is on the point of being resumed with +increased activity. It is in contemplation to establish studs, on +plans better combined and much more favourable to the object than +those which formerly existed. In short, the ardent wish of the +thinking part of the nation seems to be, that the order which the +government is endeavouring to introduce into every branch of its +administration, may determine the labourer to proportion his hire to +the current price of corn; but all these truths assembled form not +such a sketch as you may, perhaps, expect. The state of French +agriculture has never yet been delineated on a comprehensive scale, +except by Arthur Young. You must persuade him to repeat his tour, if +you wish for a perfect picture.[2] + + * * * * * + +_March 22, in continuation._ + +Most persons are acquainted with DIDOT'S stereotypic editions of the +classics, &c. which are sold here for 15 _sous_ per copy. Nothing +more simple than the plan of this mode of printing. A page is first +set up in moveable types; a mould or impression is then taken of the +page with any suitable plastic substance, and a solid page is cast +from it. The expense of a solid page exceeds not that of resetting it +in moveable types; so that, by this invention, the price of books +will be considerably reduced, and standard works will never be out of +print. Nor are these the only advantages attending the use of +stereotype; I must mention another of still greater importance. + +By the common method of printing, it is impossible ever to have +correct books. They are in the market before all their errors are +discovered; and the latest edition of a work, which ought to be the +most correct, is necessarily the most faulty; for it presents not +only the errors of that from which it was copied, but also those +peculiar to itself. Stereotypic books are printed only to answer the +extent of the demand; and errors, when discovered, being corrected in +the metal, they must, through time and attention, become immaculate; +a circumstance of infinite importance in astronomical and +mathematical tables of every description.[3] + +For elegance of printing, DIDOT is the BENSLEY of Paris; but to see a +grand establishment in this line, you must go to the _Rue de la +Vrillière_, near the _Place des Victoires_, and visit the + +PRINTING-OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC. + +Under the title of _Imprimerie Royale_, this establishment vas +formerly placed in the galleries of the _Louvre_. Instituted by +Francis I in 1531, it was greatly enlarged and improved under Lewis +XIII and Lewis XIV. It has also been considerably augmented since its +removal, in 1791, to the hotel belonging to the late Duke of +Penthièvre, which it now occupies. + +In its present state, it may be considered as the most extensive and +most complete typographical establishment in being. Every branch +relating to typography, from the casting of the type to the article +of binding, is here united. The _dépôt_ of punches contains upwards +of 30,000 characters of all languages. Among others, here are to be +remarked, in all their primitive purity, the beautiful Greek ones of +Garamon, engraved by order of Francis I, and which served for the +editions of the Stephen, the Byzantine, &c, the oriental characters +of the Polyglot of Vitræus, and the collection of exotic characters +from the printing-office of the Propaganda. The government business +alone constantly employs one hundred presses. A much greater number +can be set to work, if wanted. + +Independently of the works concerning administration and the +sciences, which are executed here at the public cost, the government +allows authors to cause to be printed at this office, at their own +private expense, such works as, on account of their importance, the +difficulty of execution, and the particular types which they require, +are entitled to that favour. + +On applying to the director, the amateurs of typography are instantly +admitted to view this establishment, and shewn every thing +interesting in it, with that spirit of liberality which is extended +to every public institution here, and which reflects the highest +honour on the French nation. + +[Footnote 1: At the last annual sale at Rambouillet, the average +price of a good Spanish ram was no more than 412 francs or £17 +sterling. The dearest sold for 620 francs.] + +[Footnote 2: The statistical accounts of the different departments, +which are to be compiled by order of the Minister of the Interior, +will specify all the agricultural improvements. The few already +published, shew that if the population of France is somewhat +diminished in the large towns, it is considerably increased in the +country-places.] + +[Footnote 3: It is, however, to be remarked that the merit of this +invaluable invention is not due to France, but to Britain. As far +back as the year 1725, a Mr. GED, of Edinburgh, turned his thoughts +to the formation of cast letter-press plates, and, in 1736, printed a +stereotype edition of Sallust. Being opposed by a combination of +printers and booksellers, whose ignorance and prejudices he was +unable to overcome, he relinquished the prosecution of his discovery; +and thus the stereotypic art was lost to the world, till +rediscovered, in 1780, by Mr. ALEXANDER TILLOCH. In the year 1783, +Mr. TILLOCH took out a patent for it, in conjunction with Mr. FOULIS, +then printer to the University of Glasgow. They printed several books +in this manner; but it seems that they also experienced an opposition +from the booksellers, and, owing to different circumstances, have not +since availed themselves of their patent. Notwithstanding this +evidence of priority, the French dispute the invention; and the +learned CAMUS, in his "_Historical Sketch of Polytypage and +Stereotypage_," affirms, on the authority of LOTTIN, that, towards +the end of the seventeenth century, the stereotypic process was put +in practice in France, for printing the calendars prefixed to the +missals. Hence it is seen that the claim of the English is supported +by positive proof; while that of the French rests on bare assertion.] + + + +LETTER LXXXV. + +_Paris, March_ 26, 1802. + +In visiting a foreign country, and more especially its capital, the +traveller, whose object is instruction, enters into the most minute +details, in order to obtain a complete knowledge of the various +classes of its inhabitants. As Seneca justly observes, in his +epistles, what benefit can a person reap from his travels, who spends +all his time in examining the beauty and magnificence of public +buildings? Will the contemplation of them render him more wise, more +temperate, more liberal in his ideas? Will it remove his prejudices +and errors? It may amuse him for a time, as a child, by the novelty +and variety of objects, which excite an unmeaning admiration. To act +thus, adds the learned stoic, is not to travel, it is to wander, and +lose both one's time and labour. + + "_Non est hoc peregrinari, sed erraie_." + +Wherefore Horace, in imitation of Homer, says, in praise of Ulysses, + + "_Qui mores hominum multorum vidit, et urbes_." + +I have, I hope, given you enough of sights and shows; let us then, my +good friend, follow the wise example of the ancients, and take a view +of men and manners. + +Owing, in some measure, to the levity of French character, and the +freedom which now prevails generally enough in all society here, this +sort of study, sometimes so tedious, is greatly facilitated. In the +Parisian assemblies of the present day, by an almost continual +collision, self-love discovers the weak side of an individual whose +whole merit consists in a little small-talk, and a rotation of those +_jolis petits riens_, which, seconded by a well-favoured countenance +and an agreeable carriage, have given him in the world the reputation +of an amiable man; while, from another, we see a thousand essential +qualities, concealed under a coarse exterior, force themselves into +notice, and which his modesty, or more frequently his timidity, +prevented him from displaying. + +From the preceding preamble, you will naturally conclude that I +purpose to appropriate this letter to a few remarks on the + +PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY IN PARIS. + +In this city are three very distinct kinds of society. But the order +I shall adopt in the description of each of them must not, in any +way, lead you to prejudge my opinion respecting the rank which they +hold among the French themselves. In this respect, I shall abstain +from every sort of reflection, and, confining myself to the simple +character of a faithful narrator, shall leave to your sagacity to +decide the question. + +I shall begin by the society, chiefly composed of the _ci-devant +noblesse_, several of whom, never having quitted France, have +preserved some of their property; and of emigrants, lately returned +to their own country, and who have enough remaining to allow them to +have a household establishment, but in a very modest style indeed, +compared to that which their rank and fortune enabled them to support +before the revolution. + +You present yourself at the residence of _Madame la Marquise de +C----_. In the anti-room, you declare your name and quality to the +groom of the chambers. Then, the opening of one or two folding-doors +announces to the mistress of the house, and to the company, the +_quantum_ of the ceremonies which are to be paid to the newcomer. +Keep your eye constantly on the _Marquise_, her behaviour will +regulate yours in regard to the individuals who compose her party. In +the course of conversation, take special care not to omit the title +of the person to whom you address yourself. Such an instance of +forgetfulness savours of a man of the new _régime_. Never pronounce +the new denominations respecting the divisions of the French +territory, the months, the weights, measures, &c. Those words would +draw on you an unfavourable interpretation. If you are inclined to +hear a discussion on the arts and sciences, or on any new discovery +whatever, you seldom find, in these parties, persons who can gratify +your taste; though you may meet with many who, as Locke says, "know a +little, presume a great deal, and so jump to a conclusion." + +From the plebeians, whose presence the _ci-devant_ nobles are so +condescending as to endure, much obsequiousness and servility are +required; and it is expected that the distance of rank should never +be forgotten. But the learned or scientific French revolutionist, who +admits no other distance than that between knowledge and ignorance, +not choosing to submit to such conditions, seldom presents himself at +the house of _Madame la Marquise de C----_. However, you will hear +her company speak of the court of France, of the interest which each +individual had there, and also a few anecdotes not uninteresting, and +which will furnish you with some ideas of the brilliant parties there +formed. After this discussion, one will talk to you of his regiment; +another, of his hunting establishment, of his _châteaux_, of his +estates, &c. _Chez Madame la Marquise de C----_, you will find no +inconsiderable prepossession against every thing that is not of the +old order of things, and even some exclusive pretensions to manners +which belong to those only who are real gentlemen. Yet, through all +these absurdities, you will always see good-breeding prevail in this +society, and the disposition which distinguishes a Frenchman from +other polished nations, will here break forth and present itself to +you in a striking manner. + +While speaking of the _ci-devant noblesse_, I cannot forbear to +mention the loss which those who had the happiness of her +acquaintance, have sustained by the recent death of Madame DE +CHOISEUL, the relict of the duke of that name, minister to Lewis XV. +Her virtues shed such a lustre round her, that it reached even the +monarch himself, who, when he banished her husband to Chanteloup, +wrote to him: "I should have sent you much further, but for the +particular esteem I have for Madame DE CHOISEUL, in whose health I +take no small interest." This uncommonly-respectable woman will long +be quoted and deservedly regretted, because she was modest in +greatness, beneficent in prosperity, courageous in misfortune, pure +in the vortex of corruption, solid in the midst of frivolity, as +simple in her language as she was brilliant in her understanding, and +as indulgent to others as she was superior to them in grace and +virtue. + +I shall next lead you to the house of a _parvenu_, that is, one of +those, who, from having made some successful speculations, and +possessing a conscience not overnice as to the means of fixing +Fortune, is enabled to live in the expensive style of the _ci-devant_ +court-lords and farmers-general. A letter changed in the person's +name, not unfrequently a _de_ or a _St._ added, (sometimes both) +puzzles the curious, who endeavour to discover what was formerly M. +_de St. H------_, now in the enjoyment of an annual income of a +hundred thousand francs, or £4000 sterling. + +At his house, more than any where else, etiquette is kept up with an +extraordinary minuteness; and evil tongues will tell you that it is +natural for M. _de St. H------_ to remember and avail himself of the +observations which he had it in his power to make in the place he +formerly occupied. Under his roof, you will find little of that ease +and amiableness which are to be remarked in the other societies of +Paris. Each individual is on his guard, and afraid of betraying +himself by certain expressions, which the force of habit has not yet +allowed him to forget. But if you are fond of good music, if you take +a pleasure in balls, and in the company of _femmes galantes_ or +demireps; and even if first-rate jugglers, ventriloquists, and mimics +amuse you by their skilful performances, frequent the house of M. _de +St. H------_, and every day, or at least every day that he is at +home, you will have a new entertainment. + +Between the acts, the company make their remarks, each in his own +way, on what they have just seen or heard. Afterwards, the +conversation turns on the public funds. Little is said, however, on +affairs of State, the bankruptcies of the day, and the profit which +such or such a speculation might produce. The ladies, after having +exhausted the subject of the toilet, finish by giving, as an apology +for their own conduct, the charitable enumeration of the peccadilloes +which they fancy they have remarked in other women. + +So little am I disposed for gaming, that I forgot to mention +_bouillotte_, _quinze_, and also whist and reversi, which are +introduced at all these parties. But the two last-mentioned games are +reserved for those only who seek in cards nothing more than a +recreation from the occupations of the day. At the others, gain is +the sole object of the player; and many persons sit at the +gaming-table the whole night, and, in the depth of winter even, +never leave it till the "garish sun" warns them that it is time +to withdraw. + +I have now only to introduce you at M. _B------'s_, Counsellor of +State. Here you will find the completion of the other two societies, +and a very numerous party, which affords to every one a conversation +analogous to his taste or his means. Refrain, however, from touching +on politics; the French government, still in its infancy, resembles a +young plant exposed to the inclemency of the air, and whose growth is +directed by skilful hands. This government must remove, and even +sometimes destroy every obstacle it meets with, and which may be +prejudicial to the form and direction that it thinks proper to give +to its branches and various ramifications. Beware, above all, of +speaking of the revolution. That string is too delicate to be touched +in regard to certain individuals of M. _B------'s_ party, perhaps +also in regard to himself: for the periods of the calamities which +the French have undergone are still quite recent, and the parts that +many of these persons may have acted, call to mind recollections too +painful, which, for their tranquillity, ought ever to be buried in +oblivion. And, in fact, you will always perceive, in the meetings of +this class, a harmony, apparent indeed, but which, surprises a +stranger the more, as, of all the societies in Paris, it presents to +him the greatest medley in point of the persons who compose it. + +In this society you will hear very instructive dissertations on the +sciences, sound literature, the fine arts, mechanics, and the means +of rendering useful the new discoveries, by applying them with +economy to the French manufactories, either public or private: for M. +_B------_ considers it as his duty to receive with distinction all +the _savans_, and generally all those called men of talent. In this +line of conduct, he follows the example set him by the government; +and every one is desirous to appear a Mæcenas in the eyes of +Augustus. In other respects, the house of M. _B------_ will afford +you the agreeble pastimes which you have found at M. _de St. +H------'s_. + +In Paris, however, are several other societies which, to consider +them rightly, are no more than a diminutive of those you have just +left; but which, nevertheless, are of a character sufficiently +distinct in their composition to justify their pretensions to be +classed as well as the others. This difference proceeding chiefly +from that of political opinions alone, an acquaintance with the great +societies here will enable you to select those of the middle class +which you may think proper to frequent, according to your taste, or +your manner of seeing and judging of the events of the French +revolution. Yet, you must not hence conclude that the conversation +turns chiefly on that subject in this particular class of the +Parisian societies. They concern themselves less about it perhaps +than the others, whether from the little share they have had in it, +or because they have but very indirect connexions with the +government, or lastly, and this final reason is, I believe, the most +conclusive, because a Frenchman, from the nature of his character, +ends by forgetting his misfortunes and losses, cares little for the +future, and appears desirous to enjoy the present only; following, in +that respect, the precept of La Fontaine: + + _"Jouis dès aujourd'hui, tu n'as pas tant à vivre; + Je te rebàts ce mot--car il vaut tout un livre."_ + +In truth, although, among this people, vexations and enjoyments are +almost always the result of imagination, they have preserved the +remembrance of their misfortunes only to turn to account the terrible +lessons which they have received from them, by adopting, in regard to +the present and to the future, that happy philosophy which knows how +to yield to the circumstances of the moment. This it is (you may rely +on the fact) that has contributed, more than any other cause, to +re-establish, in so short a period, the order and tranquillity which +France presents to the eyes of astonished foreigners. This it is too +that has, in a great measure, obviated the fatal consequences which +their past troubles must have made them fear for a long time to come, +and for which few remedies could be expected, especially when we +reflect on the divisions which the revolution has sown in almost +every family in this country. + +P. S. The sound of cannon, which strikes my ear at this moment, +announces the signature of the definitve treaty. In the evening, a +grand illumination will take place to celebrate the return of the +most desirable of all blessings. + + "------------O beauteous Peace! + Sweet union of a State! What else but thou + Giv'st safety, strength, and glory to a people?" + + + +LETTER LXXXVI. + +_Paris, March 28, 1802._ + +Whatever changes may have been introduced by the revolution, in one +respect at least, the Parisians still preserve towards foreigners +that urbanity for which they were remarkable half a century ago, when +Sterne paid them a visit. If you ask a shopkeeper here, of either +sex, the way to a place, perhaps at some distance, he or she neglects +the occupation of the moment to direct you, with as much solicitude +and attention as though a considerable advantage was to be the result +of the given information. It is the small sweet courtesies of life, +as that sentimental traveller remarks, which render the road of it +less rugged. + +Sometimes, indeed, a foreigner pays dearly for the civility shewn him +in Paris; but, in laying out his money, he must ever bear in mind +that the shopkeepers make no scruple to overcharge their articles to +their own countrymen, and some will not blush to take, even from +them, a third less than the price demanded. + +Soon after my arrival here, I think I mentioned to you the excessive +dearness of + +FURNISHED LODGINGS. + +Since the revolution, their price is nearly doubled, and is extremely +high in the most fashionable parts of the town, such as the _Chaussée +d'Antin_, the _Rue de la Loi_, the _Rue de la Concorde_, &c. For +strangers that know not in Paris any friend who will take the trouble +to seek for them suitable apartments, the only way to procure good +accommodation is to alight at a ready-furnished hotel, and there hire +rooms by the day till they can look about them, and please +themselves. + +For my own part, I prefer the quiet of a private lodging to the +bustle of a public hotel, and, as I have before mentioned, my +constant resource, on such occasions, has been the _Petites +Affiches_. If you go to the office where this Daily Advertiser is +published, and inspect the file, it is ten to one that you +immediately find apartments to your wishes. + +A single man may now be comfortably lodged here, in a private house +with a _porte-cochère_, at from 5 to 8 louis per month; and a small +family may be well accommodated, in that respect, at from 12 to 16 +louis. A larger party, requiring more room, may obtain excellent +apartments at from 20 louis a month upwards, according to the +situation, the conveniences, the taste and condition of the +furniture, and other contingencies. To prevent subsequent +misunderstanding, I would always recommend a written agreement. + +The English have hitherto paid dearer than other foreigners for +whatever they want in Paris, because they generally trust to their +servants, and think it beneath them to look into those matters +connected with their own comfort. But the _Milords Anglais_ are now +entirely eclipsed by the Russian Counts, who give two louis where the +English offer one. A person's expenses here, as every where else, +materially depend on good management, without which a thoughtless man +squanders twice as much as a more considerate one; and while the +former obtains no more than the common comforts of life, the latter +enjoys all its indulgences. + +With respect to the gratifications of the table, I have little to add +to what I have already said on that subject, in speaking of the +_restaurateurs_. If you choose to become a boarder, you may subscribe +at the _Hôtel du Cirque_, _Rue de la Loi_, and sit down every day in +good company for about seven louis a month; and there are very +respectable private houses, where you may, when once introduced, dine +very well for five livres a time; but, at all these places, you are +sure to meet either English or Americans; and the consequence is, +that you are eternally speaking your mother-tongue, which is a +material objection with those who are anxious to improve themselves +in the French language. For a man who brings his family to Paris, and +resides in private apartments, it might, perhaps, be more advisable +to hire a cook, and live _à l'Anglaise_ or _à la Française_, +according to his fancy. + +No conveniences have been so much improved in Paris, since the +revolution, as + +JOB AND HACKNEY CARRIAGES. + +Formerly, the _remises_ or job-carriages were far inferior to those +in use at the present day; and the old _fiacres_ or hackney-coaches +were infamous. The carriages themselves were filthy; the horses, +wretched; and the coachmen, in tatters, had more the look of beggars +than that of drivers. + +Now, not only good hackney-coaches, but chariots and cabriolets +likewise, figure here on the stands; and many of them have an +appearance so creditable that they might even be taken for private +French equipages. The regular stipulated fare of all these vehicles +is at present 30 _sous_ a _course_, and the same for every hour after +the first, which is fixed at 40 _sous_.[1] In 1789, it used to be no +more than 24. For the 30 _sous_, you may drive from one extremity of +Paris to the other, provided you do not stop by the way; for every +voluntary stoppage is reckoned a _course_. However, if you have far +to go, it is better to agree to pay 40 _sous_ per hour, and then you +meet with no contradiction. From midnight to six o'clock in the +morning, the fare is double. + +The present expense of a job-carriage, with a good pair of horses, +(including the coachman, who is always paid by the jobman) varies +from 22 to 24 louis a month, according to the price of forage. If you +use your own carriage, the hire of horses and coachman will cost you +from 12 to 15 louis, which, in 1789, was the price of a job-carriage, +all expenses included. + +Under the old _régime_, there were no stands of cabriolets.[2] These +carriages are very convenient to persons pressed for time; but it +must be confessed that they are no small annoyance to pedestrians. Of +this Lewis XV was so convinced, that he declared if he were Minister +of the Police, he would suffer no cabriolets in Paris. He thought +this prohibition beneath his own greatness. To obviate, in some +measure, the danger arising both from the want of foot-pavement, and +from the inconsiderate rapidity with which these carriages are not +unfrequently driven, it is now a law that the neck of every horse in +a cabriolet must be provided with bells, and the carriage with two +lamps, lighted after dark; yet, in spite of these precautions, and +the severity which the police exercises against those who transgress +the decree, serious accidents sometimes happen. + +Before the revolution, "_gare! gare!_" was the only warning given +here to foot-passengers. The master, in his cabriolet, first drove +over a person, the servant behind then bawled out "_gare!_" and the +maimed pedestrian was left to get up again as he was able. Such +brutal negligence now meets with due chastisement. + +At a trial which took place here the other day in a court of justice, +the driver of a cabriolet was condemned to three months imprisonment +in a house of correction, and to pay a fine of 100 francs for maiming +a carter. The horse had no bells, as prescribed by law; and the owner +of the cabriolet was, besides, condemned, in conjunction with the +driver, to pay an indemnification of 3000 francs to the wounded +carter, as being civilly responsible for the conduct of his servant. + +Notwithstanding the danger of walking in the streets of Paris, such +French women as are accustomed to go on foot, traverse the most +frequented thoroughfares in the dirtiest weather, at the same time +displaying, to the astonished sight of bespattered foreigners, a +well-turned leg, a graceful step, and spotless stockings. + +If you arrive in Paris without a servant, or (what amounts almost to +the same thing) should you bring with you a man ignorant of the +French language, you may be instantly accommodated with one or +several domestics, under the name of + +VALETS-DE-PLACE. + +Like every thing else here, the wages of these job-servants are +augmented. Formerly, their salary was 30 or 40 _sous_ a day: they now +ask 4 francs; but, if you purpose to spend a few weeks here, will be +glad to serve you for 3. Some are very intelligent; others, very +stupid. Most of them are spies of the police; but, as an Englishman +in Paris has nothing to conceal, of what consequence is it whether +his steps are watched by his own _valet-de-place_ or any other +_mouchard_? It is usual for them to lay under contribution all the +tradesmen you employ; and thus the traiteur, the jobman, &c. +contribute to augment their profits. However, if they pilfer you a +little themselves, they take care that you are not subjected to too +much imposition from others.--To proceed to a few + +GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. + +In visiting the French capital, many Englishmen are led into an +error. They imagine that a few letters of recommendation will be the +means of procuring them admission into other houses besides those of +the persons to whom these letters are addressed. But, on their +arrival in Paris, they will find themselves mistaken. The houses of +the _great_ are difficult of access, and those of the secondary class +scarcely open with more ease than they did before the revolution. If +proper attention be paid to all the letters which a stranger brings, +he may be satisfied; though the persons to whom he is recommended, +seldom think of taking him to the residence of any of their friends. +Therefore, an English traveller, who wishes to mix much in French +society, should provide himself with as many letters of +recommendation as he can possibly obtain; unless, indeed, he has a +celebrated name, which, in all countries, is the best introduction; +for curiosity prompts the higher classes to see and examine the man +who bears it. The doors of every house will be open to him, when they +are shut against other strangers, and he may soon establish an +intimacy in the first circles. To those who possess not that +advantage, a Frenchman may be induced to offer a dinner, or two, +perhaps, and return them a few formal visits. He will profess more +than he performs. In a word, he will be polite, but not familiar and +friendly. + +An Englishman, thus circumstanced, finding that he gains no ground, +and is treated with a sort of ceremony, will probably seek other +company, dine at the _restaurateurs'_, frequent the _spectacles_, and +visit the impures: for such was the life our countrymen, in general, +led in Paris before the revolution. Public amusements may, perhaps, +make him amends for the want of private society. As, from their +astonishing number, they may be varied without end, he may contrive +to pass away his evenings. His mornings will, at first, be employed, +no doubt, in visiting public curiosities; but, after he has +repeatedly surveyed these scenes of attraction, he will fail in what +ought to be the grand object of foreign travel, and return home +without having acquired a competent knowledge of the manners of the +country. He ought therefore to husband proper French acquaintances, +and keep up a constant intercourse with them, or he will run a risk +of finding himself insulated. Should indisposition confine him to the +house for a few days, every one to whom he has been recommended, will +suppose him gone, he will no longer be thought of; _ennui_ will take +possession of him, and, cursing France, he will wish himself safely +landed on the shore of Old England. + +If this is the case with an Englishman who brings letters to Paris, +what must be the situation of one who visits this capital entirely +unprovided in that respect? The banker on whom he has a letter of +credit, may invite him to a dinner, at which are assembled twenty +persons, to all of whom he is a perfect stranger. Without friends, +without acquaintances, he will find himself like a man dropped from +the clouds, amidst six or seven hundred thousand persons, driving or +walking about in pursuit of their affairs or pleasures. For want of a +proper clue to direct him, he is continually in danger of falling +into the most detestable company; and the temptations to pleasure are +so numerous and so inviting in this gay city, that it requires more +fortitude than falls to the lot of many to resist them. Consequently, +an untravelled foreigner cannot be too much on his guard in Paris; +for it will require every exertion of his prudence and discrimination +to avoid being duped and cheated. Above all, he should shun those +insinuating and subtle characters who, dexterous in administering +that delicious essence which mixes so sweetly with the blood, are +ever ready to shew him the curiosities, and introduce him into +coteries, which they will represent as respectable, and in which the +mistress of the house and her daughters will, probably, conspire to +lighten his pocket, and afterwards laugh at his credulity. + +As to the reception which the English are likely to meet with here +after the ratification of the definitive treaty, (if I may be +permitted to judge from personal experience and observation) I think +it will, in a great measure, depend on themselves. Therefore, should +any of our countrymen complain of being treated here with less +attention now than before the revolution, it will, on candid +investigation, prove to be their own fault. The essential difference +will be found to consist in the respect paid to the man, not, as +formerly, in proportion to his money, but to his social worth. The +French seem now to make a distinction between individuals only, not +between nations. Whence it results that, _cæteris paribus_, the +foreigner who possesses most the talent of making himself agreeable +in society, will here be the most welcome. Not but, in general, they +will shew greater indulgence to an Englishman, and be inclined to +overlook in him that which they would consider as highly unpardonable +in a stranger of any other country. + +On such occasions, their most usual exclamation is "_Les Anglais sont +des gens bien extraordinaires! Ma foi! ils sont inconcevables!_" And, +indeed, many Englishmen appear to glory in justifying the idea, and +_astonishing the natives_ by the eccentricity of their behaviour. But +these _originals_ should recollect that what may be tolerated in a +man of superior talent, is ridiculous, if not contemptible, in one +undistinguished by such a pretension; and that, by thus _posting_ +their absurdities to the eyes of a foreign nation, they leave behind +them an impression which operates as a real injury in regard to their +more rational countrymen. Another circumstance deserves no less +animadversion. + +In their first essay of foreign travel, our British youths generally +carry with them too ample a share of national prepossession and +presumption. Accustomed at home to bear down all before them by the +weight of their purse, they are too apt to imagine that, by means of +a plentiful provision of gold, they may lord it over the continent, +from Naples to Petersburg; and that a profuse expenditure of money +supersedes the necessity of a compliance with established forms and +regulations. Instead of making their applications and inquiries in a +proper manner, so as to claim due attention, they more frequently +demand as a right what they should rather receive as a favour. +Finding themselves disappointed in their vain conclusions, their +temper is soured; and, being too proud to retract their error, or +even observe a prudent silence, they deal out their impertinence and +abuse in proportion to the number of guineas which they may be able +to squander. Of course, they cannot but view the peculiar habits and +customs of all foreign nations with a jaundiced eye, never reflecting +that in most countries are to be found, either in a moral or a +physical sense, advantages and disadvantages in which others are +deficient. _Le_ POUR _et le_ CONTRE, as a well-known traveller +observes, _se trouvent en chaque nation_. The grand desideratum is to +acquire by travel a knowledge of this POUR _et/i> CONTRE, which, by +emancipating us from our prejudices, teaches us mutual toleration +--for, of every species of tyranny, that which is exercised on things +indifferent in themselves, is the most intolerable. Hence it is less +difficult to deprive a nation of its laws than to change its habits. + +[Footnote 1: When assignats were in circulation, a single _course en +fiacre_ sometimes cost 600 livres, which was at the rate of 10 livres +per minute. But this will not appear extraordinary, when it is known +that the depreciation of that paper-currency was such that, at one +time, 18,000 livres in assignats could be procured for a single +_louis d'or_.] + +[Footnote 2: A cabriolet is a kind of one-horse chaise, with a +standing head, and inclosed in front by a wooden flap, in lieu of one +of leather. Behind, there is a place for a footman.] + + + +LETTER LXXXVII + +_Paris, March 31, 1802._ + +If I mistake not, I have answered most of the questions contained in +your letters; I shall now reply to you on the subject of + +DIVORCE. + +The number of divorced women to be met with here, especially among +the more affluent classes, exceeds any moderate calculation. Nothing +can more clearly manifest the necessity of erecting some dike against +the torrent of immorality, which has almost inundated this capital, +and threatens to spread over all the departments. + +Before the revolution, the indissolubility of marriage in France was +supposed to promote adultery in a very great degree: the vow was +broken because the knot could not be untied. At present, divorces are +so easily obtained, that a man or woman, tired of each other, have +only to plead _incompatibility of temper_, in order to slip their +necks out of the matrimonial noose. In short, some persons here +change their wedded partner with as much unconcern as they do their +linen. Thus, the two extremes touch each other; and either of them +has proved equally pernicious to morals. + +Formerly, if a Frenchman kept a watchful eye on his wife, he was +reckoned jealous, and was blamed. If he adopted a contrary conduct, +and she was faithless, he was ridiculed. Not unfrequently, a young +miss, emerged from the cloisters of a convent, where she had, +perhaps, been sequestered, in order that her bloom might not eclipse +the declining charms of her mother, and who appeared timid, bashful, +and diffident, was no sooner married to a man in a certain rank in +life, than she shone as a meteor of extravagance and dissipation. +Such a wife thought of nothing but the gratification of her own +desires; because she considered it as a matter of course that all the +cares of the family ought to devolve by right on the husband. +Provided she could procure the means of satisfying her taste for +dress, and of making a figure in the _beau monde_, no other concerns +ever disturbed her imagination. If, at first, she had sufficient +resolution to resist the contagion of example, and not take a male +friend to her bosom, by way of lightening the weight of her connubial +chains, she seldom failed, in the end, to follow the fashion of the +day, and frequent the gaming-table, where her virtue was sacrificed +to discharge her debts of honour. + +But what have these _would-be_ republicans to allege as an excuse in +their favour? They have no convents to initiate young girls in the +arts of dissimulation; no debauched court to contaminate, by its +example, the wavering principles of the weak part of the sex, or sap +the more determined ones of those whose mind is of a firmer texture; +nor have they any friendly, sympathizing confessors to draw a spunge, +as it were, over the trespasses hid in a snug corner of their heart. +No: every one is left to settle his own account with heaven. Yet the +libertinism which at present reigns in Paris is sufficient to make a +deep impression on persons the least given to reflection. + +_Il matrimonio_, says the Italian proverb, _è un paradiso o un +inferno_. In fact, nothing can be compared to the happiness of a +married couple, united by sympathy. To them, marriage is really a +terrestrial paradise. But what more horrid than the reverse, that is, +two beings cursing the fatal hour which brought them together in +wedlock? It is a very hell on earth; for surely no punishment can +exceed that of being condemned to pass our days with the object of +our detestation. + +If the indissolubility of marriage in France was formerly productive +of such bad consequences; now that the nuptial knot can be loosened +with so much facility, there can no longer exist the same plea for +adultery. Is then this accumulation of vice less the effect of the +institution of divorce in itself, than that of the undigested law by +which it was first introduced? + +The law of divorce was, I find, projected in 1790, under the auspices +of the last Duke of Orleans, who, utterly regardless of the welfare +of the State, wished to revolutionize every thing, solely with a view +to his own individual interest. His object was to get rid of his +wife, who was a woman of strict virtue. This law was decreed on the +20th of September 1792, without any discussion whatever. On the 8th +of Nivôse and 4th of Floréal, year II, (29th of December 1794 and +24th of April 1795) the Convention decreed additional laws, all +tending to favour the impetuosity of the passions. Thus the door was +opened still wider to licentiousness and debauchery. By these laws, +an absence of six months is sufficient for procuring a divorce, and, +after the observance of certain forms, either of the parties may +contract a fresh marriage. + +It is not difficult to conceive how many hot-headed, profligate, +unprincipled persons, of both sexes, have availed themselves of such +laws to gratify their unruly passions, their resentment, their +avarice, or their ambition. Oaths, persons, or property, are, in +these cases, little respected. If a libertine finds that he cannot +possess the object of his desires on any other terms, like Sir John +Brute, in the play, he marries her, in order to go to bed to her, and +in a few days sues for a divorce. I have been shewn here a Lothario +of this description, who, in the course of a short space of time had +been married to no less than six different women. + +"Divorce," says a judicious French writer, "is a separation, the +necessity for which ought to be supported by unquestionable proofs; +otherwise, it is nothing more than a legitimate scandal." + +The French often wish to assimilate themselves to the Romans, and the +Roman laws sanctioned divorce. Let us then examine how far the +comparison can, in this respect, be supported. + +"Among the Romans," continues he, "the first who availed himself of +this privilege was Spurius Corbilius, because his wife was steril. +The second divorce was that of C. Sulpicius, because his wife had +gone abroad with her hair uncovered, and without a veil over her +head. Q. Anstitius divorced on account of having seen his wife speak +to a person of her own sex, who was reckoned loose in her conduct; +and Sempronius, because his had been to see the public entertainments +without having informed him. These different divorces took place +about a hundred years after the foundation of Rome. The Romans, after +that, were upwards of five hundred years without affording an +instance of any divorce. They then were moral and virtuous. But, at +length, luxury, that scourge of societies, corrupted their hearts; +and divorces became so frequent, that many women reckoned their age +by the number of their husbands." To this he might have added, that +several Roman ladies of rank were so lost to all sense of shame, that +they publicly entered their names among the licensed prostitutes. + +"Marriage," concludes he, "presently became nothing more than an +object of commerce and speculation; and divorce, a tacit permission +for libertinism. Can divorce among the French, be considered +otherwise, when we reflect that this institution, which seemed likely +to draw closer the conjugal tie, by restoring it to its state of +natural liberty, is, through the abuse made of it, now only a mean of +shameful traffic, in which the more cunning of the two ruins the +ether, in short, a mound the less against the irruptions of +immorality?" + +So much for the opinion of a French writer of estimation on the +effect of these laws: let us at present endeavour to illustrate it by +some examples. + +A young lady, seduced by a married man, found herself pregnant. She +was of a respectable family: he was rich, and felt the consequences +of this event. What was to be done? He goes to one of his friends, +whom he knew not to be overburdened with delicacy, and proposes to +him to marry this young person, in consideration of a certain sum of +money. The friend consents, and the only question is to settle the +conditions. They bargain for some time: at last they agree for 10,000 +francs (_circa_ £410 sterling). The marriage is concluded, the lady +is brought to bed, the child dies, and the gentleman sues for a +divorce. All this was accomplished in six months. As such +opportunities are by no means scarce, he may, in the course of the +year, probably, meet with another of the same nature: thus the office +of bridegroom is converted into a lucrative situation. The following +is another instance of this melancholy truth, but of a different +description. + +A man about thirty-two years of age, well-made, and of a very +agreeable countenance, had been married three months to a young woman +of uncommon beauty. He was loved, nay almost adored by her. Every one +might have concluded that they were the happiest couple in Paris; +and, in fact, no cloud had hitherto overshadowed the serenity of +their union. One day when the young bride was at table with her +husband, indulging herself in expressing the happiness which she +enjoyed, a tipstaff entered, and delivered to her a paper. She read +it. What should it be but a subpoena for a divorce? At first she took +the thing for a pleasantry: but the husband soon convinced her that +nothing was more serious. He assured her that this step would make +her fortune, and his own too, if she would consent to the arrangement +which he had to propose to her. "You know," said he, "the rich and +ugly Madame C----: she has 30,000 francs a year (circa £1250 +sterling); she will secure to me the half of her property, provided I +will marry her. I offer you a third, if, after having willingly +consented to our divorce, you will permit me to see you as my female +friend." Such a proposal shocked her at the moment; but a week's +reflection effected a change in her sentiments; and the business was +completed. _O tempora! O mores!_ + +But though many married individuals still continue to break their +chains, it appears that divorces are gradually decreasing in number; +and should the government succeed in introducing into the law on this +subject the necessary modifications, of course they will become far +less frequent. + +Every legislature must be aware to what a degree plays are capable of +influencing the opinions of a nation, and what a powerful spring they +are for moving the affections. Why then are not theatrical +representations here so regulated, that the stage may conduce to the +amelioration of morals? Instead of this, in most French comedies, the +husband is generally made the butt of ridicule, and the whole plot +often lies in his being outwitted by some conceited spark. Marriage, +in short, is incessantly railed at in such a lively, satirical manner +as to delight nine-tenths of the audience. + +This custom was also introduced on our stage under the reign of +Charles II; and, not many years ago, it was, I am told, as usual to +play _The London Cuckolds_ on Lord Mayor's day, as it is now to give +a representation of _George Barnwell_ during the Easter holidays. +Yet, what is this practice of exhibiting a cuckold in a ridiculous +point of view, but an apology for adultery, as if it was intended to +teach women that their charms are not formed for the possession of +one man only? Alas! it is but too true that some of the French belles +need no encouragement to infidelity: too soon all scruple is stifled +in their bosom; and then, they not only set modesty, but decency too +at defiance. _Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute_; or, as the same +idea is more fully expressed by our great moral poet: + + "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, + As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; + Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face, + We first endure, then pity, then embrace." + +However, in both the instances which I have adduced, the fault was +entirely on the side of the men; and, in general, I believe this will +prove to be the case. Recrimination, indeed, is loudly urged by our +sex in Paris; they blame the women, with a view of extenuating their +own irregularities, which scarcely know any limits. + +On a question of a divorce-bill brought on, not long since, in the +House of Commons, you may recollect that a member was laughed at, for +asserting that if men expected women to reform, they ought to begin +by reforming themselves. For my part, I conceive the idea to be +perfectly just. Infidelity on the woman's side is, unquestionably, +more hurtful to society than a failure of the same sort on the man's; +yet, is it reasonable to suppose women to be so exempt from human +frailty, as to preserve their chastity inviolate, when men set them +so bad an example? + + + +LETTER LXXXVIII. + +_Paris, April 3, 1802_. + +Circumstances have at length occurred to recall me to England, and as +this will, probably, be the last letter that you will receive from me +before I have the pleasure of taking you by the hand, I shall devote +it to miscellaneous subjects, and, without studying any particular +arrangement, speak of them at random, just as they chance to present +themselves. + +A fellow-creature, whose care-worn countenance and emaciated body +claimed a mite from any one who had a mite to bestow, had taken his +stand at the gate-way just now as I entered. The recollection of his +tale of woe being uppermost in my mind, I begin with + +MENDICANTS. + +In spite of the calamities which all great political convulsions +never fail to engender, the streets of Paris present not at this day +that vast crowd of beggars, covered with rags and vermin, by which +they were formerly infested. This is to be attributed to the partial +adoption of measures for employing the poor; and, doubtless, when +receptacles come to be established here, according to the salutary +plans introduced into Bavaria by Count Rumford, mendicity will be +gradually annihilated. + +But, if beggars have decreased in Paris, this is not the case with + +PAWNBROKERS. + +They seem to have multiplied in proportion to the increase of the +number of opportunities afforded for gambling in the lottery, that +is, in the ratio of 21 to 2.[1] + +Formerly, in addition to the public establishment called the _Mont de +Piété_, commissioners were appointed, in different parts of the town, +to take in pledges, and make advances on them previously to their +being lodged in that grand repository. There, money was lent on them +at an interest of 10 per cent; and if the article pledged was not +redeemed by a certain time, it was sold by public auction, and, the +principal and interest being deducted, the surplus was paid to the +holder of the duplicate. Thus the iniquitous projects of usury were +defeated; and the rich, as well as the poor, went to borrow at the +_Mont de Piété_. To obtain a sum for the discharge of a debt of +honour, a dutchess here deposited her diamond ear-rings; while a +washerwoman slipped off her petticoat, and pawned it to satisfy the +cravings of hunger. + +At the present moment, the _Mont de Piété_ still exists; but, +doubtless, on a different plan; for Paris abounds with _Maisons de +prêt_. On the eve of particular days in each month when the +shopkeepers' promissory notes become due, they here pledge articles +in order to procure the means of making good their payments. But the +crowd of borrowers is the greatest on the days immediately preceding +those on which the Paris lottery is drawn; the hucksters, +marketwomen, porters, retailers of fruit, and unfortunate females, +then deposit their wearing apparel at these dens of rapacity, that +they may acquire a share of a ticket, the price of which is fixed so +low as to be within the purchase of the poorest classes. + +The lottery being over, till the next drawing, those persons think no +more of their effects, provided they are within two or three of the +winning numbers; and thus they gamble away almost every thing +belonging to them, even to the very clothes on their back. This is so +true that it is not, I understand, at all uncommon in Paris, for a +Cyprian nymph to send her last robe to the nearest pawnbroker's, in +order to have the chance of a prize in the lottery, and to lie in bed +till she obtains the means of purchasing another. Nor is this by far +the worst part of the story. + +The too credulous followers of Fortune, on finding all their hopes of +success blasted, frequently seek a termination of their misery by +suicide: and a person of veracity, who made a point of visiting the +_Morne_ almost daily, assured me that he always knew when the lottery +had just been drawn, by the increased number of dead bodies, there +exposed, of persons who had put an end to their existence. + +These are facts shocking to relate; but, if legislators will promote +gaming, either by lotteries, or in any other manner, such are the +consequences to be expected. + +Another article which has multiplied prodigiously in Paris, since the +revolution, consists of + +NEWSPAPERS. + +In 1789, the only daily papers in circulation here were the _Journal +de Paris_ and the _Petites Affiches_; for the _Gazette de France_ +appeared only twice a week. From that period, these ephemeral +productions increased so rapidly, that, under the generic name of +_Journaux_, upwards of six thousand, bearing different titles, have +appeared in France, five hundred of which were published in Paris. + +At this time, here is a great variety of daily papers. The most +eminent of these are well known in England; such as the _Moniteur_, +the only official paper, the sale of which is said to be 20,000 per +day; that of the _Journal de Paris_, 16,000; of the _Publiciste_, +14,000; of the _Journal des Débats_, 12,000; of the _Journal des +Défenseurs de la Patrie_, 10,000; and of the _Clé du Cabinet_, 6,000. +The sale of the others is comparatively trifling, with the exception +of the _Petites Affiches_, of which the number daily sold exceeds +30,000. + +In addition to the _Journals_, which I mentioned in my letter of the +16th of December last, the most esteemed are the _Magazin +Encyclopédique_, edited by MILLIN, the _Annales de Chimie_, the +_Journal des Arts_, the _Journal Polytechnique_, the _Journal des +Mines_, the _Journal général des Inventions et des Découvertes_, &c. +I stop here, because it would be useless to attempt to send you a +complete list of all the French periodical publications, as, in the +flux and reflux of this literary ocean, such a list cannot long be +expected to preserve its exactness. + +Among the conveniences which this city affords in an enviable degree +and in great abundance, are + +BATHS. + +Those of Paris, of every description, still retain their former +pre-eminence. The most elegant are the _Bains Chinois_ on the north +Boulevards, where, for three francs, you may enjoy the pleasure of +bathing in almost as much luxury as an Asiatic monarch. Near the +_Temple_ and at the _Vauxhall d'Été_, also on the old Boulevards, are +baths, where you have the advantage of a garden to saunter in after +bathing. + +On the Seine are several floating baths, the most remarkable of which +are the _Bains Vigier_, at the foot of the _Pont National_. The +vessel containing them is upwards of 200 feet in length by about 60 +in breadth, and presents two tiers of baths, making, on both decks, +140 in number. It is divided in the middle by a large transparent +plate of glass, which permits the eye to embrace its whole extent; +one half of which is appropriated to men; the other, to women. On +each deck are galleries, nine feet wide, ornamented with much +architectural taste. On the exterior part of the vessel is a +promenade, decorated with evergreens, orange and rose trees, +jasmines, and other odoriferous plants. By means of a hydraulic +machine, worked by two horses, in an adjoining barge, the reservoirs +can be emptied and filled again in less than an hour. + +The _Bains Vigier_ are much frequented, as you may suppose from their +daily consumption of two cords of wood for fuel. Tepid baths, at +blood-heat, are, at present, universally used by the French ladies, +and, apparently, with no small advantage. The price of one of these +is no more than 30 _sous_, linen, &c. included. + +If you want to learn to swim, you may be instructed here in that +necessary art, or merely take a look at those acquiring it, at the + +SCHOOL OF NATATION. + +The Seine is the school where the lessons are given, and the police +takes care that the pupils infringe not the laws of decency. + + * * * * * + +It is certain that, as far back as the year 1684, means were proposed +in London to transmit signs to a great distance in a very short space +of time, and that, towards the close of the seventeenth century, a +member of the Academy of Sciences made, near Paris, several minute +experiments on the same subject. The paper read at the Royal Society +of London, and the detail of the experiments made in France, seem to +suggest nearly the same means as those now put in practice, by the +two nations, with respect to + +TELEGRAPHS. + +The construction of those in France differs from ours in consisting +of one principal pole, and two arms, moveable at the ends. There are +four in Paris; one, on the _Louvre_, which corresponds with Lille; +another, on the _Place de la Concorde_, with Brest; a third, on one +of the towers of the church of _St. Sulpice_, with Strasburg; and the +fourth, on the other tower of the said church, which is meant to +extend to Nice, but is as yet carried no farther than Dijon. To and +from Lille, which is 120 leagues distant from Paris, intelligence is +conveyed and received in six minutes, three for the question, and +three for the answer. + +Yet, however expeditious this intercourse may seem, it is certain +that the telegraphic language may be abridged, by preserving these +machines in their present state, but at the same time allotting to +each of the signs a greater portion of idea, without introducing any +thing vague into the signification. + +Independently of the public curiosities, which I have described, +Paris contains several + +PRIVATE COLLECTIONS. + +Among them, those most deserving of attention are: + +ADANSON'S cabinet of Natural History, _Rue de la Victoire_. + +CASAS' cabinet of Models and Drawings, _Rue de Seine, Faubourg St. +Germain_. + +CHARLES'S cabinet of Physics, _Palais National des Sciences et des +Arts._ + +DENON'S cabinet of Drawings, &c. _Hôtel de Bouillon_, _Rue J. J. +Rousseau_. + +FOUQUET'S cabinet of Models of Antique Monuments, _Rue de Lille_, _F. +S. G._ + +HAUPOIS' cabinet of Mechanics. + +SUË'S cabinet of Anatomy, _Rue du Luxembourg_. + +TERSAN'S cabinet of Antiquities, _Cloître St. Honoré_. + +VAILLANT'S cabinet of Birds, &c. _Rue du Sépulchre_, _F. S. G._ + +VAN-HORREN'S cabinet of Curiosities, _Rue St. Dominique_, _F. S. G._ + +I must observe that, to visit these men of science, without putting +them to inconvenience, it is expedient either to procure an +introduction, or to address them a note, requesting permission to +view their cabinet. This observation holds good with respect to every +thing that is not public. + +If you are fond of inspecting curious fire-arms, you should examine +the _dépôt d'armes_ of M. BOUTET in the _Rue de la Loi_, whose +manufactory is at Versailles, and also pay a visit to M. REGNIER, at +the _Dépôt Central de l'Artillerie_, _Rue de l'Université_, who is a +very ingenious mechanic, and will shew you several curious articles +of his own invention, such as a _dynamomètre_, by means of which you +can ascertain and compare the relative strength of men, as well as +that of horses and draught-cattle, and also judge of the resistance +of machines, and estimate the moving power you wish to apply to them; +a _potamomètre_, by which you can tell the force of running streams, +and measure the currents of rivers. M. REGNIER has also invented +different kinds of locks and padlocks, which cannot be picked; as +well as some curious pistols, &c. + +I have, as you will perceive, strictly confined myself to the limits +of the capital, because I expect that my absence from it will not be +long; and, in my next trip to France, I intend, not only to point out +such objects as I may now have neglected, but also to describe those +most worthy of notice in the environs of Paris. + +If I have not spoken to you of all the metamorphoses occasioned here +by the revolution, it is because several of them bear not the stamp +of novelty. If the exchange in Paris is now held in the _ci-devant +Eglise des Petits Pères_, did we not at Boston, in New England, +convert the meeting-houses and churches into riding-schools and +barracks? + +As the _Charnier des Innocens_, which had subsisted in the centre of +Paris for upwards of eight centuries, and received the remains of at +least ten millions of human beings, was, before the revolution, +turned into a market-place; so is the famous spot where the Jacobin +convent stood in the _Rue St. Honoré_, and whence issued laws more +bloody than those of Draco, now on the point of being appropriated to +a similar destination. The cemetery of St. Sulpice is transformed +into a Ranelagh. Over the entrance is written, in large letters, +encircled by roses, "BAL DES ZÉPHYRS," and, underneath, you read: + + _"Has ultra metas requiescunt + Beatam spem expectantes."_ + +And on the door itself: + + _"Expectances misericordiam Dei."_ + +I was just going to conclude with _Adieu, till we meet_, when I was +most agreeably surprised by the receipt of your letter. I am happy to +find that, through the kind attention of Mr. Mantell of Dover, whose +good offices on this and other simllar occasions claim my most +grateful acknowledgments, you have received all the packets and books +which I have addressed to you during my present visit to Paris. It is +likewise no small gratification to me to learn that my correspondence +has afforded to you a few subjects of deep reflection. + +As I told you at the time, the task which you imposed on me was more +than I could accomplish; and you must now be but too well convinced +that the apprehension of my inability was not unfounded. It may not, +perhaps, be difficult for a man of sound judgment to seize and +delineate the general progress of the human mind during a determined +period; but to follow successively, through all their details, the +ramifications of the arts and sciences, is a labour which requires +much more knowledge and experience than I can pretend to: nor did +self-love ever blind me so far as to lead me to presume, for a +moment, that success would crown my efforts. + +However, I think I have said enough to shew that one of the striking +effects of the revolution has been to make the arts and sciences +popular in France. It has rendered common those doctrines which had +till then been reserved for first-rate _savans_ and genuises. The +arsenals of the sciences (if I may use the expression) were filled; +but soldiers were wanting. The revolution has produced them in +considerable numbers; and, in spite of all the disasters and evils +which it has occasioned, it cannot be denied that the minds of +Frenchmen, susceptible of the least energy, have here received a +powerful impulse which has urged them towards great and useful ideas. +This impulse has been kept alive and continued by the grand +establishments of public instruction, founded during the course of +that memorable period. Thus, in a few words, you are at once in +possession both of the causes and the result of the progress of the +human mind in this country. + +You may, probably, be surprised that I could have written so much, in +so short a space of time, amid all the allurements of the French +capital, and the variety of pursuits which must necessarily have +diverted my attention. Perhaps too, you may think that I might have +dwelt less on some of my least interesting details. I must confess +that I have, in some measure, subjected myself to such an opinion; +but, knowing your wish to acquire every sort of information, I have +exerted myself to obtain it from all quarters. To collect this budget +has been no easy task; to compress it would have been still more +difficult, and, alas! to have transmitted it, in an epistolary form, +would have been totally out of my power, but for the assistance of +two very ingenious artists, who have not a little contributed to +lighten my labour. Introducing themselves to me, very shortly after +my arrival, the one furnished me with an everlasting pen; and the +other, with an inexhaustible inkstand. + +Farewell, my good friend. I have obtained a passport for England. My +baggage is already packed up. To-morrow I shall devote to the +ceremony of making visits _p. p. c._ that is, _pour prendre congé_ of +my Parisian friends; and, on the day after, (_Deo volente_) I shall +bid adieu to the "paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and the +hell of horses." + +[Footnote 1: Since the revolution, the Paris lottery is drawn three +times in each month, in lieu of twice; and lotteries have also been +established in the principal towns of the Republic, namely; Bordeaux, +Lyons, Marseilles, Rouen, Strasburg, and Brussels. The offices in the +capital present the facility of gambling in all these different +lotteries as often every month as in that of Paris.] + + + +THE END. + +_The new organisation of the National Institute, referred to in +Letter XLV of this volume, will be found among the prefaratory matter +in Vol. I, immediately preceding the Introduction._ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Paris As It Was and As It Is, by Francis W. 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Blagdon</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + font-family: "Bookman Old Style", Verdana, serif; } + pre { font-family: monospace; } + h1,h2,h3 { text-align: center; } + p.lawbody { margin-left: 3em; } + p.lawsect { margin-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + p.bq { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10% } + p.right { text-align: right; } + p.center { text-align: center; } + p.fnt { font-size: smaller; } + p.fnbq { font-size: smaller; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + ol.decimal { list-style-type: decimal; } + ol.upper-roman { list-style-type: upper-roman; } + --> + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Paris As It Was and As It Is, by Francis W. Blagdon + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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Blagdon + +Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8998] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARIS AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS *** + + + + +Produced by John Hagerson, Carlo Traverso, and Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + +<p>PARIS</p> +<p>AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS;</p> +<p>OR</p> +<p>A Sketch of the French Capital,</p> +<p>ILLUSTRATIVE OF</p> +<p>THE EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION,</p> +<p>WITH RESPECT TO</p> +<p>SCIENCES,<br /> +LITERATURE,<br /> +ARTS,<br /> +RELIGION,<br /> +EDUCATION,<br /> +MANNERS,<br /> +AND<br /> +AMUSEMENTS;</p> +<p>COMPRISING ALSO</p> +<p>A correct Account of the most remarkable National Establishments and Public +Buildings.</p> +<p>In a Series of Letters,</p> +<p>WRITTEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER,</p> +<p>DURING THE YEARS 1801-2,</p> +<p>TO A FRIEND IN LONDON.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p><i>Ipsâ varietate tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis, quædem fortasse omnibus +placeant. PLIN. Epist.</i></p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p /><p /><p>VOL. I</p> +<p>LONDON</p> +<p>1803</p> +<p /><p /><p /><h3>ADVERTISEMENT.</h3> +<p><i>In the course of the following production, the Reader will meet with +several references to a Plan of Paris, which it had been intended to prefix to +the work; but that intention having been frustrated by the rupture between the +two countries, in consequence of which the copies for the whole of the Edition +have been detained at Calais, it is hoped that this apology will be accepted +for the omission.</i></p> +<p /><p /><h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<p /><p /><h3>VOLUME FIRST.</h3> +<p><a href="#neworg">New Organization of the National Institute</a></p> +<p><a href="#intro">INTRODUCTION</a></p> +<p><a href="#let01">LETTER I.</a><br /> +On the ratification of the preliminary treaty of peace, the author leaves +London for Paris—He arrives at Calais on the 16th of October, +1801—Apparent effect of the peace—After having obtained a passport, +he proceeds to Paris, in company with a French naval officer.</p> +<p><a href="#let02">LETTER II.</a><br /> +Journey from Calais to Paris—Improved state of agriculture—None of +the French gun-boats off Boulogne moored with chains at the time of the +attack—St. Denis—General sweep made, in 1793, among the sepultures +in that abbey—Arrival at Paris—Turnpikes now established throughout +Prance—Custom-house scrutiny.</p> +<p><a href="#let03">LETTER III.</a><br /> +Objects which first strike the observer on arriving at Paris after an absence +of ten or twelve years—Tumult in the streets considerably diminished +since the revolution—No liveries seen—Streets less dangerous than +formerly to pedestrians—Visits paid to different persons by the +author—Price of lodgings nearly doubled since 1789—The author takes +apartments in a private house.</p> +<p><a href="#let04">LETTER IV.</a><br /> +Climate of Paris—<i>Thermolampes</i> or stoves which afford light and +heat on an economical plan—Sword whose hilt was adorned with the +<i>Pitt</i> diamond, and others of considerable value, presented to the Chief +Consul.</p> +<p><a href="#let05">LETTER V.</a><br /> +Plan on which these letters are written.</p> +<p><a href="#let06">LETTER VI.</a><br /> +The <i>Louvre</i> or <i>National Palace of Arts and Sciences</i> +described—<i>Old Louvre</i>—Horrors of St. Bartholomew's +day—From this palace Charles IX fired on his own subjects—Additions +successively made to it by different kings—<i>Bernini</i>, sent for by +Lewis XIV, forwarded the foundation of the <i>New Louvre</i>, and returned to +Italy—<i>Perrault</i> produced the beautiful colonnade of the +<i>Louvre</i>, the master-piece of French architecture—Anecdote of the +Queen of England, relict of Charles I—Public exhibition of the +productions of French Industry.</p> +<p><a href="#let07">LETTER VII.</a><br /> +<i>Central Museum of the Arts</i>—<i>Gallery of +Antiques</i>—Description of the different halls and of the most +remarkable statues contained in them, with original observations by the learned +connoisseur, <i>Visconti</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let08">LETTER VIII.</a><br /> +Description of the <i>Gallery of Antiques</i>, and of its +<i>chefs-d'œuvre</i> of sculpture continued and +terminated—Noble example set by the French in throwing open their +museums and national establishments to public inspection—Liberal +indulgence shewn to foreigners.</p> +<p><a href="#let09">LETTER IX.</a><br /> +General A----y's breakfast—Montmartre—Prospect thence +enjoyed—Theatres.</p> +<p><a href="#let10">LETTER X.</a><br /> +Regulations of the Police to be observed by a stranger on his arrival in the +French capital—Pieces represented at the <i>Théâtre +Louvois</i>—<i>Palais du gouvernement</i> or Palace of the Tuileries +described—It was constructed, by Catherine de Medicis, enlarged by Henry +IV and Lewis XIII, and finished By Lewis XIV—The tenth of August, 1792, +as pourtrayed by an actor in that memorable scene—Number of lives lost on +the occasion—Sale of the furniture, the king's wardrobe, and other +effects found in the palace—<i>Place du Carrousel</i>—Famous horses +of gilt bronze brought from Venice and placed here—The fate of France +suspended by a thread—Fall of <i>Robespiere</i> and his adherents.</p> +<p><a href="#let11">LETTER XI.</a><br /> +Massacre of the prisoners at Paris in September, 1792—Private +ball—The French much improved in dancing—The waltz +described—Dress of the women.</p> +<p><a href="#let12">LETTER XII.</a><br /> +<i>Bonaparte</i>—Grand monthly parade—Agility of the First Consul +in mounting his charger—Consular guards, a remarkably fine body of +men—Horses of the French cavalry, sorry in appearance, but capable of +enduring fatigue and privations.</p> +<p><a href="#let13">LETTER XIII.</a><br /> +<i>Jardin des Tuileries</i>—This garden now kept in better order than +under the monarchy—The newly-built house of <i>Véry</i>, the +<i>restaurateur</i>—This quarter calls to mind the most remarkable events +in the history of the revolution—<i>Place de la Concorde</i>—Its +name is a strong contrast to the great number of victims here +sacrificed—Execution of the King and Queen, <i>Philippe Égalité</i>, +<i>Charlotte Corday</i>, Madame <i>Roland</i>, <i>Robespiere</i>, <i>cum multus +aliis</i>—Unexampled dispatch introduced in putting persons to death by +means of the guillotine—<i>Guillotin</i>, the inventor or improver of +this instrument, dies of grief—Little impression left on the mind of the +spectators of these sanguinary scenes—Lord <i>Cornwallis</i> arrives in +Paris.</p> +<p><a href="#let14">LETTER XIV.</a><br /> +National fête, in honour of peace, celebrated in Paris on the 18th of Brumaire, +year X (9th of November, 1801)—<i>Garnerin</i> and his wife ascend in a +balloon—Brilliancy of the illuminations—Laughable accident.</p> +<p><a href="#let15">LETTER XV.</a><br /> +Description of the fête continued—Apparent apathy of the +people—Songs composed in commemoration of this joyful +event—Imitation of one of them.</p> +<p><a href="#let16">LETTER XVI.</a><br /> +<i>Gallery of the Louvre</i>—<i>Saloon of the Louvre</i>—Italian +School—The most remarkable pictures in the collection mentioned, with +original remarks on the masters by <i>Visconti</i>—Lord +<i>Cornwallis's</i> reception in Paris.</p> +<p><a href="#let17">LETTER XVII.</a><br /> +<i>Gallery of the Louvre</i> in continuation—French School—Flemish +School—The pictures in the <i>Saloon</i> are seen to much greater +advantage than those in the <i>Gallery</i>—<i>Gallery of +Apollo</i>—These superb repositories of the finest works of art are +indiscriminately open to the public.</p> +<p><a href="#let18">LETTER XVIII.</a><br /> +<i>Palais Royal</i>, now called <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>—Its +construction begun, in 1629, by Cardinal <i>Richelieu</i>, who makes a present +of it to <i>Lewis</i> XIII—It becomes the property of the Orleans +family—Anecdote of the Regent—Considerable alterations made in this +palace—<i>Jardin du Palais du Tribunat</i>—This garden is +surrounded by a range of handsome buildings, erected in 1782 by the duke of +Orleans, then duke of Chartres—The <i>Cirque</i> burnt down in +1797—Contrast between the company seen here in 1789 and in 1801—The +<i>Palais Royal</i>, the theatre of political commotions—Mutual enmity of +the queen and the duke of Orleans, which, in the sequel, brought these great +personages to the scaffold—Their improper example imitated by the +nobility of both sexes—The projects of each defeated—The duke's +pusillanimity was a bar to his ambition—He exhausted his immense fortune +to gain partisans, and secure the attachment of the people—His +imprisonment, trial, and death.</p> +<p><a href="#let19">LETTER XIX.</a><br /> +The <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, an epitome of all the trades in +Paris—Prohibited publications—Mock auctions—<i>Magazins de +confiance à prix fixe</i>—Two speculations, of a somewhat curious nature, +established there with success—<i>The Palais Royal</i>, a vortex of +dissipation—Scheme of <i>Merlin</i> of Douay for cleansing this Augæan +stable.</p> +<p><a href="#let20">LETTER XX.</a><br /> +<i>Thé</i>, a sort of route—Contrast in the mode of life of the Parisians +before and since the revolution—<i>Petits soupers</i> described—An +Englishman improves on all the French <i>bons vivans</i> under the old +<i>régime</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let21">LETTER XXI.</a><br /> +Public places of various descriptions—Their title and +number—Contrast between the interior police now established in the +theatres in Paris, and that which existed before the revolution—Admirable +regulations at present adopted for the preservation of order at the door of the +theatres—Comparatively small number of carriages now seen in waiting at +the grand French opera.</p> +<p><a href="#let22">LETTER XXII.</a><br /> +<i>Palais du Corps Législatif</i>—Description of the hall of the sittings +of that body—Opening of the session—Speech of the +President—Lord <i>Cornwallis</i> and suite present at this +sitting—<i>Petits appartemens</i> of the <i>ci-devant Palais Bourbon</i> +described.</p> +<p><a href="#let23">LETTER XXIII.</a><br /> +<i>Halle au Blé</i>—Lightness of the roof of the dome—Annual +consumption of bread-corn in <i>Paris</i>—Astrologers—In former +times, their number in <i>Paris</i> exceeded +<i>30,000</i>—Fortune-tellers of the present day—Church of <i>St. +Eustache</i>—<i>Tourville</i>, the brave opponent of Admiral +<i>Russel</i>, had no epitaph—Festivals of reason described.</p> +<p><a href="#let24">LETTER XXIV.</a><br /> +<i>Museum of French Monuments</i>—Steps taken by the Constituent Assembly +to arrest the progress of Vandalism—Many master-pieces of painting, +sculpture, and architecture, destroyed in various parts of +France—<i>Grégoire</i>, ex-bishop of Blois, publishes three reports, to +expose the madness of irreligious barbarism, which claim particular +distinction.—They saved from destruction many articles of value in the +provinces—Antique monuments found in 1711, in digging among the +foundation of the ancient church of Paris—Indefatigable exertions of +<i>Lenoir</i>, the conservator of this museum—The halls of this museum +fitted up according to the precise character peculiar to each century, and the +monuments arranged in them in historical and chronological order—Tombs of +<i>Clovis</i>, <i>Childebert</i>, and <i>Chilperic</i>—Statues of +<i>Charlemagne</i>, <i>Lewis IX</i>, and of <i>Charles</i>, his brother, +together with those of the kings that successively appeared in this age down to +king <i>John</i>—Tombs of <i>Charles V</i>, <i>Du Gueselin</i>, and +<i>Sancerre</i>—Mausolea of <i>Louis d'Orléans</i> and of <i>Valentine de +Milan</i>—Statues of <i>Charles VI</i>, <i>Rénée d'Orléans</i>, +<i>Philippe de Commines</i>, <i>Lewis XI</i>, <i>Charles VII</i>, <i>Joan</i> +of <i>Arc</i>, <i>Isabeau de Bavière</i>—Tomb of <i>Lewis +XII</i>—Tragical death of <i>Charles</i> the <i>Bad</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let25">LETTER XXV.</a><br /> +<i>Museum of French Monuments</i> continued—Tombs of <i>Francis I</i>, of +the <i>Valois</i>, and of <i>Diane de Poitiers</i>—Character of that +celebrated woman—Statues of <i>Turenne</i>, <i>Condé</i>, <i>Colbert</i>, +<i>La Fontaine</i>, <i>Racine</i>, and <i>Lewis XIV</i>—Mausolea of +Cardinals <i>Richelieu</i> and <i>Mazarin</i>—Statues of +<i>Montesquieu</i>, <i>Fontenelle</i>, <i>Voltaire</i>, <i>Rousseau</i>, +<i>Helvetius</i>, <i>Crébillon</i>, and <i>Piron</i>—Tombs of +<i>Maupertuis</i>, <i>Caylus</i>, and Marshal <i>d'Harcourt</i>—This +museum contains a chronology of monuments, both antique and modern, from 2500 +years before our era down to the present time, beginning with those of ancient +Greece, and following all the gradations of the art from its cradle to its +decrepitude—Sepulchre of <i>Héloïse</i> and <i>Abélard</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let26">LETTER XXVI.</a><br /> +Dinner at General <i>A----y's</i>—Difference in the duration of such a +repast now and before the revolution—The General's ancestor, <i>François +A----y</i>, planned and completed the famous canal of Languedoc—<i>Dépôt +de la guerre</i>—Such an establishment much wanted in England—Its +acknowledged utility has induced Austria, Spain, and Portugal, to form others +of a similar nature—Geographical and topographical riches of this +<i>dépôt</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let27">LETTER XXVII.</a><br /> +<i>Boulevards</i>—Their extent—Amusements they +present—<i>Porte St. Denis</i>—Anecdote of Charles +VI—<i>Porte St. Martin</i>—<i>La Magdeleine</i>—Ambulating +conjurers—Means they employ to captivate curiosity.</p> +<p><a href="#let28">LETTER XXVIII.</a><br /> +French funds and national debt—Supposed liquidation of an annuity held by +a foreigner before the war, and yet unliquidated—Value of a franc.</p> +<p><a href="#let29">LETTER XXIX.</a><br /> +Grand monthly parade—Etiquette observed on this occasion, in the +apartments of the palace of the +<i>Tuileries</i>—<i>Bonaparte</i>—His person—His public +character in Paris—Obstruction which the First Consul met with in +returning from the parade—<i>Champs Elysées</i>—Sports and +diversions there practised—Horses, brought from Marly to this spot, the +master-pieces of the two celebrated sculptors, <i>Costou</i>—Comparison +they afford to politicians.</p> +<p><a href="#let30">LETTER XXX.</a><br /> +<i>Madonna de Foligno</i>—Description of the method employed by the +French artists to transfer from pannel to canvass this celebrated master-piece +of <i>Raphael</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let31">LETTER XXXI.</a><br /> +<i>Pont Neuf</i>—Henry IV—His popularity—Historical fact +concerning the cause of his assassination brought to light—The Seine +swollen by the rains—It presents a dull scene in comparison to the +Thames—Great number of washerwomen—<i>La +Samaritaine</i>—Shoe-blacks on the <i>Pont Neuf</i>—Their trade +decreased—Recruiting Officers—The allurements they formerly +employed are now become unnecessary in consequence of the +conscription—Anecdote of a British officer on whom a French recruiter had +cast his eye—Disappointment that ensued.</p> +<p><a href="#let32">LETTER XXXII.</a><br /> +Balls now very numerous every evening in Paris—<i>Bal du Salon des +Étrangers</i>—Description of the women—Comparison between the +French and English ladies—Character of Madame +<i>Tallien</i>—Generosity, fortitude, and greatness of soul displayed by +women during the most calamitous periods of the revolution—Anecdote of a +young Frenchman smitten by a widow—An attachment, founded on somewhat +similar circumstances, recorded by historians of Henry III of +France—Sympathy, and its effects.</p> +<p><a href="#let33">LETTER XXXIII.</a><br /> +<i>Pont National</i>, formerly called the <i>Pont Royal</i>—Anecdote of +Henry IV and a waterman—<i>Coup d'œil</i> from this +bridge—Quays of Paris—Galiot of St. Cloud—<i>Pont de la +Concorde</i>—Paris besieged by the Swedes, Danes, and Normans, in +885—The Seine covered with their vessels for the space of two +leagues—A vessel ascends the Seine from Rouen to Paris in four +days—Engineers have ever judged it practicable to render the Seine +navigable, from its mouth to the capital, for vessels of a certain +burden—Riches accruing from commerce pave the way to the ruin of States, +as well as the extension of their conquests.</p> +<p><a href="#let34">LETTER XXXIV.</a><br /> +French literature—Effects produced on it by the revolution—The +sciences preferred to literature, and for what reason—The French +government has flattered the literati and artists; but the solid distinctions +have been reserved for men of science—Epic +Poetry—Tragedy—Comedy—Novels—Moral Fable—Madrigal +and Epigram—Romance—Lyric Poetry—Song—Journals.</p> +<p><a href="#let35">LETTER XXXV.</a><br /> +<i>Pont au Change</i>—<i>Palais de Justice</i>—Once a royal +residence—Banquet given there, in 1313, by Philip the Fair, at which were +present Edward II and his queen Isabella—Alterations which this palace +has undergone, in consequence of having, at different times, been partly +reduced to ashes—Madame <i>La Motte</i> publicly whipped—In 1738, +<i>Lewis XVI</i> here held a famous bed of justice, in which +<i>D'Espresmenil</i> struck the first blow at royalty—He was exiled to +the <i>Ile de St. Marguerite</i>—After having stirred up all the +parliaments against the royal authority, he again became the humble servant of +the crown—After the revolution, the <i>Palais de Justice</i> was the seat +of the Revolutionary Tribunal—<i>Dumas</i>, its president, proposed to +assemble there five or six hundred victims at a time—He was the next day +condemned to death by the same tribunal—The <i>Palais de Justice</i>, now +the seat of different tribunals—The <i>grande chambre</i> newly +embellished in the antique style—<i>La Conciergerie</i>, the place of +confinement of <i>Lavoisier</i>, <i>Malsherbes</i>, <i>Cordorcet</i>, +<i>&c.</i>—Fortitude displayed by the hapless <i>Marie-Antoinette</i> +after her condemnation—<i>Pont St. Michel</i>—<i>Pont +Notre-Dame</i>—Cathedral of <i>Notre-Dame</i>—Anecdote of +<i>Pepin</i> the Short—Devastations committed in this +cathedral—Medallions of <i>Abélard</i> and <i>Héloïse</i> to be seen near +<i>Notre-Dame</i> in front of the house where <i>Fulbert</i>, her supposed +uncle, resided—<i>Petit Pont</i>—<i>Pont au +Double</i>—<i>Pont Marie</i>—Workmen now employed in the +construction of three new bridges—<i>Pont de la Tournelle</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let36">LETTER XXXVI.</a><br /> +Paris a charming abode for a man of fortune—Summary of its +advantages—<i>Idalium</i>—<i>Tivoli</i>—<i>Frascati</i> +—<i>Paphos</i>—<i>La Phantasmagorie</i> of +<i>Robertson</i>—<i>Fitzjames</i>, the famous ventriloquist—Method +of converting a galantee-show into an exhibition somewhat similar to that of +the phantasmagorists.</p> +<p><a href="#let37">LETTER XXXVII.</a><br /> +Paris the most melancholy abode in the world for a man without +money—<i>Restaurateurs</i>—In 1765, <i>Boulanger</i> first +conceived the idea of <i>restoring</i> the exhausted animal functions of the +delibitated Parisians—He found many imitators—The +<i>restaurateurs</i>, in order to make their business answer, constitute +themselves <i>traiteurs</i>—<i>La Barrière</i>—<i>Beauvilliers</i>, +<i>Robert</i>, <i>Naudet</i>, and <i>Véry</i> dispute the palm in the art of +Appicius—Description of <i>Beauvilliers'</i> establishment—His bill +of fare—Expense of dining at a fashionable <i>restaurateur's</i> in +Paris—Contrast between establishments of this kind existing before the +revolution, and those in vogue at the present day—Cheap +eating-houses—The company now met with at the fashionable rendezvous +of good cheer compared with that seen here in former times—<i>Cabinets +particuliers</i>—Uses to which they are applied—Advantages of a +<i>restaurateur's</i>—<i>Beauvilliers</i> pays great attention to his +guests—Cleanly and alert waiters—This establishment is admirably +well managed.</p> +<p /><p /><h3>VOLUME SECOND.</h3> +<p><a href="#let38">LETTER XXXVIII.</a><br /> +National Institution of the Deaf and Dumb—France indebted to the +philanthropic <i>Abbé de l'Épée</i> for the discovery of the mode of +instructing them—It has been greatly improved by <i>Sicard</i>, the +present Institutor—Explanation of his system of instruction—The +deaf and dumb are taught grammar, metaphysics, logic, religion, the use of the +globes, geography, arithmetic, history, natural history, arts and +trades—Almost every thing used by them is made by +themselves—Lessons of analysis which astonish the spectators.</p> +<p><a href="#let39">LETTER XXXIX.</a><br /> +Public women—Charlemagne endeavours to banish them from Paris—His +daughters, though addicted to illicit enjoyments, die universally +regretted—<i>Les Filles Dieu</i>—<i>Les Filles pénitentes ou +repenties</i>—Courtesans—Luxury displayed in their equipages and +houses—Kept women—Opera-dancers—Secret police maintained by +Lewis XVI, in 1792—Grisettes—Demireps—A French woman, at +thirty, makes an excellent friend—<i>Rousseau's</i> opinion of this +particular class of women in Paris.</p> +<p><a href="#let40">LETTER XL.</a><br /> +National Institution of the Industrious Blind—Circumstance which gave +rise to this establishment—<i>Valentin Haüy</i>, its founder, found his +project seconded by the Philanthropic Society—His plan of instruction +detailed—Museum of the Blind—After two or three lessons, a blind +child here teaches himself to read without the further help of any master.</p> +<p><a href="#let41">LETTER XLI.</a><br /> +<i>Théâtre des Arts et de la République</i>, or Grand French opera—Old +opera-house burnt down, and a new one built and opened in 72 +days—Description of the present house—Operas of <i>Gluck</i>; also +those of <i>Piccini</i> and <i>Sacchini</i>—Gluckists and +Piccinists—The singing is the weakest department at the French +opera—Merits of the singers of both sexes—Choruses very +full—Orchestra famous—The Chief Consul, being very partial to +Italian music, sends to that land of harmony to procure the finest musical +compositions.</p> +<p><a href="#let42">LETTER XLII.</a><br /> +Dancing improved in France—Effect of some of the +ballets—<i>Noverre</i> and <i>Gardel</i> first introduce them on the +French stage—Rapid change of scenery—Merits of the dancers of both +sexes—The rector of St. Roch refuses to admit into that church the corpse +of Mademoiselle <i>Chameroi</i>—The dancers in private society now +emulate those who make dancing their profession—Receipts of the +opera.</p> +<p><a href="#let43">LETTER XLIII.</a><br /> +New year's day still celebrated in Paris on the 1st of January—Customs +which prevail there on that occasion—<i>Denon's</i> account of the French +expedition to Egypt—That country was the cradle of the arts and +sciences—<i>Fourrier</i> confirms the theory of <i>Dupuis</i>, respecting +the origin, &c. of the figures of the Zodiac.</p> +<p><a href="#let44">LETTER XLIV.</a><br /> +<i>Hôtel des Invalides</i>—It was projected by Henry IV and erected by +Lewis XIV—Temple of Mars—To its arches are suspended the standards +and colours taken from the enemy—Two British flags only are among the +number—Monument of <i>Turenne</i>—Circumstances of his +death—Dome of the <i>Invalides</i>—Its refectories and +kitchens—Anecdote of Peter the Great—Reflections on establishments +of this description—<i>Champ de Mars</i>—<i>École +Militaire</i>—Various scenes of which the <i>Champ de Mars</i> has been +the theatre—Death of <i>Bailly</i>—Modern national fêtes in France, +a humble imitation of the Olympic games.</p> +<p><a href="#let45">LETTER XLV.</a><br /> +Object of the different learned and scientific institutions, which, before the +revolution, held their sittings in the <i>Louvre</i>—Anecdote of Cardinal +Richelieu—National Institute of Arts and Sciences—Organization of +that learned body—Description of the apartments of the +Institute—Account of its public quarterly meeting of the 15th Nivose, +year X, (5th of January, 1802)—Marriage of Mademoiselle +<i>Beauharnois</i> to <i>Louis Bonaparte</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let46">LETTER XLVI.</a><br /> +<i>Opéra Buffa</i>—The Italian comedians who came to Paris in 1788, had a +rapid influence on the musical taste of the French public—Performers of +the new Italian company—Productions of <i>Cimarosa</i>, <i>Paësiello</i>, +&c.—Madame <i>Bolla</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let47">LETTER XLVII.</a><br /> +Present state of public worship—Summary of the proceedings of the +constitutional clergy—National councils of the Gallican church held at +Paris—Conduct of the Pope, <i>Pius VII</i>—The Cardinal Legate, +<i>Caprara</i>, arrives in Paris—The Concordat is signed—Subsequent +transactions.</p> +<p><a href="#let48">LETTER XLVIII.</a><br /> +<i>Pantheon</i>—Description of this edifice—<i>Marat</i> and +<i>Mirabeau</i> pantheonized and dispantheonized—The remains of +<i>Voltaire</i> and <i>Rousseau</i> removed hither—The Pantheon in danger +of falling—This apprehension no longer exists—<i>Bonaparte</i> +leaves Paris for Lyons.</p> +<p><a href="#let49">LETTER XLIX.</a><br /> +Scientific societies of Paris—<i>Société +Philotechnique</i>—<i>Société Libre des Sciences, Lettres, et +Arts</i>—<i>Athénée des Arts</i>—<i>Société +Philomatique</i>—<i>Société Académique des Sciences</i>—<i>Société +Galvanique</i>—<i>Société des Belles-Lettres</i>—<i>Académie de +Législation</i>—<i>Observateurs de l'Homme</i>—<i>Athénée de +Paris</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let50">LETTER L.</a><br /> +Coffee-houses—Character of the company who frequent them—Contrast +between the coffee-houses of the present and former times—Coffee first +introduced at Paris, in 1669, by the Turkish ambassador—<i>Café +méchanique</i>— Subterraneous coffee-houses of the <i>Palais du +Tribunat</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let51">LETTER LI.</a><br /> +Public instruction—The ancient colleges and universities are replaced by +Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Lyceums, and Special Schools—National +pupils—Annual cost of these establishments—Contrast between the old +system of education and the new plan, recently organized.</p> +<p><a href="#let52">LETTER LII.</a><br /> +Milliners—<i>Montesquieu's</i> observation on the commands of the fair +sex—Millinery a very extensive branch of trade in Paris—<i>Bal de +l'Opéra</i>—Dress of the men and women—Adventures are the chief +object of those who frequent these masquerades.</p> +<p><a href="#let53">LETTER LIII.</a><br /> +<i>Théâtre Français de la République</i>—The house described—List +of the stock-pieces—Names of their authors—<i>Fabre +d'Eglantine</i>—His <i>Philinte de Molière</i> a +<i>chef-d'œuvre</i>—Some account of its author—<i>La +Chaussée</i> the father of the <i>drame</i>, a tragi-comic species of dramatic +composition.</p> +<p><a href="#let54">LETTER LIV.</a><br /> +Principal performers in tragedy at the <i>Théâtre +Français</i>—<i>Vanhove</i>, <i>Monvel</i>, <i>St. Prix</i>, and +<i>Naudet</i>—<i>Talma</i>, and <i>Lafond</i>—<i>St. Fal</i>, +<i>Damas</i>, and <i>Dupont</i>—Mesdames <i>Raucourt</i> and +<i>Vestris</i>—Mesdames <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Talma</i>, <i>Bourgoin</i>, and +<i>Volnais</i>—Mesdames <i>Suin</i> and <i>Thénard</i>—<i>Début</i> +of Mademoiselle <i>Duchesnois</i>; Madame <i>Xavier</i>, and Mademoiselle +<i>Georges</i>—Disorderly conduct of the <i>Duchesnistes</i>, who are +routed by the <i>Georgistes</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let55">LETTER LV.</a><br /> +Principal performers in comedy at the <i>Théâtre +Français</i>—<i>Vanhove</i>, and <i>Naudet</i>—<i>Molé</i>, +<i>Fleury</i>, and <i>Baptiste</i> the elder—<i>St. Fal</i>, +<i>Dupont</i>, <i>Damas</i>, and <i>Armand</i>—<i>Grandménil</i>, and +<i>Caumont</i>—<i>Dugazon</i>, <i>Dazincourt</i>, and +<i>Larochelle</i>—Mesdemoiselles <i>Contat</i>, and +<i>Mézeray</i>—Madame <i>Talma</i>—Mesdemoiselles <i>Mars, +Bourgoin</i>, and <i>Gros</i>—Mesdemoiselles <i>Lachassaigne</i> and +<i>Thénard</i>—Mesdemoiselles <i>Devienne</i> and +<i>Desbrosses</i>—Contrast between the state of the French stage before +and since the revolution.</p> +<p><a href="#let56">LETTER LVI.</a><br /> +French women fond of appearing in male attire—Costume of the French +Ladies—Contrast it now presents to that formerly worn—The change in +their dress has tended to strengthen their constitution—The women in +Paris extremely cleanly in their persons—Are now very healthy.</p> +<p><a href="#let57">LETTER LVII.</a><br /> +The studies in the colleges and universities interrupted by bands of +insurgents—<i>Collège de France</i>—It is in this country the only +establishment where every branch of human knowledge is taught in its fullest +extent—Was founded by Francis I—Disputes between this new College +and the University—Its increasing progress—The improvements in the +sciences spread by the instruction of this College—Its present state.</p> +<p><a href="#let58">LETTER LVIII.</a><br /> +<i>Théâtre de l'Opéra Comique</i>—Authors who have furnished it with +stock-pieces, and composers who have set them to music—Principal +performers at this theatre—<i>Elleviou</i>, <i>Gavaudan</i>, +<i>Philippe</i>, and <i>Gaveaux</i>—<i>Chenard</i>, <i>Martin</i>, +<i>Rézicourt</i>, <i>Juliet</i>, and <i>Moreau</i>—<i>Solié</i>, and +<i>St. Aubin</i>—<i>Dozainville</i>, and <i>Lesage</i>—Mesdames +<i>St. Aubin</i>, <i>Scio</i>, <i>Lesage</i>, <i>Crétu</i>, <i>Philis</i> the +elder, <i>Gavaudan</i>, and <i>Pingenet</i>—Mesdames <i>Dugazon</i>, +<i>Philippe</i>, and <i>Gonthier</i>.</p> +<p><a href="#let59">LETTER LIX.</a><br /> +France owes her salvation to the <i>savans</i> or men of +science—Polytechnic School—Its object—Its formation and +subsequent progress—Changes recently introduced into this interesting +establishment.</p> +<p><a href="#let60">LETTER LX.</a><br /> +Pickpockets and sharpers—Anecdote of a female swindler—Anecdote of +a sharper—Housebreakers—<i>Chauffeurs</i>—A new species of +assassins—<i>Place de Grève</i>—Punishment for thieves +re-established—On the continent, ladies flock to the execution of +criminals.</p> +<p><a href="#let61">LETTER LXI.</a><br /> +Schools for Public Services—The Polytechnic School, the grand nursery +whence the pupils are transplanted into the Schools of Artillery, Military +Engineers, Bridges and Highways, Mines, Naval Engineers, and +Navigation—Account of these schools—<i>Prytanée +Français</i>—Special Schools—Special School of Painting and +Sculpture—Competitions—National School of +Architecture—Conservatory of Music—Present state of Music in +France—Music has done wonders in reviving the courage of the French +soldiers—The French are no less indebted to <i>Rouget de Lille</i>, +author of the <i>Marseillois</i>, than the Spartans were to +<i>Tyrtæus</i>—Gratuitous School for Drawing—Veterinary +School—New Special Schools to Le established in France.</p> +<p><a href="#let62">LETTER LXII.</a><br /> +Funerals—No medium in them under the old <i>régime</i>—Ceremonies +formerly observed—Those practised at the present +day—Marriages—Contrast they present.</p> +<p><a href="#let63">LETTER LXIII.</a><br /> +Public Libraries—<i>Bibliothèque Nationale</i>—Its acquisitions +since the revolution—School for Oriental Living Languages.</p> +<p><a href="#let64">LETTER LXIV.</a><br /> +<i>Bibliothèque Mazarine</i>—<i>Bibliothèque du +Panthéon</i>—<i>Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal</i>—The +Arsenal—Other libraries and literary <i>dépôts</i> in Paris.</p> +<p><a href="#let65">LETTER LXV.</a><br /> +Dancing—Nomenclature of caperers in Paris, from the wealthiest classes +down to the poorest—Beggars form the last link of the chain.</p> +<p><a href="#let66">LETTER LXVI.</a><br /> +<i>Bureau des Longitudes</i>—Is on a more extensive scale than the Board +of Longitude in England—National Observatory—Subterraneous quarries +that have furnished the stone with which most of the houses in Paris are +constructed—Measures taken to prevent the buildings in Paris from being +swallowed up in these extensive labyrinths—Present state of the +Observatory—<i>Lalande</i>, <i>Méchain</i>, and +<i>Bouvard</i>—<i>Carroché</i>, and <i>Lenoir</i>—<i>Lavoisier</i>, +and <i>Borda</i>—<i>Delambre</i>, <i>Laplace</i>, <i>Burckhardt</i>, +<i>Vidal</i>, <i>Biot</i>, and <i>Puisson</i>—New French weights and +measures—Concise account of the operations employed in measuring an arc +of the terrestrial meridian—Table of the new French measures and +weights—Their correspondence with the old, and also with those of +England.</p> +<p><a href="#let67">LETTER LXVII.</a><br /> +<i>Dépôt de la Marine</i>—An establishment much wanted in England.</p> +<p><a href="#let68">LETTER LXVIII.</a><br /> +<i>Théâtre Louvois</i>—<i>Picard</i>, the manager of this theatre, is the +<i>Molière</i> of his company—<i>La Grande Ville, ou les Provinciaux à +Paris</i>—Principal performers at this theatre—<i>Picard</i>, +<i>Devigny</i>, <i>Dorsan</i>, and <i>Clozel</i>—Mesdemoiselles +<i>Adeline</i>, <i>Molière</i>, <i>Lescot</i>, and Madame +<i>Molé</i>—<i>Théâtre du Vaudeville</i>—Authors who write for this +theatre—Principal performers—Public malignity, the main support of +this theatre.</p> +<p><a href="#let69">LETTER LXIX.</a><br /> +<i>Hôtel de la Monnaie</i>—Description of this building—<i>Musée +des Mines</i>—Formed by M. <i>Sage</i>—The arrangement of this +cabinet is excellent—<i>Cabinet du Conseil des Mines</i>—Principal +mineral substances discovered in France since the revolution.</p> +<p><a href="#let70">LETTER LXX.</a><br /> +<i>Théâtre Montansier</i>—Principal performers—<i>Ambigu +Comique</i>—The curiosity of a stranger may be satisfied in a single +visit to each of the minor theatres in Paris.</p> +<p><a href="#let71">LETTER LXXI.</a><br /> +Police of Paris—Historical sketch of it—Its perfections and +imperfections—Anecdote of a minister of +police—<i>Mouchards</i>—Anecdote which shews the detestation in +which they are held—The Parisian police extends to foreign +countries—This truth exemplified by two remarkable facts—No +<i>habeas corpus</i> in France.</p> +<p><a href="#let72">LETTER LXXII.</a><br /> +The <i>savans</i> saved France, when their country was +invaded—Astonishing exertions made by the French on that +occasion—Anecdote relating to <i>Robespierre</i>—Extraordinary +resources created by the men of science—Means employed for increasing the +manufacture of powder, cannon, and muskets—The produce of these new +manufactories contrasted with that of the old ones—Territorial +acquisitions of the French—The Carnival revived in Paris.</p> +<p><a href="#let73">LETTER LXXIII.</a><br /> +Public gaming-houses—<i>Académies de jeu</i>, which existed in Paris +before the revolution—Gaming-houses licensed by the police—The +privilege of granting those licences is farmed by a private +individual—Description of the <i>Maisons de jeu</i>—Anecdote of an +old professed gambler—Gaming prevails in all the principal towns of +France—The excuse of the old government for promoting gaming, is +reproduced at the present day.</p> +<p><a href="#let74">LETTER LXXIV.</a><br /> +Museum of Natural History, or <i>Jardin des Plantes</i>—Is much enlarged +since the revolution—One of the first establishments of instruction in +Europe—Contrast between its former state and that in which it now +is—<i>Fourcroy</i>, the present director—His +eloquence—Collections in this establishment—Curious articles which +claim particular notice.</p> +<p><a href="#let75">LETTER LXXV.</a><br /> +The Carnival—That of 1802 described—The Carnival of modern times, +an imitation of the Saturnalia of the ancients—Was for some years +prohibited, since the revolution—Contrast between the Carnival under the +monarchy and under the republican government.</p> +<p><a href="#let76">LETTER LXXVI.</a><br /> +<i>Palais du Sénat Conservateur</i>, or <i>Luxembourg</i> Palace—Mary of +Medicis, by whom it was erected, died in a garret—It belonged to +<i>Monsieur</i>, before the revolution—Improvements in the garden of the +Senate—National nursery formed in an adjoining piece of +ground—<i>Bastille</i>—<i>Le Temple</i>—Its +origin—Lewis XVI and his family confined in this modern state-prison.</p> +<p><a href="#let77">LETTER LXXVII.</a><br /> +Present slate of the French Press—The liberty of the press, the measure +of civil liberty—Comparison, between the state of the press in France and +in England.</p> +<p><a href="#let78">LETTER LXXVIII.</a><br /> +Hospitals and other charitable +institutions—<i>Hôtel-Dieu</i>—Extract from the report of the +<i>Academy of Sciences</i> on this abode of pestilence—Reforms introduced +into it since the revolution—The present method of purifying French +hospitals deserves to be adopted in England—Other hospitals in +Paris—<i>Hospice de la Maternité</i>—<i>La +Salpêtrière</i>—<i>Bicêtre</i>—Faculties and Colleges of +Physicians, as will as Colleges and Commonalties of Surgeons, replaced in +France by Schools of Health—School of Medicine of Paris—France +overrun by quacks—New law for checking the serious mischief they +occasion—Society of Medicine—Gratuitous School of +Pharmacy—Free Society of Apothecaries—Changes in the teaching and +practice of medicine in France.</p> +<p><a href="#let79">LETTER LXXIX.</a><br /> +Private seminaries for youth of both sexes—Female +education—Contrast between that formerly received in convents, and that +now practised in the modern French boarding-schools.</p> +<p><a href="#let80">LETTER LXXX.</a><br /> +Progressive aggrandisement of Paris—Its origin—Under the name of +Lutetia, it was the capital of Gaul—Julian's account of it—The +sieges it has sustained—Successively embellished by different +kings—Progressive amelioration of the manners of its +inhabitants—Rapid view of the causes which improved them, from the reign +of Philip Augustus to that of Lewis XIV—Contrast between the number of +public buildings before and since the revolution—Population of Paris, +from official documents—Ancient division of Paris—Is now divided +into twelve mayoralties—<i>Barrières</i> and high wall by which it is +surrounded—Anecdote of the <i>commis des barrières</i> seizing an +Egyptian mummy.</p> +<p><a href="#let81">LETTER LXXXI.</a><br /> +French Furniture—The events of the revolution have contributed to improve +the taste of persons connected with the furnishing line—Contrast between +the style of the furniture in the Parisian houses in 1789-90 and +1801-2—<i>Les Gobelins</i>, the celebrated national manufactory for +tapestry—<i>La Savonnerie</i>, a national manufactory for +carpeting—National manufactory of plate-glass.</p> +<p><a href="#let82">LETTER LXXXII.</a><br /> +Academy of Fine Arts at the <i>ci-devant Collège de +Navarre</i>—Description of the establishment of the +<i>Piranesi</i>—Three hundred artists of different nations distributed in +the seven classes of this academy—Different works executed here in +Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Mosaic, and Engraving.</p> +<p><a href="#let83">LETTER LXXXIII.</a><br /> +Conservatory of Arts and Trades—It contains a numerous collection of +machines of every description employed in the mechanical arts—<i>Belier +hydraulique</i>, newly invented by <i>Montgolfier</i>—Models of curious +buildings—The mechanical arts in France have experienced more or less the +impulse given to the sciences—The introduction of the Spanish merinos has +greatly improved the French wools—New inventions and discoveries adopted +in the French manufactories—Characteristic difference of the present +state of French industry, and that in which it was before the revolution.</p> +<p><a href="#let84">LETTER LXXXIV.</a><br /> +Society for the encouragement of national industry—Its origin—Its +objects detailed—Free Society of Agriculture—Amidst the storms of +the revolution, agriculture has teen improved in France—Causes of that +improvement—The present state of agriculture briefly contrasted with that +which existed before the revolution—<i>Didot's</i> stereotypic editions +of the classics—Advantages attending the use of stereotype—This +invention claimed by France, but proved to belong to +Britain—Printing-office of the Republic, the most complete typographical +establishment in being.</p> +<p><a href="#let85">LETTER LXXXV.</a><br /> +Present State of Society in Paris—In that city are three very distinct +kinds of society—Description of each of these—Other societies are +no more than a diminutive of the preceding—Philosophy of the French in +forgeting their misfortunes and losses—The signature of the definitive +treaty announced by the sound of cannon—In the evening a grand +illumination is displayed.</p> +<p><a href="#let86">LETTER LXXXVI.</a><br /> +Urbanity of the Parisians towards strangers—The shopkeepers in Paris +overcharge their articles—Furnished Lodgings—Their price—The +<i>Milords Anglais</i> now eclipsed by the Russian Counts—Expense of +board in Paris—Job and Hackney Carriages—Are much improved since +the revolution—Fare of the latter—Expense of the +former—Cabriolets—Regulations of the police concerning these +carriages—The negligence of drivers now meets with due +chastisement—French women astonish bespattered foreigners by walking the +streets with spotless stockings—Valets-de-place—Their wages +augmented—General Observations—An English traveller, on visiting +Paris, should provide himself with letters of recommendation—Unless an +Englishman acquires a competent knowledge of the manners of the country, he +fails in what ought to be the grand object of foreign travel—Situation of +one who brings no letters to Paris—The French now make a distinction +between individuals only, not between nations—Are still indulgent to the +English—Animadversion on the improper conduct of irrational British +youths.</p> +<p><a href="#let87">LETTER LXXXVII.</a><br /> +Divorce—The indissolubility of marriage in France, before the revolution, +was supposed to promote adultery—No such excuse can now be +pleaded—Origin of the present laws on divorce—Comparison on that +subject between the French and the Romans—The effect of these laws +illustrated by examples—The stage ought to be made to conduce to the +amelioration of morals—In France, the men blame the women, with a view of +extenuating their own irregularities—To reform women, men ought to begin +by reforming themselves.</p> +<p><a href="#let88">LETTER LXXXVIII.</a><br /> +The author is recalled to England—Mendicants—The streets of Paris +less infested by them now than before the +revolution—Pawnbrokers—Their numbers much increased in Paris, and +why—<i>Mont de Piété</i>—Lotteries now established in the principal +towns in France—The fatal consequences of this incentive to +gaming—Newspapers—Their numbers considerably +augmented—Journals the most in request—Baths—<i>Bains +Vigier</i> described—School of Natation—Telegraphs—Those in +Paris differ from those in use in England—Telegraphic language may be +abridged—Private collections most deserving of notice in +Paris—<i>Dépôt d'armes</i> of <i>M. Boutet</i>—<i>M. Régnier</i>, +an ingenious mechanic—The author's reason for confining his observations +to the capital—Metamorphoses in Paris—The site of the famous +Jacobin convent is intended for a market-place—Arts and Sciences are +become popular in France, since the revolution—The author makes <i>amende +honorable</i>, or confesses his inability to accomplish the task imposed on him +by his friend—He leaves Paris.</p> +<h2><a name="neworg"></a>NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL +INSTITUTE.[<a href="#neworgf1">1</a>]</h2> +<p>On the 3d of Pluviôse, year XI (23d of January, 1803), the French government +passed the following decree on this subject.</p> +<p class="lawsect"><i>Art</i>. I. The National Institute, at present divided +into three classes, shall henceforth consist of four; namely:</p> +<p class="lawbody"><i>First Class</i>—Class of physical and mathematical +sciences.</p> +<p class="lawbody"><i>Second Class</i>—Class of the French language and +literature.</p> +<p class="lawbody"><i>Third Class</i>—Class of history and ancient +literature.</p> +<p class="lawbody"><i>Fourth Class</i>—Class of fine arts.</p> +<p class="lawbody">The present members of the Institute and associated +foreigners shall be divided into these four classes. A commission of five +members of the Institute, appointed by the First Consul, shall present to him +the plan of this division, which shall be submitted to the approbation of the +government.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> II. The first class, shall be +formed of the ten sections, which at present compose the first class of the +Institute, of a new section of geography and navigation, and of eight foreign +associates.</p> +<p class="lawbody">These sections shall be composed and distinguished as +follows:</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Geometry</td><td>six</td><td>members.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mechanics</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Astronomy</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Geography and Navigation</td><td>three</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>General Physics</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">PHYSICAL SCIENCES.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chemistry</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mineralogy</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Botany</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Rural Economy and the Veterinary +Art</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Anatomy and Zoology</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Medicine and Surgery</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +</table> +<p class="lawbody">The first class shall name, with the approbation of the +Chief Consul, two perpetual secretaries; the one for the mathematical sciences; +the other, for the physical. The perpetual secretaries shall be members of the +class, but shall make no part of any section.</p> +<p class="lawbody">The first class may elect six of its members from among the +other classes of the Institute. It may name a hundred correspondents, taken +from among the learned men of the nation, and those of foreign countries.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> III. The second class shall be +composed of forty members.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It is particularly charged with the compilation and +improvement of the dictionary of the French tongue. With respect to language, +it shall examine important works of literature, history, and sciences. The +collection of its critical observations shall be published at least four times +a year.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It shall appoint from its own members, and with the +approbation of the First Consul, a perpetual secretary, who shall continue to +make one of the sixty members of whom the class is composed.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It may elect twelve of its members from among those of the +other classes of the Institute.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> IV. The third class shall be +composed of forty members and eight foreign associates.</p> +<p class="lawbody">The learned languages, antiquities and ornaments, history, +and all the moral and political sciences in as far as they relate to history, +shall be the objects of its researches and labours. It shall particularly +endeavour to enrich French literature with the works of Greek, Latin, and +Oriental authors, which have not yet been translated.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It shall employ itself in the continuation of diplomatic +collections.</p> +<p class="lawbody">With the approbation of the First Consul, it shall name from +its own members a perpetual secretary, who shall make one of the forty members +of whom the class is composed.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It may elect nine of its members from among those of the +classes of the Institute.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It may name sixty national or foreign correspondents.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> V. The fourth class shall be +composed of twenty-eight members and eight foreign associates. They shall be +divided into sections, named and composed as follows:</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><td>Painting</td><td>ten</td><td>members.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Sculpture</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Architecture</td><td>six</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Engraving</td><td>three</td><td>ditto.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Music (composition)</td><td>three</td><td>ditto.</tr> +</table> +<p class="lawbody">With the approbation of the First Consul, it shall appoint a +perpetual secretary, who shall be a member of the class, but shall not make +part of the sections.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It may elect six of its members from among the other classes +of the Institute.</p> +<p class="lawbody">It may name thirty-six national or foreign +correspondents.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> VI. The associated foreign members +shall have a deliberative vote only for objects relating to sciences, +literature, and arts. They shall not make part of any section, and shall +receive no salary.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> VII. The present associates of the +Institute, scattered throughout the Republic, shall make part of the one +hundred and ninety-six correspondents, attached to the classes of the sciences, +belles-lettres, and fine arts.</p> +<p class="lawbody">The correspondents cannot assume the title of members of the +Institute. They shall drop that of correspondents, when they take up their +constant residence in Paris.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> VIII. The nominations to the vacancies shall be +made by each of the classes in which those vacancies shall happen to occur. The +persons elected shall be approved by the First Consul.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> IX. The members of the four classes +shall have a right to attend reciprocally the private sittings of each of them, +and to read papers there when they have made the request.</p> +<p class="lawbody">They shall assemble four times a year as the body of the +Institute, in order to give to each other an account of their transactions.</p> +<p class="lawbody">They shall elect in common the librarian and +under-librarian, as well as all the agents who belong in common to the +Institute.</p> +<p class="lawbody">Each class shall present for the approbation of the +government the particular statutes and regulations of its interior police.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> X. Each class shall hold every +year a public sitting, at which the other three shall assist.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> XI. The Institute shall receive +annually, from the public treasury, 1500 francs for each of its members, not +associates; 6000 francs for each of its perpetual secretaries; and, for its +expenses, a sum which shall be determined on, every year, at the request of the +Institute, and comprised in the budget of the Minister of the Interior.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> XII. The Institute shall have an +administrative commission, composed of five members, two of the first class, +and one of each of the other three, appointed by their respective classes.</p> +<p class="lawbody">This commission shall cause to be regulated in the general +sittings, prescribed in Art. IX, every thing relative to the administration, to +the general purposes of the Institute, and to the division of the funds between +the four classes.</p> +<p class="lawbody">Each class shall afterwards regulate the employment of the +funds which shall have been assigned for its expenses, as well as every thing +that concerns the printing and publication of its memoirs.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> XIII. Every year, each class shall distribute +prizes, the number and value of which shall be regulated as follows:</p> +<p class="lawbody">The first class, a prize of 3000 francs.</p> +<p class="lawbody">The second and third classes, each a prize of 1500 +francs.</p> +<p class="lawbody">And the fourth class, great prizes of painting, sculpture, +architecture, and musical composition. Those who shall have gained one of these +four great prizes, shall be sent to Rome, and maintained at the expense of the +government.</p> +<p class="lawsect"> XIV. The Minister of the Interior is charged +with the execution of the present decree, which shall be inserted in the +Bulletin of the Laws.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="neworgf1">Footnote 1</a>: Referred to in Letter XLV, +Vol. II of this work. <a href="#neworg">Return to text</a></p> +<p /><p /><p /><h2><a name="intro">INTRODUCTION.</a></h2> +<p>On ushering into the world a literary production, custom has established +that its parent should give some account of his offspring. Indeed, this becomes +the more necessary at the present moment, as the short-lived peace, which gave +birth to the following sheets, had already ceased before they were entirely +printed; and the war in which England and France are now engaged, is of a +nature calculated not only to rouse all the energy and ancient spirit of my +countrymen, but also to revive their prejudices, and inflame their passions, in +a degree proportionate to the enemy's boastful and provoking menace.</p> +<p>I therefore premise that those who may be tempted to take up this +publication, merely with a view of seeking aliment for their enmity, will, in +more respects than one, probably find themselves disappointed. The two nations +were not rivals in arms, but in the arts and sciences, at the time these +letters were written, and committed to the press; consequently, they have no +relation whatever to the present contest. Nevertheless, as they refer to +subjects which manifest the indefatigable activity of the French in the +accomplishment of any grand object, such parts may, perhaps, furnish hints that +may not be altogether unimportant at this momentous crisis.</p> +<p>The plan most generally adhered to throughout this work, being detailed in +<a href="#let05">LETTER V</a>, a repetition of it here would be superfluous; +and the principal matters to which the work itself relates, are specified in +the title. I now come to the point.</p> +<p>A long residence in France, and particularly in the capital, having afforded +me an opportunity of becoming tolerably well acquainted with its state before +the revolution, my curiosity was strongly excited to ascertain the changes +which that political phenomenon might have effected. I accordingly availed +myself of the earliest dawn of peace to cross the water, and visit Paris. Since +I had left that city in 1789-90, a powerful monarchy, established on a +possession of fourteen centuries, and on that sort of national prosperity which +seemed to challenge the approbation of future ages, had been destroyed by the +force of opinion which, like, a subterraneous fire, consumed its very +foundations, and plunged the nation into a sea of troubles, in which it was, +for several years, tossed about, amid the wreck of its greatness.</p> +<p>This is a phenomenon of which antiquity affords no parallel; and it has +produced a rapid succession of events so extraordinary as almost to exceed +belief.</p> +<p>It is not the crimes to which it has given birth that will be thought +improbable: the history of revolutions, as well ancient as modern, furnishes +but too many examples of them; and few have been committed, the traces of which +are not to be found in the countries where the imagination of the multitude has +been exalted by strong and new ideas, respecting Liberty and Equality. But what +posterity will find difficult to believe, is the agitation of men's minds, and +the effervescence of the passions, carried to such a pitch, as to stamp the +French revolution with a character bordering on the marvellous—Yes; +posterity will have reason to be astonished at the facility with which the +human mind can be modified and made to pass from one extreme to another; at the +suddenness, in short, with which the ideas and manners of the French were +changed; so powerful, on the one hand, is the ascendency of certain +imaginations; and, on the other, so great is the weakness of the vulgar!</p> +<p>It is in the recollection of most persons, that the agitation of the public +mind in France was such, for a while, that, after having overthrown the +monarchy and its supports; rendered private property insecure; and destroyed +individual freedom; it threatened to invade foreign countries, at the same time +pushing before it Liberty, that first blessing of man, when it is founded on +laws, and the most dangerous of chimeras, when it is without rule or +restraint.</p> +<p>The greater part of the causes which excited this general commotion, existed +before the assembly of the States-General in 1789. It is therefore important to +take a mental view of the moral and political situation of France at that +period, and to follow, in imagination at least, the chain of ideas, passions, +and errors, which, having dissolved the ties of society, and worn out the +springs of government, led the nation by gigantic strides into the most +complete anarchy.</p> +<p>Without enumerating the different authorities which successively ruled in +France after the fall of the throne, it appears no less essential to remind the +reader that, in this general disorganization, the inhabitants themselves, +though breathing the same air, scarcely knew that they belonged to the same +nation. The altars overthrown; all the ancient institutions annihilated; new +festivals and ceremonies introduced; factious demagogues honoured with an +apotheosis; their busts exposed to public veneration; men and cities changing +names; a portion of the people infected with atheism, and disguised in the +livery of guilt and folly; all this, and more, exercised the reflection of the +well-disposed in a manner the most painful. In a word, though France was +peopled with the same individuals, it seemed inhabited by a new nation, +entirely different from the old one in its government, its creed, its +principles, its manners, and even its customs.</p> +<p>War itself assumed a new face. Every thing relating to it became +extraordinary: the number of the combatants, the manner of recruiting the +armies, and the means of providing supplies for them; the manufacture of +powder, cannon, and muskets; the ardour, impetuosity, and forced marches of the +troops; their extortions, their successes, and their reverses; the choice of +the generals, and the superior talents of some of them, together with the +springs, by which these enormous bodies of armed men were moved and directed, +were equally new and astonishing.</p> +<p>History tells us that in poor countries, where nothing inflames cupidity and +ambition, the love alone of the public good causes changes to be tried in the +government; and that those changes derange not the ordinary course of society; +whereas, among rich nations, corrupted by luxury, revolutions are always +effected through secret motives of jealousy and interest; because there are +great places to be usurped, and great fortunes to be invaded. In France, the +revolution covered the country with ruins, tears, and blood, because means were +not to be found to moderate in the people that <i>revolutionary spirit</i> +which parches, in the bud, the promised fruits of liberty, when its violence is +not repressed.</p> +<p>Few persons were capable of keeping pace with the rapid progress of the +revolution. Those who remained behind were considered as guilty of desertion. +The authors of the first constitution were accused of being <i>royalists</i>; +the old partisans of republicanism were punished as <i>moderates</i>; the +land-owners, as <i>aristocrates</i>; the monied men, as <i>corrupters</i>; the +bankers and financiers, as <i>blood-suckers</i>; the shop-keepers, as +<i>promoters of famine</i>; and the newsmongers, as <i>alarmists</i>. The +factious themselves, in short, were alternately proscribed, as soon as they +ceased to belong to the ruling faction.</p> +<p>In this state of things, society became a prey to the most baneful passions. +Mistrust entered every heart; friendship had no attraction; relationship, no +tie; and men's minds, hardened by the habit of misfortune, or overwhelmed by +fear, no longer opened to pity.</p> +<p>Terror compressed every imagination; and the revolutionary government, +exercising it to its fullest extent, struck off a prodigious number of heads, +filled the prisons with victims, and continued to corrupt the morals of the +nation by staining it with crimes.</p> +<p>But all things have an end. The tyrants fell; the dungeons were thrown open; +numberless victims emerged from them; and France seemed to recover new life; +but still bewildered by the <i>revolutionary spirit</i>, wasted by the +concealed poison of anarchy, exhausted by her innumerable sacrifices, and +almost paralyzed by her own convulsions, she made but impotent efforts for the +enjoyment of liberty and justice. Taxes became more burdensome; commerce was +annihilated; industry, without aliment; paper-money, without value; and specie, +without circulation. However, while the French nation was degraded at home by +this series of evils, it was respected abroad through the rare merit of some of +its generals, the splendour of its victories, and the bravery of its +soldiers.</p> +<p>During these transactions, there was formed in the public mind that moral +resistance which destroys not governments by violence, but undermines them. +<a name="introfr1"></a>The intestine commotions were increasing; the conquests +of the French were invaded; their enemies were already on their frontiers; and +the division which had broken out between the Directory and the Legislative +Body, again threatened France with a total dissolution, when a man of +extraordinary character and talents had the boldness to seize the reins of +authority, and stop the further progress of the +revolution.[<a href="#introf1">1</a>] Taking at the full the tide which leads +on to fortune, he at once changed the face of affairs, not only within the +limits of the Republic, but throughout Europe. Yet, after all their triumphs, +the French have the mortification to have failed in gaining that for which they +first took up arms, and for which they have maintained so long and so obstinate +a struggle.</p> +<p>When a strong mound has been broken down, the waters whose amassed volume it +opposed, rush forward, and, in their impetuous course, spread afar terror and +devastation. On visiting the scene where this has occurred, we naturally cast +our eyes in every direction, to discover the mischief which they have +occasioned by their irruption; so, then, on reaching the grand theatre of the +French revolution, did I look about for the traces of the havock it had left +behind; but, like a river which had regained its level, and flowed again in its +natural bed, this political torrent had subsided, and its ravages were repaired +in a manner the most surprising.</p> +<p>However, at the particular request of an estimable friend, I have +endeavoured to draw the contrast which, in 1789-90 and 1801-2, Paris presented +to the eye of an impartial observer. In this arduous attempt I have not the +vanity to flatter myself that I have been successful, though I have not +hesitated to lay under contribution every authority likely to promote my +object. The state of the French capital, before the revolution, I have +delineated from the notes I had myself collected on the spot, and for which +purpose I was, at that time, under the necessity of consulting almost as many +books as Don Quixote read on knight-errantry; but the authors from whom I have +chiefly borrowed, are St. FOIX, MERCIER, DULAURE, PUJOULX, and BIOT.</p> +<p>My invariable aim has been to relate, <i>sine ira nec studio</i>, such facts +and circumstances as have come to my knowledge, and to render to every one that +justice which I should claim for myself. After a revolution which has trenched +on so many opposite interests, the reader cannot be surprised, if information, +derived from such a variety of sources, should sometimes seem to bear the +character of party-spirit. Should this appear <i>on the face of the record</i>, +I can only say that I have avoided entering into politics, in order that no +bias of that sort might lead me to discolour or distort the truths I have had +occasion to state; and I have totally rejected those communications which, from +their tone of bitterness, personality, and virulence, might be incompatible +with the general tenour of an impartial production.</p> +<p>Till the joint approbation of some competent judges, who visited the French +capital after having perused, in manuscript, several of these letters, had +stamped on them a comparative degree of value, no one could think more lightly +of them than the author. Urged repeatedly to produce them to the public, I have +yielded with reluctance, and in the fullest confidence that, notwithstanding +the recent change of circumstances, a liberal construction will be put on my +sentiments and motives. I have taken care that my account of the national +establishments in France should be perfectly correct; and, in fact, I have been +favoured with the principal information it contains by their respective +directors. In regard to the other topics on which I have touched, I have not +failed to consult the best authorities, even in matters, which, however +trifling in themselves, acquire a relative importance, from being illustrative +of some of the many-coloured effects of a revolution, which has humbled the +pride of many, deranged the calculations of all, disappointed the hopes of not +a few, and deceived those even by whom it had been engendered and +conducted.</p> +<p>Yet, whatever pains I have taken to be strictly impartial, it cannot be +denied that, in publishing a work of this description at a time when the +self-love of most men is mortified, and their resentment awakened, I run no +small risk of displeasing all parties, because I attach myself to none, but +find them all more or less deserving of censure. Without descending either to +flattery or calumny, I speak both well and ill of the French, because I copy +nature, and neither draw an imaginary portrait, nor write a systematic +narrative. If I have occasionally given vent to my indignation in glancing at +the excesses of the revolution, I have not withheld my tribute of applause from +those institutions, which, being calculated to benefit mankind by the +gratuitous diffusion of knowledge, would reflect honour on any nation. +<a name="introfr2"></a>In other respects, I have not been unmindful of that +excellent precept of TACITUS, in which he observes that "The principal duty of +the historian is to rescue from oblivion virtuous actions, and to make bad men +dread infamy and posterity for what they have said and +done."[<a href="#introf2">2</a>]</p> +<p>In stating facts, it is frequently necessary to support them by a relation +of particular circumstances, which may corroborate them in an unquestionable +manner. Feeling this truth, I have some times introduced myself on my canvass, +merely to shew that I am not an ideal traveller. I mean one of those pleasant +fellows who travel post in their elbow-chair, sail round the world on a map +suspended to one side of their room, cross the seas with a pocket-compass lying +on their table, experience a shipwreck by their fireside, make their escape +when it scorches their shins, and land on a desert island in their <i>robe de +chambre</i> and slippers.</p> +<p>I have, therefore, here and there mentioned names, time, and place, to prove +that, <i>bonâ fide</i>, I went to Paris immediately after the ratification of +the preliminary treaty. To banish uniformity in my description of that +metropolis, I have, as much as possible, varied my subjects. Fashions, +sciences, absurdities, anecdotes, education, fêtes, useful arts, places of +amusement, music, learned and scientific institutions, inventions, public +buildings, industry, agriculture, &c. &c. &c. being all jumbled +together in my brain, I have thence drawn them, like tickets from a lottery; +and it will not, I trust, be deemed presumptuous in me to indulge a hope that, +in proportion to the blanks, there will be found no inadequate number of +prizes.</p> +<p>I have pointed out the immense advantages which France is likely to derive +from her Schools for Public Services, and other establishments of striking +utility, such as the <i>Dépôt de la Guerre</i> and the <i>Dépôt de la +Marine</i>, in order that the British government may be prompted to form +institutions, which, if not exactly similar, may at least answer the same +purpose. Instead of copying the French in objects of fickleness and frivolity, +why not borrow from them what is really deserving of imitation?</p> +<p>It remains for me to observe, by way of stimulating the ambition of British +genius, that, in France, the arts and sciences are now making a rapid and +simultaneous progress; first, because the revolution has made them popular in +that country; and, secondly, because they are daily connected by new ties, +which, in a great measure, render them inseparable. Facts are there recurred +to, less with a view to draw from them immediate applications than to develop +the truths resulting from them. The first step is from these facts to their +most simple consequences, which are little more than bare assertions. From +these the <i>savans</i> proceed to others more minute, till, at length, by +imperceptible degrees, they arrive at the most abstracted generalities. With +them, method is an induction incessantly verified by experiment. Whence, it +gives to human intelligence, not wings which lead it astray, but reins which +guide it. United by this common philosophy, the sciences and arts in France +advance together; and the progress made by one of them serves to promote that +of the rest. There, the men who profess them, considering that their knowledge +belongs not to themselves alone, not to their country only, but to all mankind, +are continually striving to increase the mass of public knowledge. This they +regard as a real duty, which they are proud to discharge; thus treading in the +steps of the most memorable men of past ages.</p> +<p>Then, while the more unlearned and unskilled among us are emulating the +patriotic enthusiasm of the French in volunteering, as they did, to resist +invasion, let our men of science and genius exert themselves not to be +surpassed by the industrious <i>savans</i> and artists of that nation; but let +them act on the principle inculcated by the following sublime idea of our +illustrious countryman, the founder of modern philosophy. "It may not be +amiss," says BACON, "to point out three different kinds, and, as it were, +degrees of ambition. The first, that of those who desire to enhance, in their +own country, the power they arrogate to themselves: this kind of ambition is +both vulgar and degenerate. The second, that of those who endeavour to extend +the power and domination of their country, over the whole of the human race: in +this kind there is certainly a greater dignity, though; at the same time, no +less a share of cupidity. But should any one strive to restore and extend the +power and domination of mankind over the universality of things, unquestionably +such an ambition, (if it can be so denominated) would be more reasonable and +dignified than the others. <a name="introfr3"></a>Now, the empire of man, over +things, has its foundation exclusively in the arts and sciences; for it is only +by an obedience to her laws, that Nature can be +commanded."[<a href="#introf3">3</a>]</p> +<p>LONDON, June 10, 1803.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="introf1">Footnote 1</a>: Of two things, we are left to +believe one. BONAPARTE either was or was not invited to put himself at the head +of the government of France. It is not probable that the Directory should send +for him from Egypt, in order to say to him: "we are fools and drivelers, unfit +to conduct the affairs of the nation; so turn us out of office, and seat +yourself in our place." Nevertheless, they might have hoped to preserve their +tottering authority through his support. Be this as it may, there it something +so singular in the good fortune which has attended BONAPARTE from the period of +his quitting Alexandria, that, were it not known for truth, it might well be +taken for fiction. Sailing from the road of Aboukir on the 24th of August, +1799, he eludes the vigilance of the English cruisers, and lands at Frejus in +France on the 14th of October following, the forty-seventh day after his +departure from Egypt. On his arrival in Paris, so far from giving an account of +his conduct to the Directory, he turns his back on them; accepts the +proposition made to him, from another quarter, to effect a change in the +government; on the 9th of November, carries it into execution; and, profiting +by the <i>popularis aura</i>, fixes himself at the head of the State, at the +same time kicking down the ladder by which he climbed to power. To achieve all +this with such promptitude and energy, most assuredly required a mind of no +common texture; nor can any one deny that ambition would have done but little +towards its accomplishment, had it not been seconded by extraordinary +firmness. <a href="#introfr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="introf2">Footnote 2</a>: <i>"Præcipuum munus annalium +reor, ne virtutes sileantur, utque praxis dictis factisque ex posteritate et +infamiâ metus sit."</i> <a href="#introfr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="introf3">Footnote 3</a>: "<i>Præterca non abs refuerit, +tria hominum ambitionis genera et quasi gradus distinguere. Primum eorum qui +propriam potentiam in patria sua amplificare cupiunt; quod genus vulgare est et +degener. Secundum eorum, qui patriæ potentiam et imperium inter humanum genus +amplificare nituntur; illud plus certe habet dignitatis, cupiditatis haud +minus. Quod si quis humani generis ipsius potentiam et imperium in rerum +univertitatem instaurare et amplificare conetur ea procul dubio ambitio (si +modo ita cocanda sit) reliquls et sanior est et augustior. Hominis autem +imperium in res, in solis artibus et scientiis ponitur: naturæ enim non +imperatur, nisi parendo</i>." Nov. org. scientiarum. Aphor. CXXIX. (Vol. VIII. +page 72, new edition of BACON'S works. London, printed +1803.) <a href="#introfr3">Return to text</a></p> +<p /><p /><p /><h1>A SKETCH OF PARIS, &c. &c.</h1> +<h2><a name="let01">LETTER I.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Calais, October 16, 1801.</i></p> +<p>MY DEAR FRIEND,</p> +<p>Had you not made it a particular request that I would give you the earliest +account of my debarkation in France, I should, probably, not have been tempted +to write to you till I reached Paris. I well know the great stress which you +lay on first impressions; but what little I have now to communicate will poorly +gratify your expectation.</p> +<p>From the date of this letter, you will perceive that, since we parted +yesterday, I have not been dilatory in my motions. No sooner had a messenger +from the Alien-Office brought me the promised passport, or rather his Majesty's +licence, permitting me to embark for France, than I proceeded on my +journey.</p> +<p>In nine hours I reached Dover, and, being authorized by a proper +introduction, immediately applied to Mr. Mantell, the agent for prisoners of +war, cartels, &c. for a passage across the water. An English flag of truce +was then in the harbour, waiting only for government dispatches; and I found +that, if I could get my baggage visited in time, I might avail myself of the +opportunity of crossing the sea in this vessel. On having recourse to the +collector of the customs, I succeeded in my wish: the dispatches arriving +shortly after, mid my baggage being already shipped, I stepped off the quay +into the Nancy, on board of which I was the only passenger. A propitious breeze +sprang up at the moment, and, in less than three hours, wafted me to Calais +pier.</p> +<p>By the person who carried the dispatches to Citizen Mengaud, the commissary +for this department (<i>Pas de Calais</i>), I sent a card with my name and +rank, requesting permission to land and deliver to him a letter from M. Otto. +This step was indispensable: the vessel which brought me was, I find, the first +British flag of truce that has been suffered to enter the harbour, with the +exception of the Prince of Wales packet, now waiting here for the return of a +king's messenger from Paris; and her captain even has not yet been permitted to +go on shore. It therefore appears that I shall be the first Englishman, not in +an official character, who has set foot on French ground since the ratification +of the preliminary treaty.</p> +<p>The pier was presently crowded with people gazing at our vessel, as if she +presented a spectacle perfectly novel: but, except the tri-coloured cockade in +the hats of the military, I could not observe the smallest difference in their +general appearance. Instead of crops and round wigs, which I expected to see in +universal vogue, here were full as many powdered heads and long queues as +before the revolution. Frenchmen, in general, will, I am persuaded, ever be +Frenchmen in their dress, which, in my opinion, can never be +<i>revolutionized</i>, either by precept or example. The <i>citoyens</i>, as +far as I am yet able to judge, most certainly have not fattened by warfare more +than JOHN BULL: their visages are as sallow and as thin as formerly, though +their persons are not quite so meagre as they are pourtrayed by Hogarth.</p> +<p>The prospect of peace, however, seemed to have produced an exhilarating +effect on all ranks; satisfaction appeared on every countenance. According to +custom, a host of inkeepers' domestics boarded the vessel, each vaunting the +superiority of his master's accommodations. My old landlord Ducrocq presenting +himself to congratulate me on my arrival, soon freed me from their +importunities, and I, of course, decided in favour of the <i>Lion +d'Argent</i>.</p> +<p>Part of the <i>Boulogne</i> flotilla was lying in the harbour. Independently +of the decks of the gunboats being full of soldiers, with very few sailors +intermixed, playing at different games of chance, not a plank, not a log, or +piece of timber, was there on the quay but was also covered with similar +parties. This then accounts for that rage for gambling, which has carried to +such desperate lengths those among them whom the fate of war has lodged in our +prisons.</p> +<p>My attention was soon diverted from this scene, by a polite answer from the +commissary, inviting me to his house. I instantly disembarked to wait on him; +my letter containing nothing more than an introduction, accompanied by a +request that I might be furnished with a passport to enable me to proceed to +Paris without delay, Citizen Mengaud dispatched a proper person to attend me to +the town-hall, where the passports are made out, and signed by the mayor; +though they are not delivered till they have also received the commissary's +signature. However, to lose no time, while one of the clerks was drawing my +picture, or, in other words, taking down a minute description of my person, I +sent my keys to the custom-house, in order that my baggage might be +examined.</p> +<p>By what conveyance I was to proceed to Paris was the next point to be +settled; and this has brought me to the <i>Lion d'Argent</i>.</p> +<p>Among other vehicles, Ducrocq has, in his <i>remise</i>, an apparently-good +<i>cabriolet de voyage</i>, belonging to one of his Paris correspondents; but, +on account of the wretched state of the roads, he begs me to allow him time to +send for his coachmaker, to examine it scrupulously, that I may not be detained +by the way, from any accident happening to the carriage.</p> +<p>I was just on the point of concluding my letter, when a French naval +officer, who was on the pier when I landed, introduced himself to me, to know +whether I would do him the favour to accommodate him with a place in the +cabriolet under examination. I liked my new friend's appearance and manner too +well not to accede to his proposal.</p> +<p>The carriage is reported to be in good condition. I shall therefore send my +servant on before as a courier, instead of taking him with me as an inside +passenger. As we shall travel night and day, and the post-horses will be in +readiness at every stage, we may, I am told, expect to reach Paris in about +forty-two hours. Adieu; my next will be from the <i>great</i> city.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let02">LETTER II.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 19, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Here I am safe arrived; that is, without any broken bones; though my arms, +knees, and head are finely pummelled by the jolting of the carriage. Well might +Ducrocq say that the roads were bad! In several places, they are not passable +without danger—Indeed, the government is so fully aware of this, that an +inspector has been dispatched to direct immediate repairs to be made against +the arrival of the English ambassador; and, in some <i>communes</i>, the people +are at work by torch-light. With this exception, my journey was exceedingly +pleasant. At ten o'clock the first night, we reached <i>Montreuil</i>, where we +supped; the next day we breakfasted at <i>Abbeville</i>, dined at +<i>Amiens</i>, and supped that evening at <i>Clermont</i>.</p> +<p>The road between <i>Calais</i> and <i>Paris</i> is too well known to +interest by description. Most of the abbeys and monasteries, which present +themselves to the eye of the traveller, have either been converted into +hospitals or manufactories. Few there are, I believe, who will deny that this +change is for the better. A receptacle for the relief of suffering indigence +conveys a consolatory idea to the mind of the friend of human nature; while the +lover of industry cannot but approve of an establishment which, while it +enriches a State, affords employ to the needy and diligent. This, +unquestionably, is no bad appropriation of these buildings, which, when +inhabited by monks, were, for the most part, no more than an asylum of sloth, +hypocrisy, pride, and ignorance.</p> +<p>The weather was fine, which contributed not a little to display the country +to greater advantage; but the improvements recently made in agriculture are too +striking to escape the notice of the most inattentive observer. The open plains +and rising grounds of <i>ci-devant Picardy</i> which, from ten to fifteen years +ago, I have frequently seen, in this season, mostly lying fallow, and +presenting the aspect of one wide, neglected waste, are now all well +cultivated, and chiefly laid down in corn; and the corn, in general, seems to +have been sown with more than common attention.</p> +<p>My fellow-traveller, who was a <i>lieutenant de vaisseau</i>, belonging to +<i>Latouche Tréville's</i> flotilla, proved a very agreeable companion, and +extremely well-informed. This officer positively denied the circumstance of any +of their gun-boats being moored with chains during our last attack. While he +did ample justice to the bravery of our people, he censured the manner in which +it had been exerted. The divisions of boats arriving separately, he said, could +not afford to each other necessary support, and were thus exposed to certain +discomfiture. I made the best defence I possibly could; but truth bears down +all before it.</p> +<p>The loss on the side of the French, my fellow-traveller declared, was no +more than seven men killed and forty-five wounded. Such of the latter as were +in a condition to undergo the fatigue of the ceremony, were carried in +triumphal procession through the streets of <i>Boulogne</i>, where, after being +harangued by the mayor, they were rewarded with civic crowns from the hands of +their fair fellow-citizens.</p> +<p>Early the second morning after our departure from <i>Calais</i>, we reached +the town of <i>St. Denis</i>, which, at one time since the revolution, changed +its name for that of <i>Françiade</i>. I never pass through this place without +calling to mind the persecution which poor Abélard suffered from Adam, the +abbot, for having dared to say, that the body of <i>St. Denis</i>, first bishop +of Paris, in 240, which had been preserved in this abbey among the relics, was +not that of the areopagite, who died in 95. The ridiculous stories, imposed on +the credulity of the zealous catholics, respecting this wonderful saint, have +been exhibited in their proper light by Voltaire, as you may see by consulting +the <i>Questions sur l'Encyclopédie</i>, at the article <i>Denis</i>.</p> +<p>It is in every person's recollection that, in consequence of the National +Convention having decreed the abolition of royalty in France, it was proposed +to annihilate every vestige of it throughout the country. But, probably, you +are not aware of the thorough sweep that was made among the sepultures in this +abbey of <i>St. Denis</i>.</p> +<p>The bodies of the kings, queens, princes, princesses, and celebrated +personages, who had been interred here for nearly fifteen hundred years, were +taken up, and literally reduced to ashes. Not a wreck was left behind to make a +relic.</p> +<p>The remains of TURENNE alone were respected. All the other bodies, together +with the entrails or hearts, enclosed in separate urns, were thrown into large +pits, lined with a coat of quick lime: they were then covered with the same +substance; and the pits were afterwards filled up with earth. Most of them, as +may be supposed, were in a state of complete putrescency; of some, the bones +only remained, though a few were in good preservation.</p> +<p>The bodies of the consort of Charles I. Henrietta Maria of France, daughter +of Henry IV, who died in 1669, aged 60, and of their daughter Henrietta Stuart, +first wife of Monsieur, only brother to Lewis XIV, who died in 1670, aged 26, +both interred in the vault of the Bourbons, were consumed in the general +destruction.</p> +<p>The execution of this decree was begun at <i>St. Denis</i> on Saturday the +12th of October 1793, and completed on the 25th of the same month, in presence +of the municipality and several other persons.</p> +<p>On the 12th of November following, all the treasure of <i>St. Denis</i>, +(shrines, relics, &c.) was removed: the whole was put into large wooden +chests, together with all the rich ornaments of the church, consisting of +chalices, pyxes, cups, copes, &c. The same day these valuable articles were +sent off, in great state, in waggons, decorated for the purpose, to the +National Convention.</p> +<p>We left <i>St. Denis</i> after a hasty breakfast; and, on reaching Paris, I +determined to drive to the residence of a man whom I had never seen; but from +whom I had little doubt of a welcome reception. I accordingly alighted in the +<i>Rue neuve St. Roch</i>, where I found B----a, who perfectly answered the +character given me of him by M. S----i.</p> +<p>You already know that, through the interest of my friend, Captain O----y, I +was so fortunate as to procure the exchange of B----a's only son, a deserving +youth, who had been taken prisoner at sea, and languished two years in +confinement in Portchester-Castle.</p> +<p>Before I could introduce myself, one of young B----a's sisters proclaimed my +name, as if by inspiration; and I was instantly greeted with the cordial +embraces of the whole family. This scene made me at once forget the fatigues of +my journey; and, though I had not been in bed for three successive nights, the +agreeable sensations excited in my mind, by the unaffected expression of +gratitude, banished every inclination to sleep. If honest B----a and his family +felt themselves obliged to me, I felt myself doubly and trebly obliged to +Captain O----y; for, to his kind exertion, was I indebted for the secret +enjoyment arising from the performance of a disinterested action.</p> +<p>S----i was no sooner informed of my arrival, than he hastened to obey the +invitation to meet me at dinner, and, by his presence, enlivened the family +party. After spending a most agreeable day, I retired to a temporary lodging, +which B----a had procured me in the neighbourhood. I shall remain in it no +longer than till I can suit myself with apartments in a private house, where I +can be more retired, or at least subject to less noise, than in a public +hotel.</p> +<p>Of the fifty-eight hours which I employed in performing my journey hither +from London, forty-four were spent on my way between Calais and Paris; a +distance that I have often travelled with ease in thirty-six, when the roads +were in tolerable repair. Considerable delay too is at present occasioned by +the erection of <i>barrières</i>, or turnpike-bars, which did not exist before +the revolution. At this day, they are established throughout all the +departments, and are an insuperable impediment to expedition; for, at night, +the toll-gatherers are fast asleep, and the bars being secured, you are obliged +to wait patiently till these good citizens choose to rise from their +pillow.</p> +<p>To counterbalance this inconvenience, you are not now plagued, as formerly, +by custom-house officers on the frontiers of <i>every</i> department. My +baggage being once searched at <i>Calais</i>, experienced no other visit; but, +at the upper town of <i>Boulogne</i>, a sight of my travelling passport was +required; by mistake in the dark, I gave the <i>commis</i> a scrawl, put into +my hands by Ducrocq, containing an account of the best inns on the road. Would +you believe that this inadvertency detained us a considerable time, so +extremely inquisitive are they, at the present moment, respecting all papers? +At <i>Calais</i>, the custom-house officers even examined every piece of paper +used in the packing of my baggage. This scrutiny is not particularly adopted +towards Englishmen; but must, I understand, be undergone by travellers of every +country, on entering the territory of the Republic.</p> +<p><i>P. S.</i> Lord Cornwallis is expected with impatience; and, at <i>St. +Denis</i>, an escort of dragoons of the 19th demi-brigade is in waiting to +attend him into Paris.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let03">LETTER III.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 21, 1801.</i></p> +<p>On approaching this capital, my curiosity was excited in the highest degree; +and, as the carriage passed rapidly along from the <i>Barrière</i>, through the +<i>Porte St. Denis</i>, to the <i>Rue neuve St. Roch</i>, my eyes wandered in +all directions, anxiously seeking every shade of distinction between +<i>monarchical</i> and <i>republican</i> Paris.</p> +<p>The first thing that attracted my attention, on entering the +<i>faubourg</i>, was the vast number of inscriptions placed, during the +revolution, on many of the principal houses; but more especially on public +buildings of every description. They are painted in large, conspicuous letters; +and the following is the most general style in which they have been originally +worded:</p> +<p class="center">"RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE, UNE ET INDIVISIBLE."<br /> +"LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ, OU LA MORT."</p> +<p>Since the exit of the French Nero, the last three words "<i>ou la mort</i>" +have been obliterated, but in few places are so completely effaced as not to be +still legible. In front of all the public offices and national establishments, +the tri-coloured flag is triumphantly displayed; and almost every person you +meet wears in his hat the national cockade.</p> +<p>The tumult which, ten or twelve years ago, rendered the streets of Paris so +noisy, so dirty, and at the same time so dangerous, is now most sensibly +diminished. Boileau's picture of them is no longer just. No longer are seen +those scenes of confusion occasioned by the frequent stoppages of coaches and +carts, and the contentions of the vociferating drivers. You may now pass the +longest and most crowded thoroughfares, either on foot or otherwise, without +obstacle or inconvenience. The contrast is striking.</p> +<p>Indeed, from what I have observed, I should presume that there is not, at +the present day, one tenth part of the number of carriages which were in use +here in 1780-90. Except on the domestics of foreign ambassadors and foreigners, +I have as yet noticed nothing like a livery; and, in lieu of armorial bearings, +every carriage, without distinction, has a number painted on the pannel. +However, if private equipages are scarce, thence ensues more than one +advantage; the public are indemnified by an increased number of good hackney +coaches, chariots, and cabriolets; and, besides, as I have just hinted, +pedestrians are not only far less exposed to being bespattered, but also to +having their limbs fractured.</p> +<p>Formerly, a <i>seigneur de la cour</i> conceived himself justified in +suffering his coachman to drive at a mischievous rate; and in narrow, crowded +streets, where there is no foot-pavement, it was extremely difficult for +persons walking to escape the wheels of a great number of carriages rattling +along in this shameful manner. But he who guided the chariot of a <i>ministre +d'état</i>, considered it as a necessary and distinctive mark of his master's +pre-eminence to <i>brûler le pavé</i>. This is so strictly true, that, before +the revolution, I have here witnessed repeated accidents of the most serious +nature, resulting from the exercise of this sort of ministerial privilege: on +one occasion particularly, I myself narrowly escaped unhurt, when a decent, +elderly woman was thrown down, close by my feet, and had both her thighs broken +through the unfeeling wantonness of the coachman of the Baron de Breteuil, at +that time minister for the department of Paris.</p> +<p>Owing to the salutary regulations of the police, the recurrence of these +accidents is now, in a great measure, prevented; and, as the empirics say in +their hand-bills: "<i>Prevention is better than cure.</i>"</p> +<p>But for these differences, a person who had not seen Paris for some years, +might, unless he were to direct his visits to particular quarters, cross it +from one extremity to the other, without remarking any change to inform his +mind, that here had been a revolution, or rather that, for the last ten years, +this city had been almost one continual scene of revolutions.</p> +<p>Bossnet, once preaching before Lewis XIV, exclaimed: "Kings die, and so do +kingdoms!" Could that great preacher rise from his grave into the pulpit, and +behold France without a king, and that kingdom, not crumbled away, but +enlarged, almost with the rapid accumulation of a snow-ball, into an enormous +mass of territory, under the title of French Republic, what would he not have +to say in a sermon? <i>Rien de nouveau sous le ciel</i>, though an old proverb, +would not now suit as a maxim. This, in fact, seems the age of wonders. The +league of monarchs has ended by producing republics; while a republic has +raised a dukedom into a monarchy, and, by its vast preponderance, completely +overturned the balance of power.</p> +<p>Not knowing when I may have an opportunity of sending this letter, I shall +defer to close it for the present, as I may possibly lengthen it. But you must +not expect much order in my narrations. I throw my thoughts on paper just as +they happen to present themselves, without any studied arrangement.</p> +<p /><p /><p /><p class="right"><i>October 21, in continuation</i>.</p> +<p>When we have been for some time in the habit of corresponding with +strangers, we are apt to draw such inferences from their language and style, as +furnish us with the means of sketching an ideal portrait of their person. This +was the case with myself.</p> +<p>Through the concurrence of the two governments, I had, as you know, +participated, in common with others, in the indulgence of being permitted to +correspond, occasionally, on subjects of literature with several of the +<i>savans</i> and literati of France. Indeed, the principal motive of my +journey to Paris was to improve that sort of acquaintance, by personal +intercourse, so as to render it more interesting to both parties. In my +imagination, I had drawn a full-length picture of most of my literary +correspondents. I was now anxious to see the originals, and compare the +resemblance.</p> +<p>Yesterday, having first paid my respects to Mr. M----y, the successor to +Captain C----s, as commissary for the maintenance and exchange of British +prisoners of war, and at present <i>Chargé d'affaires</i> from our court to the +French Republic, I called on M. F----u, formerly minister of the naval +department, and at present counsellor of state, and member of the National +Institute, as well as of the board of longitude. I then visited M. O----r, and +afterwards M. L------re, also members of the Institute, and both well known to +our proficients in natural history, by the works which each has published in +the different branches of that interesting science.</p> +<p>In one only of my ideal portraits had I been very wide of the likeness. +However, without pretending to be a Lavater, I may affirm that I should not +have risked falling into a mistake like that committed, on a somewhat similar +occasion, by Voltaire.</p> +<p>This colossus of French literature, having been for a long time in +correspondence with the great Frederic, became particularly anxious to see that +monarch. On his arrival in a village where the head-quarters of the Prussian +army were then established, Voltaire inquired for the king's lodging: thither +he paced with redoubled speed; and, being directed to the upper part of the +house, he hastily crossed a large garret; he then found himself in a second, +and was just on the point of entering the third, when, on turning round, he +perceived in one of the comers of the room, a soldier, not overclean in +appearance, lying on a sorry bedstead. He went up and said to him with +eagerness: "Where's the king?"—"I am Frederic," replied the soldier; and, +sure enough, it was the monarch himself.</p> +<p>I am now settled in my new apartments, which are situated in the most +centrical part of Paris. When you visit this capital, I would by all means, +recommend to you, should you intend to remain here a few weeks, to get into +private lodgings.</p> +<p>I know of no article here so much augmented in price, within the last ten +years, as the apartments in all the hotels. After looking at several of them in +the <i>Rue de la Loi</i>, accompanied by a French friend, who was so obliging +as to take on himself all the trouble of inquiry, while I remained a silent +bystander, I had the curiosity to go to the <i>Hôtel d'Angleterre</i>, in the +<i>Rue des Filles St. Thomas</i>, hot far from the <i>ci-devant Palais +Royal</i>. The same apartments on the first floor of this hotel which I +occupied in 1789, happened to be vacant. At that time I paid for them twelve +louis d'or a month; the furniture was then new; it is now much the worse for +nearly eleven years' wear; and the present landlord asked twenty-five louis a +month, and even refused twenty-two, if taken for three months certain. The fact +is, that all the landlords of ready-furnished hotels in Paris seem to be buoyed +up with an idea that, on the peace, the English and foreigners of other nations +will flock hither in such numbers as to enable them to reap a certain and +plentiful harvest. Not but all lodgings are considerably increased in price, +which is ascribed to the increase of taxes.</p> +<p>To find private lodgings, you have only to cast your eye on the daily +advertiser of Paris, called <i>Les Petites Affiches</i>. There I read a +description of my present quarters, which are newly fitted up in every +particular, and, I assure you, with no small degree of tasteful fancy. My +landlady, who is a milliner, and, for aught I know, a very fashionable one, +left not the smallest convenience to my conjecture, but explained the +particular use of every hole and corner in the most significant manner, not +even excepting the <i>boudoir</i>.</p> +<p>This would be a most excellent situation for any one whose principal object +was to practise speaking French; for, on the right hand of the +<i>porte-cochère</i> or gateway, (which, by the bye, is here reckoned an +indispensable appendage to a proper lodging), is the <i>magazin des modes</i>, +where my landlady presides over twenty damsels, many of whom, though +assiduously occupied in making caps and bonnets, would, I am persuaded, find +repartee for the most witty gallant.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let04">LETTER IV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 23, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Since my arrival, I have been so much engaged in paying and receiving +visits, that I really have not yet been able to take even a hasty view of any +of the grand sights introduced here since the revolution,</p> +<p>On Wednesday I dined with M. S----i, whose new 8vo edition of Buffon +proceeds, I find, with becoming spirit. It is quite a journey to his residence; +for he lives in one of the most retired quarters of Paris, However, I had no +reason to repine at the distance, as the party was exceedingly cheerful. +Naturalists and literati were not wanting.</p> +<p>Egypt was a subject that engrossed much of the conversation: it was +mentioned as a matter of regret that, during the dominion of the French in that +country, curiosity had not prompted the Institute, established at Cairo, to +open one of the pyramids, with a view of ascertaining the object of the +erection of those vast masses. At the desert, we had luscious grapes as large +as damsons, in bunches of from three to five pounds in weight. They were of the +species of the famous <i>chasselas de Fontainebleau</i>, which are said to have +sprung from a stock of vine-plants, imported by Francis I. from the island of +Cyprus. These did not come from that town, but grew against the naked wall in +S----i's garden. From this you may form a judgment of the climate of Paris.</p> +<p>The persons with whom I have had any correspondence, respecting literature, +vie with each other in shewing me every mark of cordial hospitality; and those +to whom I have been introduced, are by no means backward in friendly attention. +All the lovers of science here seem to rejoice that the communication, which +has been so long interrupted between the two countries, promises to be shortly +re-opened.</p> +<p>After dining yesterday with Mr. M----y, the British minister, in company +with Mr. D----n, the member for Ilchester, we all three went to an exhibition +almost facing Mr. M----y's residence in the <i>Rue St. Dominique</i>. This was +the third time of its being open to the public. As it is of a novel kind, some +account of it may not be uninteresting. In French, it is denominated</p> +<p class="center">THERMOLAMPES,<br /> +<i>or stoves which afford heat and light on an economical plan</i>.</p> +<p>The author of this invention, for which a patent has been obtained, is M. +LEBON, an engineer of bridges and highways. The place of exhibition was the +ground floor of one of the large hotels in the <i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>, on +which was a suite of rooms, extremely favourable for displaying the effect of +this new method of lighting and warming apartments.</p> +<p>In lieu of fire or candle, on the chimney stood a large crystal globe, in +which appeared a bright and clear flame diffusing a very agreeable heat; and on +different pieces of furniture were placed candlesticks with metal candles, from +the top of each of which issued a steady light, like that of a lamp burning +with spirits of wine. These different receptacles were supplied with +inflammable gas by means of tubes communicating with an apparatus underneath. +By this contrivance, in short, all the apartments were warmed very comfortably, +and illuminated in a brilliant manner.</p> +<p>On consulting M. LEBON, he communicated to me the following observations: +"You may have remarked," said he, "in sitting before a fire, that wood +sometimes burns without flame, but with much smoke, and then you experience +little heat, sometimes with flame, but with little smoke, and then you find +much warmth. You may have remarked too, that ill-made charcoal emits smoke; it +is, on that account, susceptible of flaming again; and the characteristic +difference between wood and charcoal is, that the latter has lost, together +with its smoke, the principle and aliment of flame, without which you obtain +but little heat. Experience next informs us, that this portion of smoke, the +aliment of flame, is not an oily vapour condensable by cooling, but a gas, a +permanent air, which may be washed, purified, conducted, distributed, and +afterwards turned into flame at any distance from the hearth.</p> +<p>"It is almost needless," continued he, "to point out the formation of +verdigrise, white lead, and a quantity of other operations, in which acetous +acid is employed. I shall only remark that it is this pyroligneous acid which +penetrates smoked meat and fish, that it has an effect on leather which it +hardens, and that <i>thermolampes</i> are likely to render tanning-mills +unnecessary, by furnishing the tan without further trouble. But to return to +the aëriform principle.</p> +<p>"This aliment of flame is deprived of those humid vapours, so perceptible +and so disagreeable to the organs of sight and smell. Purified to a perfect +transparency, it floats in the state of cold air, and suffers itself to be +directed by the smallest and most fragil pipes. Chimnies of an inch square, +made in the thickness of the plaster of ceilings or walls, tubes even of gummed +silk would answer this purpose. The end alone of the tube, which, by bringing +the inflammable gas into contact with the atmospheric air, allows it to catch +fire, and on which the flame reposes, ought to be of metal.</p> +<p>"By a distribution so easy to be established, a single stove may supply the +place of all the chimnies of a house. Every where inflammable air is ready to +diffuse immediately heat and light of the most glowing or most mild nature, +simultaneously or separately, according to your wishes. In the twinkling of an +eye, you may conduct the flame from one room to another; an advantage equally +convenient and economical, and which can never be obtained with our common +stoves and chimnies. No sparks, no charcoal, no soot, to trouble you; no ashes, +no wood, to soil your apartments. By night, as well as by day, you can have a +fire in your room, without a servant being obliged to look after it. Nothing in +the <i>thermolampes</i>, not even the smallest portion of inflammable air, can +escape combustion; while in our chimnies, torrents evaporate, and even carry +off with them the greater part of the heat produced.</p> +<p>"The advantage of being able to purify and proportion, in some measure, the +principles of the gas which feeds the flame is," said M. LEBON, "set forth in +the clearest manner. But this flame is so subjected to our caprice, that even +to tranquilize the imagination, it suffers itself to be confined in a crystal +globe, which is never tarnished, and thus presents a filter pervious to light +and heat. A part of the tube that conducts the inflammable air, carries off, +out of doors, the produce of this combustion, which, nevertheless, according to +the experiments of modern chymists, can scarcely be any thing more than an +aqueous vapour.</p> +<p>"Who cannot but be fond of having recourse to a flame so subservient? It +will dress your victuals, which, as well as your cooks, will not be exposed to +the vapour of charcoal; it will warm again those dishes on your table; dry your +linen; heat your oven, and the water for your baths or your washing, with every +economical advantage that can be wished. No moist or black vapours; no ashes, +no breaze, to make a dirt, or oppose the communication of heat; no useless loss +of caloric; you may, by shutting an opening, which is no longer necessary for +placing the wood in your oven, compress and coerce the torrents of heat that +were escaping from it.</p> +<p>"It may easily be conceived, that an inflammable principle so docile and so +active may be made to yield the most magnificent illuminations. Streams of fire +finely drawn out, the duration, colour, and form of which may be varied at +pleasure, the motion of suns and turning-columns, must produce an effect no +less agreeable than brilliant." Indeed, this effect was exhibited on the garden +façade of M. LEBON'S residence.</p> +<p>"Wood," concluded he, "yields in condensable vapours two thirds of its +weight; those vapours may therefore be employed to produce the effects of our +steam-engines, and it is needless to borrow this succour from foreign +water."</p> +<p><i>P. S.</i>. On the 1st of last Vendémiaire, (23rd of September), the +government presented to the Chief Consul a sword, whose hilt was adorned with +fourteen diamonds, the largest of which, called the <i>Regent</i>, from its +having been purchased by the Duke of Orleans, when Regent, weighs 184 carats. +This is the celebrated <i>Pitt</i> diamond, of which we have heard so much: but +its weight is exceeded by that of the diamond purchased by the late empress of +Russia, which weighs 194 carats; not to speak of the more famous diamond, in +possession of the Great Mogul, which is said to weigh 280 carats.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let05">LETTER V.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 24, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Last night I received yours of the 20th ult. and as Mr. M----y purposes to +send off a dispatch this morning, and will do me the favour to forward this, +with my former letters, I hasten to write you a few lines.</p> +<p>I scarcely need assure you, my dear friend, that I will, with pleasure, +communicate to you my remarks on this great city and its inhabitants, and +describe to you, as far as I am able, the principal curiosities which it +contains, particularizing, as you desire, those recently placed here by the +chance of war; and giving you a succinct, historical account of the most +remarkable national establishments and public buildings. But to pass in review +the present state of the <i>arts, sciences, literature, manners, &c. +&c.</i> in this capital, and contrast it with that which existed before the +revolution, is a task indeed; and far more, I fear, than it will be in my power +to accomplish.</p> +<p>However, if you will be content to gather my observations as they occur; to +listen to my reflections, while the impression of the different scenes which +produced them, is still warm in my mind; in short, to take a faithful sketch, +in lieu of a finished picture, I will do the best I can for your +satisfaction.</p> +<p>Relying on your indulgence, you shall know the life I lead: I will, as it +were, take you by the arm, and, wherever I go, you shall be my companion. +Perhaps, by pursuing this plan, you will not, at the expiration of three or +four months, think your time unprofitably spent. Aided by the experience +acquired by having occasionally resided here, for several months together, +before the revolution, it will be my endeavour to make you as well acquainted +with Paris, as I shall then hope to be myself. For this purpose, I will lay +under contribution every authority, both written and oral, worthy of being +consulted.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let06">LETTER VI</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 26, 1801.</i></p> +<p>From particular passages in your letter, I clearly perceive your anxiety to +be introduced among those valuable antiques which now adorn the banks of the +Seine. On that account, I determined to postpone all other matters, and pay my +first visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, established in the</p> +<p class="center">LOUVRE.</p> +<p>But, before, we enter the interior of this building, it may not be amiss to +give you some account of its construction, and describe to you its exterior +beauties.</p> +<p>The origin of this palace, as well as the etymology of its name, is lost in +the darkness of time. It is certain, however, that it existed, under the +appellation of <i>Louvre</i>, in the reign of Philip Augustus, who surrounded +it with ditches and towers, and made it a fortress. The great tower of the +<i>Louvre</i>, celebrated in history, was insulated, and built in the middle of +the court. All the great feudatories of the crown derived their tenure from +this tower, and came hither to swear allegiance and pay homage. +<a name="let06fr1"></a>"It was," says St. Foix, "a prison previously prepared +for them, if they violated their oaths."[<a href="#let06f1">1</a>] Three Counts +of Flanders were confined in it at different periods.</p> +<p>The <i>Louvre</i>, far from being cheerful from its construction, received +also from this enormous tower a melancholy and terrifying aspect which rendered +it unworthy of being a royal residence. Charles V. endeavoured to enliven and +embellish this gloomy abode, and made it tolerably commodious for those times. +Several foreign monarchs successively lodged in it; such as Manuel, emperor of +Constantinople; Sigismund, emperor of Germany; and the emperor Charles the +Fifth.</p> +<p>This large tower of the <i>Louvre</i>, which had, at different periods, +served as a palace to the kings of France, as a prison to the great lords, and +as a treasury to the state, was at length taken down in 1528.</p> +<p>The <i>Tower of the Library</i> was famous, among several others, because it +contained that of Charles V. the most considerable one of the time, and in +which the number of volumes amounted to nine hundred.</p> +<p class="center">OLD LOUVRE</p> +<p>The part of this palace which, at the present day, is called the <i>Old +Louvre</i>, was begun under Francis I. from the plan of PIERRE LESCOT, abbot of +Clugny; and the sculpture was executed by JEAN GOUGEON, whose minute +correctness is particularly remarkable in the festoons of the frieze of the +second order, and in the devices emblematic of the amours of Henry II. This +edifice, though finished, was not inhabited during the reign of that king, but +it was by his son Charles IX.</p> +<p>Under him, the <i>Louvre</i> became the bloody theatre of treacheries and +massacres which time will never efface from the memory of mankind, and which, +till the merciless reign of Robespierre, were unexampled in the history of this +country. I mean the horrors of St. Bartholemew's day.</p> +<p>While the alarmed citizens were swimming across the river to escape from +death, Charles IX. from a window of this palace, was firing at them with his +arquebuse. During that period of the revolution, when all means were employed +to excite and strengthen the enmity of the people against their kings, this act +of atrocity was called to their mind by an inscription placed under the very +window, which looks on the <i>Quai du Louvre</i>.</p> +<p>Indeed, this instance of Charles's barbarity is fully corroborated by +historians. "When it was day-light," says Brantome, "the king peeped out of his +chamber-window, and seeing some people in the <i>Faubourg St. Germain</i> +moving about and running away, he took a large arquebuse which he had ready at +hand, and, calling out incessantly: <i>Kill, kill!</i> fired a great many shots +at them, but in vain; for the piece did not carry so far."—This prince, +according to Masson, piqued himself on his dexterity in cutting off at a single +blow the head of the asses and pigs which he met with on his way. Lansac, one +of his favourites, having found him one day with his sword drawn and ready to +strike his mule, asked him seriously: "What quarrel has then happened between +His Most Christian Majesty and my mule?" Murad Bey far surpassed this +blood-thirsty monarch in address and strength. The former, we are told by +travellers in Egypt, has been known, when riding past an ox, to cut off its +head with one stroke of his scimitar.</p> +<p>The capital was dyed with the blood of Charles's murdered subjects. Into +this very <i>Louvre</i>, into the chamber of Marguerite de Valois, the king's +sister, and even to her bed, in which she was then lying, did the fanatics +pursue the officers belonging to the court itself, as is circumstantially +related by that princess in her Memoirs.</p> +<p>Let us draw the curtain on these scenes of horror, and pass rapidly from +this period of fanaticism and cruelty, when the <i>Louvre</i> was stained by so +many crimes to times more happy, when this palace became the quiet cradle of +the arts and sciences, the school for talents, the <i>arena</i> for genius, and +the asylum of artists and literati.</p> +<p>The centre pavilion over the principal gate of the <i>Old Louvre</i>, was +erected under the reign of Lewis XIII. from the designs of LE MERCIER, as well +as the angle of the left part of the building, parallel to that built by Henry +II. The eight gigantic cariatides which are there seen, were sculptured by +SARRASIN.</p> +<p>The façade towards the <i>Jardin de l'Infante</i>, (as it is called), that +towards the <i>Place du Louvre</i>, and that over the little gate, towards the +river, which were constructed under the reigns of Charles IX. and Henry III. in +the midst of the civil wars of the League, partake of the taste of the time, in +regard to the multiplicity of the ornaments; but the interior announces, by the +majesty of its decorations, the refined taste of Lewis XIV.</p> +<p class="center">NEW LOUVRE.</p> +<p><a name="let06fr2"></a>The part of the <i>Louvre</i>, which, with the two +sides of the old building, forms the perfect square, three hundred and +seventy-eight feet[<a href="#let06f2">2</a>] in extent, called the <i>New +Louvre</i>, consists in two double façades, which are still unfinished. LE +VEAU, and after him D'ORBAY, were the architects under whose direction this +augmentation was made by order of Lewis XIV.</p> +<p>That king at first resolved to continue the <i>Louvre</i> on the plan begun +by Francis I.: for some time he caused it to be pursued, but having conceived a +more grand and magnificent design, he ordered the foundation of the superb +edifice now standing, to be laid on the 17th of October 1665, under the +administration of COLBERT.</p> +<p>Through a natural prejudice, Lewis XIV. thought that he could find no where +but in Italy an artist sufficiently skilful to execute his projects of +magnificence. He sent for the Cavaliere BERNINI from Rome. This artist, whose +reputation was established, was received in France with all the pomp due to +princes of the blood. The king ordered that, in the towns through which he +might pass, he should be complimented and receive presents from the +corporations, &c.</p> +<p>BERNINI was loaded with wealth and honours: notwithstanding the +prepossession of the court in favour of this Italian architect, notwithstanding +his talents, he did not succeed in his enterprise. After having forwarded the +foundation of this edifice, he made a pretext of the impossibility of spending +the winter in a climate colder than that of Italy. "He was promised," says St. +Foix, "three thousand louis a year if he would stay; but," he said, "he would +positively go and die in his <i>own</i> country." On the eve of his departure, +the king sent him three thousand louis, with the grant of a pension of five +hundred. He received the whole with great coolness.</p> +<p>Several celebrated architects now entered the lists to complete this grand +undertaking.—MANSARD presented his plans, with which COLBERT was +extremely pleased: the king also approved of them, and absolutely insisted on +their being executed without any alteration. MANSARD replied that he would +rather renounce the glory of building this edifice than the liberty of +correcting himself, and changing his design when he thought he could improve +it. Among the competitors was CLAUDE PERRAULT, that physician so defamed by +Boileau, the poet. His plans were preferred, and merited the preference. Many +pleasantries were circulated at the expense of the new medical architect; and +PERRAULT replied to those sarcasms by producing the beautiful colonnade of the +<i>Louvre</i>, the master-piece of French architecture, and the admiration of +all Europe.</p> +<p>The façade of this colonnade, which is of the Corinthian order; is five +hundred and twenty-five feet in length: it is divided into two peristyles and +three avant-corps. The principal gate is in the centre avant-corps, which is +decorated with eight double columns, crowned by a pediment, whose raking +cornices are composed of two stones only, each fifty-four feet in length by +eight in breadth, though no more than eighteen inches in thickness. They were +taken from the quarries of Meudon, and formed but one single block, which was +sawed into two. The other two avant-corps are ornamented by six pilasters, and +two columns of the same order, and disposed in the same manner. On the top, in +lieu of a ridged roof, is a terrace, bordered by a stone balustrade, the +pedestals of which are intended to bear trophies intermixed with vases.</p> +<p>PERRAULT'S enemies disputed with him the invention of this master-piece. +They maintained that it belonged to LE VEAU, the architect; but, since the +discovery of the original manuscript and drawings of PERRAULT, there no longer +remains a doubt respecting the real author of this beautiful production.</p> +<p>In front of this magnificent colonnade, a multitude of salesmen erect their +stalls, and there display quantities of old clothes, rags, &c. This +contrast, as Mercier justly remarks, still speaks to the eye of the attentive +observer. It is the image of all the rest, grandeur and beggary, side by +side.</p> +<p>However, it is not on the <i>outside</i> of these walls only, that beggary +has been so nearly allied to grandeur. At least we have a solitary instance of +this truth of a very sinking nature.</p> +<p>Cardinal de Retz tells us, that going one morning to the <i>Louvre</i> to +see the Queen of England, he found her in the chamber of her daughter, +aftenwards Dutchess of Orleans, and that she said to him: "You see, I come to +keep Henriette company: the poor girl could not leave her bed to-day, for want +of fuel."—It is true, he adds, that, for six months past Cardinal Mazarin +had not paid her pension; the tradesmen, would no longer give her credit, and +she had not a piece of wood to warm her.</p> +<p>Like St. Paul's in London, the façade of the <i>Louvre</i> cannot be seen to +the best advantage, on account of the proximity of the surrounding buildings; +and, like many other great undertakings too, will, probably, never be +completed, but remain a monument of the fickleness of the nation.</p> +<p>Lewis XIV, after having for a long time made the <i>Louvre</i> his +residence; abandoned it for <i>Versailles</i>: "Sire," said Dufreny once to +that prince, "I never look at the <i>New Louvre</i>, without exclaiming, superb +monument of the magnificence of our greatest kings, you would have been +finished, had you been given to one of the begging orders of friars!" From that +period, the <i>Louvre</i> was wholly consecrated to the sittings of different +academies, and to the accommodation of several men of science and artists, to +whom free apartments were allotted.</p> +<p>I much regret having, for this year at least, lost a sight here, which I +should have viewed with no inconsiderable degree of attention. This is the</p> +<p class="center">PUBLIC EXHIBITION OF THE PRODUCTIONS OF FRENCH INDUSTRY.</p> +<p>Under the directorial government, this exhibition was opened in the <i>Champ +de Mars</i>; but it now takes place, annually, in the square of the +<i>Louvre</i>, during the five complementary days of the republican calendar; +namely, from the 18th to the 22d of September, both inclusive.</p> +<p>The exhibition not only includes manufactures of every sort, but also every +new discovery, invention, and improvement. For the purpose of displaying these +objects to advantage, temporary buildings are erected along the four interior +walls of this square, each of which are subdivided into twenty-five porticoes; +so that the whole square of the <i>Louvre</i>, during that period, represents a +fair with a hundred booths. The resemblance, I am told, is rendered still more +perfect by the prodigious crowd; persons of all ranks being indiscriminately +admitted to view these productions. Precautions, however, are taken to prevent +the indiscreet part of the public from rushing into the porticoes, and +sentinels are posted at certain intervals to preserve order.</p> +<p>This, undoubtedly, is a very laudable institution, and extremely well +calculated to excite emulation in the national manufactures, specimens of which +being sent from all the principal manufacturing towns, the hundred porticoes +may be said to comprise an epitome of the present state of all the flourishing +manufactures of France. Indeed, none but new inventions and articles of +finished workmanship, the fabrication of which is known, are suffered to make +part of the exhibition. Even these are not admitted till after a previous +examination, and on the certificate of a private jury of five members, +appointed for that purpose by the prefect of each department. A new jury, +composed of fifteen members, nominated by the Minister of the Interior, again +examine the different articles admitted; and agreeably to their decision, the +government award premiums and medals to those persons who have made the +greatest improvement in any particular fabric or branch of industry, or +produced any new discovery or invention. The successful candidates are +presented to the Chief Consul by the Minister of the Interior, and have the +honour of dining with him at his public monthly dinner.</p> +<p>From all that I can learn concerning this interesting exhibition, it +appears, that, though the useful arts, in general, cannot at present be put in +competition here with those of a similar description among us, the object of +the French government is to keep up a spirit of rivalship, and encourage, by +every possible means, the improvement of those manufactures in which England is +acknowledged to surpass other countries.</p> +<p>I am reminded that it is time to prepare for going out to dinner. I must +therefore not leave this letter, like the <i>Louvre</i>, unfinished. +Fortunately, my good friend, the prevailing fashion here is to dine very late, +which leaves me a long morning; but for this, I know not when I should have an +opportunity of writing long letters. Restrain then your impatience, and I +promise that you shall very shortly be ushered into the GALLERY OF +ANTIQUES,</p> +<p class="bq">"Where the smooth chisel all its force has shewn,<br /> +And soften'd into flesh the rugged stone."</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let06f1">Footnote 1</a>: <i>Essais historiques sur +Paris</i>. <a href="#let06fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let06f2">Footnote 2</a>: It may be necessary to observe +that, throughout these letters, we always speak of French feet. The English +foot is to the French as 12 to 12.789, or as 4 to 4.263. +<a href="#let06fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let07">LETTER VII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 28, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Having, in my last letter, described to you the outside of the +<i>Louvre</i>, (with the exception of the Great Gallery, of which I shall speak +more at length in another place), I shall now proceed to give you an account of +some of the principal national establishments contained within its walls.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, the <i>Louvre</i> was, as I have said, the seat of +different academies, such as the <i>French Academy</i>, the <i>Academy of +Sciences</i>, the <i>Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres</i>, the +<i>Academy of Painting and Sculpture</i>, and the <i>Academy of +Architecture</i>. All these are replaced by the <i>National Institute of Arts +and Sciences</i>, of which, however, I shall postpone further mention till I +conduct you to one of its public sittings.</p> +<p>At the period to which I revert, there existed in the <i>Louvre</i> a hall, +called the <i>Salle des Antiques</i>, where, besides, some original statues by +French artists, were assembled models in plaster of the most celebrated +master-pieces of sculpture in Italy, together with a small number of antiques. +In another apartment, forming part of those assigned to the Academy of +Painting, and called the <i>Galérie d'Apollon</i>, were seen several pictures, +chiefly of the French school; and it was intended that the Great Gallery should +be formed into a Museum, containing a collection of the finest pictures and +statues at the disposal of the crown.</p> +<p>This plan, which had partly been carried into execution under the old +<i>régime</i>, is now completed, but in a manner infinitely more magnificent +than could possibly have been effected without the advantages of conquest. The +<i>Great Gallery</i> and <i>Saloon</i> of the <i>Louvre</i> are solely +appropriated to the exhibition of pictures of the old masters of the Italian, +Flemish, and French schools; and the <i>Gallery of Apollo</i> to that of their +drawings; while a suite of lofty apartments has been purposely fitted up in +this palace for the reception of original antiques, in lieu of those copies of +them before-mentioned. In other rooms, adjoining to the Great Gallery, are +exhibited, as formerly, that is during one month every year, the productions of +living painters, sculptors, architects, and draughtsmen.</p> +<p>These different exhibitions are placed under the superintendance of a board +of management, or an administration, (as the French term it), composed of a +number of antiquaries, artists, and men of science, inferior to none in Europe +in skill, judgment, taste, or erudition. The whole of this grand establishment +bears the general title of</p> +<p class="center">CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS.</p> +<p>The treasures of painting and sculpture which the French nation have +acquired by the success of their arms, or by express conditions in treaties of +alliance or neutrality, are so immense as to enable them, not only to render +this CENTRAL MUSEUM the grandest collection of master-pieces in the world, but +also to establish fifteen departmental Museums in fifteen of the principal +towns of France. This measure, evidently intended to favour the progress of the +fine arts, will case Paris of a great number of the pictures, statues, &c. +amassed here from different parts of France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, +Piedmont, Savoy, and the States of. Venice.</p> +<p>If you cast your eye on the annexed <i>Plan of Paris</i>, and suppose +yourself near the exterior south-west angle of the <i>Louvre</i>, or, as it is +more emphatically styled, the NATIONAL PALACE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, you will be +in the right-hand corner of the <i>Place du Vieux Louvre</i>, in which quarter +is the present entrance to the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS. Here, after passing +through a court, you enter a vestibule, on the left of which is the Hall of the +Administration of the Museum. On the ground-floor, facing the door of this +vestibule, is the entrance to the</p> +<p class="center">GALLERY OF ANTIQUES.</p> +<p>In this gallery, which was, for the first time, opened to the public on the +18th of Brumaire, year ix. of the French republic, (9th of November 1800), are +now distributed no less than one hundred and forty-six statues, busts, and +bas-reliefs. It consists of several handsome apartments, bearing appropriate +denominations, according to the principal subjects which each contains. Six +only are at present completely arranged for public inspection: but many others +are in a state of preparation.</p> +<p>The greater part of the statues here exhibited, are the fruit of the +conquests of the army of Italy. Conformably to the treaty of Tolentino, they +were selected at Rome, from the Capitol and the Vatican, by BARTHÉLEMY, +BERTHOLET, MOITTE, MONGE, THOUIN, and TINET, who were appointed, by the French +government, commissioners for the research of objects appertaining to the Arts +and Sciences.</p> +<p>In the vestibule, for the moderate price of fifteen <i>sous</i>, is sold a +catalogue, which is not merely a barren index, but a perspicuous and +satisfactory explanation of the different objects that strike the eye of the +admiring spectator as he traverses the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. It is by no means +my intention to transcribe this catalogue, or to mention every statue; but, +assisted by the valuable observations with which I was favoured by the learned +antiquary, VISCONTI, long distinguished for his profound knowledge of the fine +arts, I shall describe the most remarkable only, and such as would fix the +attention of the connoisseur.</p> +<p>On entering the gallery, you might, perhaps, be tempted to stop in the first +hall; but we will visit them all in regular succession, and proceed to that +which is now the furthest on the left hand. The ceiling of this apartment, +painted by ROMANELLI, represents the four seasons; whence it is called the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE SEASONS.</p> +<p>In consequence, among other antiques, here are placed the statues of the +rustic divinities, and those relating to the Seasons. Of the whole, I shall +distinguish the following:</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%">N° 210.</td><td>DIANA.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>Diana, habited as a huntress, in a short tunic without sleeves, is holding +her bow in one hand; while, with the other, she is drawing an arrow from her +quiver, which is suspended at her shoulder. Her legs are bare, and her feet are +adorned with rich sandals. The goddess, with a look expressive of indignation, +appears to be defending the fabulous hind from the pursuit of Hercules, who, in +obedience to the oracle of Apollo, was pursuing it, in order to carry it alive +to Eurystheus; a task imposed on him by the latter as one of his twelve +labours.</p> +<p>To say that, in the opinion of the first-rate connoisseurs, this statue +might serve as a companion to the <i>Apollo of Belvedere</i>, is sufficient to +convey an idea of its perfection; and, in fact, it is reckoned the finest +representation of Diana in existence. It is of Parian marble, and, according to +historians, has been in France ever since the reign of Henry IV. It was the +most perfect of the antiques which adorned the Gallery of Versailles. The parts +wanting have been recently restored with such skill as to claim particular +admiration.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 214.</td><td>ROME.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this bust, the city of Rome is personified as an Amazon. The helmet of +the female warrior is adorned with a representation of the she-wolf, suckling +the children of Mars.</p> +<p>This antique, of Parian marble, is of a perfect Greek style, and in +admirable preservation. It formerly belonged to the Gallery of +Richelieu-Castle.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 51.</td><td>ADOLESCENS SPINAM +AVELLENS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This bronze figure represents a young man seated, who seems employed in +extracting a thorn from his left foot.</p> +<p>It is a production of the flourishing period of the art, but, according to +appearance, anterior to the reign of Alexander the Great. It partakes a little +of the meagre style of the old Greek school; but, at the same time, is finished +with astonishing truth, and exhibits a graceful simplicity of expression. In +what place it was originally discovered is not known. It was taken from the +Capitol, where it was seen in the <i>Palazzo dei Conservatori</i>.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 50.</td><td>A FAUN, <i>in a resting +posture</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This young faun, with no other covering than a deer's skin thrown over his +shoulders, is standing with his legs crossed, and leaning on the trunk of a +tree, as if resting himself.</p> +<p>The grace and finished execution that reign throughout this figure, as well +as the immense number of copies still existing of it, and all antiques, +occasion it to be considered as the copy of the Faun in bronze, (or Satyr as it +is termed by the Greeks), of Praxiteles. That statue was so celebrated, that +the epithet of +<i>περιζοητος</i>, or +the famous, became its distinctive appellation throughout Greece.</p> +<p>This Faun is of Pentelic marble: it was found in 1701, near <i>Civita +Lavinia</i>, and placed in the Capitol by Benedict XIV.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 59.</td><td>ARIADNE, <i>known by the name +of</i> CLEOPATRA.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this beautiful figure, Ariadne is represented asleep on a rock in the +Isle of Naxos, abandoned by the faithless Theseus, and at the moment when +Bacchus became enamoured of her, as described by several ancient poets.</p> +<p>It is astonishing how the expression of sleep could be mistaken for that of +death, and cause this figure to be called <i>Cleopatra</i>. The serpent on the +upper part of the left arm is evidently a bracelet, of that figure which the +Greek women called <i>οφιδιον</i>, or +the little serpent.</p> +<p>For three successive centuries, this statue of Parian marble constituted one +of the principal ornaments of the Belvedere of the Vatican, where it was placed +by Julius II.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 190.</td><td>AUGUSTUS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This head of Augustus, adorned with the civic crown of oak leaves, is one of +the fine portraits of that emperor. It is executed in Parian marble, and comes +from Verona, where it was admired in the <i>Bevilacqua</i> cabinet.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p>On quitting the HALL OF THE SEASONS, we return to that through which we +first passed to reach it. This apartment, from being ornamented with the +statues of ZENO, TRAJAN, DEMOSTHENES, and PHOCION, is denominated the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN.</p> +<p>It is decorated with eight antique granite pillars brought from +<i>Aix-la-Chapelle</i>, where they stood in the nave of the church, which +contained the tomb of Charlemagne.</p> +<p>Among the antiques placed in it, I shall particularize</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%">N° 75.</td><td>MENANDER.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This figure represents the poet, honoured by the Greeks with the title of +<i>Prince of the New Comedy</i>, sitting on a hemi-cycle, or semicircular seat, +and resting after his literary labours. He is clad in the Grecian tunic and +<i>pallium</i>.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 76.</td><td>POSIDIPPUS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>The dress of Posidippus, who was reckoned among the Greeks one of the best +authors of what was called the <i>New Comedy</i>, is nearly that of Menander, +the poet. Like him, he is represented sitting on a hemi-cycle.</p> +<p>These two statues, which are companions, are admirable for the noble +simplicity of their execution. They are both of Pentelic marble, and were found +in the XVIth century at Rome, in the gardens of the convent of <i>San +Lorenzo</i>, on Mount Viminal. After making part of the baths of Olympius, they +were placed by Sixtus V. at <i>Negroni</i>, whence they were removed to the +Vatican by Pius VI.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p>Continuing our examination, after leaving the HALL OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN, we +next come to the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE ROMANS.</p> +<p>The ceiling of this hall is ornamented with subjects taken from the Roman +history, painted by ROMANELLI; and in it are chiefly assembled such works of +sculpture as have a relation to that people.</p> +<p>Among several busts and statues, representing ADRIAN, PUBLIUS CORNELIUS +SCIPIO, MARCUS JUNIUS BRUTUS, LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS, CICERO, &c. I shall +point out to your notice,</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 209.</td><td><i>The</i> TORSO <i>of</i> +BELVEDERE.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This admirable remnant of a figure seated, though the head, arms, and legs +are wanting, represents the apotheosis of Hercules. The lion's skin spread on +the rock, and the enormous size of the limbs, leave no doubt as to the subject +of the statue. Notwithstanding the muscles are strongly marked, the veins in +the body of the hero are suppressed, whence antiquaries have inferred, that the +intention of the author was to indicate the very moment of his deification. +According to this idea, our countryman FLAXMAN has immortalized himself by +restoring a copy of the <i>Torso</i>, and placing Hebe on the left of Hercules, +in the act of presenting to him the cup of immortality.</p> +<p>On the rock, where the figure is seated, is the following Greek +inscription:</p> +<p class="bq"> +ΑΠΟΛΛωΝΙΟΣ<br /> +ΝΕΣΤΟΡΟΣ<br /> +ΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΣ<br /> +ΕΠΟΙΕΙ.</p> +<p>By which we are informed, that it is the production of APOLLONIUS, <i>the +Athenian, the son of Nestor</i>, who, probably, flourished in the time of +Pompey the Great.</p> +<p>This valuable antique is of Pentelic marble, and sculptured in a most +masterly style. It was found at Rome, near Pompey's theatre, now <i>Campo di +Fiore</i>. Julius II. placed it in the garden of the Vatican, where it was long +the object of the studies of MICHAEL ANGELO, RAPHAEL, &c. those illustrious +geniuses, to whom we are indebted for the improvement of the fine arts. Among +artists, it has always been distinguished by the appellation of the <i>Torso of +Belvedere</i>.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 94.</td><td><i>A wounded warrior, +commonly called the</i> GLADIATOR MORIENS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This figure, represents a barbarian soldier, dying on the field of battle, +without surrendering. It is remarkable for truth of imitation, of a choice +nature, though not sublime, (because the subject would not admit of it,) and +for nobleness of expression, which is evident without affectation.</p> +<p>This statue formerly belonged to the <i>Villa-Ludovisi</i>, whence it was +removed to the Museum of the Capitol by Clement XII. It is from the chisel of +AGASIAS, a sculptor of Ephesus, who lived 450 years before the Christian +era.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 82.</td><td>CERES.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This charming figure is rather that of a Muse than of the goddess of +agriculture. It is admirable for the <i>ideal</i> beauty of the drapery. She is +clad in a tunic; over this is thrown a mantle, the execution of which is so +perfect, that, through it, are perceived the knots of the strings which fasten +the tunic below the bosom.</p> +<p>It formerly belonged to the <i>Villa-Mattei</i>, on Mount Esquiline; but was +taken from the Museum of the Vatican, where it had been placed by Clement +XIV.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 80.</td><td><i>A Roman orator, called</i> +GERMANICUS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>Hitherto this admirable figure of a Roman orator, with the attributes of +Mercury, the god of eloquence, has passed for that of Germanicus, though it is +manifestly too old for him. Here we have another model of beautiful elegance of +form, though not of an <i>ideal</i> sublimity.</p> +<p>On the shell of a tortoise, at tide foot of the statue, is inscribed in +beautiful Greek characters:</p> +<p class="bq"> +ΚΛΕΟΜΕΝΗΣ<br /> +ΚΛΕΟΜΕΝΟΥΣ +<br /> +ΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΣΕ<br /> +ΠΟΙΗΣΕΝ.</p> +<p>Whence we learn that it is the production of CLEOMENES, an Athenian artist, +mentioned by Pliny, and who flourished towards the end of the Roman republic, +about 500 years before Christ. This statue was taken from the Gallery of +Versailles, where it had been placed in the reign of Lewis XIV. It formerly +belonged to the garden of Sixtus V. at <i>Villa-Montalto</i>, in Rome.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 97.</td><td>ANTINOÜS, <i>called the</i> +ANTINOÜS OF THE CAPITOL.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this monument, Adrian's favourite is represented as having scarcely +attained the age of puberty. He is naked, and his attitude has some affinity to +that of Mercury. However, his countenance seems to be impressed with that cast +of melancholy, by which all his portraits are distinguished: Hence has been +applied to him that verse of Virgil on Marcellus;</p> +<p class="center"><i>"Sed frons læta parum, et dejecto lumina vultu"</i></p> +<p>This beautiful figure, of Carrara marble, is sculptured in a masterly +manner. It comes from the Museum of the Capitol, and previously belonged to the +collection of Cardinal Alessandro Albani. The fore-arm and left leg are +modern.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 200.</td><td>ANTINOÜS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this colossal bust of the Bithynian youth, are some peculiarities which +call to mind the images of the Egyptian god <i>Harpocrates</i>. It is finely +executed in hard Greek marble, and comes from the Museum of the Vatican. As +recently as the year 1790, it was dug from the ruins of the <i>Villa-Fede</i> +at Tivoli.</p> +<p>But enough for to-day—to-morrow I will resume my pen, and we will +complete our survey of the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let08">LETTER VIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 29, 1801.</i></p> +<p>If the culture of the arts, by promoting industry and increasing commerce, +improves civilization, and refines manners, what modern people can boast of +such advantages as are now enjoyed by the French nation? While the sciences +keep pace with the arts, good taste bids fair to spread, in time, from the +capital throughout the country, and to become universal among them. In +antiquity, Athens attests the truth of this proposition, by rising, through the +same means, above all the cities of Greece; and, in modern times, have we not +seen in Florence, become opulent, the darkness of ignorance vanish, like a fog, +before the bright rays of knowledge, diffused by the flourishing progress of +the arts and sciences?</p> +<p>When I closed my letter yesterday, we had just terminated our examination of +the HALL OF THE ROMANS. On the same line with it, the next apartment we reach, +taking its name from the celebrated group here placed, is styled the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE LAOCOON.</p> +<p>Here are to be admired four pillars of <i>verde antico</i>, a species of +green marble, obtained by the ancients, from the environs of Thessalonica. They +were taken from the church of <i>Montmorency</i>, where they decorated the tomb +of Anne, the constable of that name. The first three apartments are floored +with inlaid oak; but this is paved with beautiful marble.</p> +<p>Of the <i>chefs d'œuvre</i> exhibited in this hall, every person of +taste cannot but feel particular gratification in examining the +undermentioned;</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%">N° 108.</td><td>LAOCOON.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>The pathetic story which forms the subject of this admirable group is known +to every classic reader. It is considered as one of the most perfect works that +ever came from the chisel; being at once a master-piece of composition, design, +and feeling. Any sort of commentary could but weaken the impression which it +makes on the beholder.</p> +<p>It was found in 1506, under the pontificate of Julius II, at Rome, on Mount +Esquiline, in the ruins of the palace of Titus. The three Rhodian artists, +AGESANDER, POLYDORUS, and ATHENOPORUS, mentioned by Pliny, as the sculptors of +this <i>chef d'œuvre</i> flourished during the time of the Emperors, in +the first century of the Christian era.</p> +<p>The group is composed of five blocks, but joined in so skilful a manner, +that Pliny thought them of one single piece. The right arm of the father and +two arms of the children are wanting.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 111.</td><td>AMAZON.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This uncommonly beautiful figure of Parian marble represents a woman, whose +feminine features and form seem to have contracted the impression of the +masculine habits of warfare. Clad in a very fine tunic, which, leaving the left +breast exposed, is tucked up on the hips, she is in the act of bending a large +bow. No attitude could be better calculated for exhibiting to advantage the +finely-modelled person of this heroine.</p> +<p>For two centuries, this statue was at the <i>Villa-Mattei</i>, on Mount +Cœlius at Rome, whence it was removed to the Museum of the Vatican by +Clement XIV.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 118.</td><td>MELEAGER.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>The son of Œneus, king of Calydon, with nothing but a <i>chlamis</i> +fastened on his shoulders, and winding round his left arm, is here represented +resting himself, after having killed the formidable wild boar, which was +ravaging his dominions; at his side is the head of the animal, and near him +sits his faithful dog.</p> +<p>The beauty of this group is sublime, and yet it is of a different cast, from +either that of the <i>Apollo of Belvedere</i>, or that of the <i>Mercury</i>, +called Antinoüs, of which we shall presently have occasion to speak.</p> +<p>This group is of Greek marble of a cinereous colour: there are two different +traditions respecting the place where it was found; but the preference is given +to that of Aldroandi, who affirms that it was discovered in a vineyard +bordering on the Tiber. It belonged to Fusconi, physician to Paul III, and was +for a long time in the <i>Pighini</i> palace at Rome, whence Clement XIV had it +conveyed to the Vatican.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%">103 and 104.</td><td><i>Two busts, called</i> TRAGEDY and +COMEDY.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>These colossal heads of Bacchantes adorned the entrance of the theatre of +the <i>Villa-Adriana</i> at Tivoli. Though the execution of them is highly +finished, it is no detriment to the grandeur of the style.</p> +<p>The one is of Pentelic marble; and the other, of Parian. Having been +purchased of Count Fede by Pius VI, they were placed in the Museum of the +Vatican.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 105.</td><td>ANTINOÜS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This bust is particularly deserving of attention, on account of its beauty, +its excellent preservation, and perfect resemblance to the medals which remain +of Adrian's favourite.</p> +<p>It is of Parian marble of the finest quality, and had been in France long +before the revolution.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 112.</td><td>ARIADNE, <i>called</i> (in +the catalogue) BACCHUS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>Some sculptors have determined to call this beautiful head that of BACCHUS; +while the celebrated VISCONTI, and other distinguished antiquaries, persist in +preserving to it its ancient name of ARIADNE, by which it was known in the +Museum of the Capitol.</p> +<p>Whichever it may be, it is of Pentelic marble, and unquestionably one of the +most sublime productions of the chisel, in point of <i>ideal</i> beauty.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p>From the HALL OF THE LAOCOON, we pass into the apartment, which, from the +famous statue, here erected, and embellished in the most splendid manner, takes +the appellation of the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE APOLLO.</p> +<p>This hall is ornamented with four pillars of red oriental granite of the +finest quality: those which decorate the niche of the Apollo were taken from +the church that contained the tomb of Charlemagne at <i>Aix-la-Chapelle</i>. +The floor is paved with different species of scarce and valuable marble, in +large compartments, and, in its centre, is placed a large octagonal table of +the same substance.</p> +<p>In proportion to the dimensions of this apartment, which is considerably +larger than any of the others, a greater number of antiques are here placed, of +which the following are the most pre-eminent.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%">N° 145.</td><td>APOLLO PYTHIUS, <i>commonly called +the</i> APOLLO OF BELVEDERE.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>The name alone of this <i>chef d'œuvre</i> might be said to contain +its eulogium. But as you may, probably, expect from me some remarks on it, I +shall candidly acknowledge that I can do no better than communicate to you the +able and interesting description given of it by the Administration of the +Museum, of which the following is a fair abridgment.</p> +<p>"Apollo has just discharged the mortal arrow which has struck the serpent +Python, while ravaging Delphi. In his left hand is held his formidable bow; his +right has but an instant quitted it: all his members still preserve the +impression given them by this action. Indignation is seated on his lips; but in +his looks is the assurance of success. His hair, slightly curled, floats in +long ringlets round his neck, or is gracefully turned up on the crown of his +head, which is encircled by the <i>strophium</i>, or fillet, characteristic of +kings and gods. His quiver is suspended by a belt to the right shoulder: his +feet are adorned with rich sandals. His <i>chlamis</i> fastened on the +shoulder, and tucked up only on the left arm, is thrown back, as if to display +the majesty of his divine form to greater advantage.</p> +<p>"An eternal youth is spread over all his beautiful figure, a sublime mixture +of nobleness and agility, of vigour and elegance, and which holds a happy +medium between the delicate form of Bacchus, and the more manly one of +Mercury."</p> +<p>This inimitable master-piece is of Carrara marble, and, consequently, was +executed by some Greek artist who lived in the time of the Romans; but the name +of its author is entirely unknown. The fore-arm and the left hand, which were +wanting, were restored by GIOVANNI ANGELO DE MONTORSOLI, a sculptor, who was a +pupil of Michael Angelo.</p> +<p>Towards the end of the fifteenth century, it was discovered at <i>Capo +d'Anzo</i>, twelve leagues from Rome, on the sea-shore, near the ruins of the +ancient <i>Antium</i>. Julius II, when cardinal, purchased this statue, and +placed it in his palace; but shortly after, having arrived at the pontificate, +he had it conveyed to the Belvedere of the Vatican, where, for three centuries, +it was the admiration of the world.</p> +<p>On the 16th of Brumaire, year IX, (7th of November, 1801) BONAPARTE, as +First Consul, celebrated, in great pomp, the inauguration of the Apollo; on +which occasion he placed between the plinth of the statue, and its pedestal, a +brass tablet bearing a suitable inscription.</p> +<p>The Apollo stands facing the entrance-door of the apartment, in an elevated +recess, decorated, as I have before observed, with beautiful granite pillars. +The flight of steps, leading to this recess, is paved with the rarest marble, +inlaid with squares of curious antique mosaic, and on them are placed two +Egyptian sphynxes of red oriental granite, taken from the Museum of the +Vatican.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 142.</td><td>VENUS OF THE +CAPITOL.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This figure of Parian marble represents the goddess of beauty issuing from +the bath. Her charms are not concealed by any veil or garment. She is slightly +turning her head to the left, as if to smile on the Graces, who are supposed to +be preparing to attire her.</p> +<p>In point of execution, this is allowed to be the most beautiful of all the +statues of Venus which we have remaining. The <i>Venus of Medicis</i> surpasses +it in sublimity of form, approaching nearer to <i>ideal</i> beauty.</p> +<p>Bupalus, a sculptor of the Isle of Scio, is said to have produced this +master-piece. He lived 600 years before Christ, so that it has now been in +existence upwards of two thousand four hundred years. It was found about the +middle of the eighteenth century, near <i>San-Vitale</i>, at Rome. Benedict XIV +having purchased it of the <i>Stati</i> family, placed it in the Capitol.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 125.</td><td>MERCURY, <i>commonly called +the</i> ANTINOÜS OF BELVEDERE.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This statue, also of the finest Parian marble, is one of the most beautiful +that can be imagined. More robust in form than either that of the <i>Apollo</i> +or of the <i>Meleager</i>, it loses nothing by being contemplated after the +former. In short, the harmony which reigns between its parts is such, that the +celebrated POUSSIN, in preference to every other, always took from it the +<i>proportions of the human figure</i>.</p> +<p>It was found at Rome, on Mount Esquiline, under the pontificate of Paul III, +who placed it in the Belvedere of the Vatican, near the Apollo and the +Laocoon.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 151.</td><td><i>The Egyptian</i> +ANTINOÜS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this statue, Antinoüs is represented as a divinity of Egypt. He is +standing in the usual attitude of the Egyptian gods, and is naked, with the +exception of his head and wrist, which are covered with a species of drapery in +imitation of the sacred garments.</p> +<p>This beautiful figure is wrought with superior excellence. It is of white +marble, which leads to a conjecture that it might have been intended to +represent Orus, the god of light, it having been the custom of the Egyptians to +represent all their other divinities in coloured marble. It was discovered in +1738, at Tivoli, in the <i>Villa-Adriana</i>, and taken from the Museum of the +Capitol.</p> +<p>To judge from the great number of figures of Antinoüs, sculptured by order +of Adrian to perpetuate the memory of that favourite, the emperor's gratitude +for him must have been unbounded. Under the form of different divinities, or at +different periods of life, there are at present in the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES no +less than five portraits of him, besides three statues and two busts. Three +other statues of Antinoüs, together with a bust, and an excellent bass-relief, +in which he is represented, yet remain to be placed.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%"> 156.</td><td>BACCHUS.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>The god of wine is here represented standing, and entirely naked. He is +leaning carelessly with his left arm on the trunk of an elm, round which winds +a grape-vine.</p> +<p>This statue, of the marble called at Rome <i>Greco duro</i>, is reckoned one +of the finest extant of the mirth-inspiring deity.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p>Having surveyed every object deserving of notice in the HALL OF THE APOLLO, +we proceed, on the right hand, towards its extremity, and reach the last +apartment of the gallery, which, from being consecrated to the tuneful Nine, is +called the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE MUSES.</p> +<p>It is paved with curious marble, and independently of the Muses, and their +leader, Apollo, here are also assembled the antique portraits of poets and +philosophers who have rendered themselves famous by cultivating them. Among +these we may perceive HOMER and VIRGIL; but the most remarkable specimen of the +art is</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="20%">N° 177.</td><td>EURIPIDES.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this hermes we have a capital representation of the features of the rival +of Sophocles. The countenance is at once noble, serious, and expressive. It +bears the stamp of the genius of that celebrated tragic poet, which was +naturally sublime and profound, though inclined to the pathetic.</p> +<p>This hermes is executed in Pentelic marble, and was taken from the academy +of <i>Mantua</i>.</p> +<p>Since the revival of the arts, the lovers of antiquity have made repeated +attempts to form a collection of antique statues of the Muses; but none was +ever so complete as that assembled in the Museum of the Vatican by Pius VI, and +which the chance of war has now transferred to the banks of the Seine. Here the +bard may offer up to them a solemn invocation, and compose his lay, as it were, +under their very eyes.</p> +<p>The statues of CLIO, THALIA, TERPSICHORE, ERATO, POLYHYMNIA, and CALLIOPE, +together with the APOLLO MUSAGETES, were discovered in 1774, at <i>Tivoli</i>, +among the ruins of the villa of Cassius. To complete the number, Pius VI +obtained the EUTERPE and the URANIA from the <i>Lancellotti</i> palace at +<i>Veletri</i>. They are supposed to be antique copies of the statues of the +Nine Muses by Philiscus, which, according to Pliny, graced the portico of +Octavia.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p>The air of grandeur that reigns in the general arrangement of the gallery is +very striking: and the tasteful and judicious distribution of this matchless +assemblage of antiques does great honour to the Council of the CENTRAL MUSEUM. +Among the riches which Rome possessed, the French commissioners also, by their +choice selection, have manifested the depth of their knowledge, and the +justness of their discrimination.</p> +<p>The alterations and embellishments made in the different apartments of the +GALLERY OF ANTIQUES have been executed under the immediate direction of their +author, M. RAYMOND, member of the National Institute, and architect to the +NATIONAL PALACE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. In winter, the apartments are kept warm +by means of flues, which diffuse a genial vapour. Here, without the expense of +a single <i>liard</i>, the young draughtsman may form his taste by studying the +true antique models of Grecian sculpture; the more experienced artist may +consult them as he finds occasion in the composition of his subjects; while the +connoisseur, the amateur, or the simple observer may spend many an agreeable +hour in contemplating these master-pieces which, for centuries, have inspired +universal admiration.</p> +<p>These are the materials on which Genius ought to work, and without which the +most promising talent may be greatly misapplied, if not entirely lost. It was +by studying closely these correct models, that the great MICHAEL ANGELO, the, +sublime RAPHAEL, and other eminent masters, acquired that idea of excellence +which is the result of the accumulated experience of successive ages. Here, in +one visit, the student may imbibe those principles to ascertain which many +artists have consumed the best part of their days; and penetrated by their +effect, he is spared the laborious investigation by which they came to be known +and established. It is unnecessary to expatiate on the advantages which the +fine arts may expect to derive from such a repository of antiques in a capital +so centrical as Paris. The contemplation of them cannot fail to fire the genius +of any artist of taste, and prompt his efforts towards the attainment of that +grand style, which, disdaining the minute accidental particularities of +individual objects, improves partial representation by the general and +invariable ideas of nature.</p> +<p>A vast collection of antiquities of every description is still expected from +Italy, among which are the <i>Venus of Medicis</i> and the <i>Pallas of +Veletri</i>, a finely-preserved statue, classed by artists among those of the +first rank, dug up at <i>Veletri</i> in 1799, in consequence of the researches +made there by order of the French commissioners. Upwards of five hundred cases +were lying on the banks of the Tiber, at Rome, ready to be sent off to France, +when the Neapolitans entered that city. They carried them all away: but by the +last article of the treaty of peace with the king of Naples, the whole of them +are to be restored to the French Republic. For the purpose of verifying their +condition, and taking measures for their conveyance to Paris, two commissioners +have been dispatched to Italy: one is the son of CHAPTAL, Minister of the +Interior, and the other is DUFOURNY, the architect. On the arrival of these +cases, even after the fifteen departmental Museums have been supplied, it is +asserted that there will yet remain in the French capital, antiquities in +sufficient number to form a museum almost from Paris to Versailles.</p> +<p><a name="let08fr1"></a>The CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS is open to the public +in general on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of each decade;[<a href="#let08f1">1</a>] +the other days are appropriated to the study of young pupils; but a foreigner +has only to produce his <i>permis de séjour</i> to gain admission <i>gratis</i> +every day from the hour of ten o'clock to four. To the credit of the nation, I +must observe that this exception in favour of foreigners excites no jealousy +whatever.</p> +<p>It is no more than a justice due to the liberality of the French republican +government to add, that they set a noble example which is worthy of being +followed, not only in England, but in every other country, where the arts and +sciences are honoured, or the general interests of mankind held in estimation. +From persons visiting any national establishment, whether museum, library, +cabinet, or garden, in this capital, no sort of fee or perquisite is now +expected, or allowed to be taken. Although it was not a public day when I paid +my first visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM, no sooner did I shew my <i>permis de +séjour</i>, than the doors were thrown open; and from M. VISCONTI, and other +members of the Council, who happened to be present, I experienced the most +polite and obliging attention. As an Englishman, I confess that I felt a degree +of shame on reflecting to what pitiful exaction a foreigner would be subject, +who might casually visit any public object of curiosity in our metropolis.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let08f1">Footnote 1</a>: By a subsequent regulation, +Saturday and Sunday are the days on which the CENTRAL MUSEUM is open to public +inspection. <a href="#let08fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let10">LETTER IX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, October 31, 1801.</i></p> +<p>In answer to your question, I shall begin by informing you that I have not +set eyes on the <i>petit caporal</i>, as some affect to style the Chief Consul. +He spends much of his time, I am told, at <i>Malmaison</i>, his country-seat; +and seldom appears in public, except in his box at the Opera, or at the French +theatre; but at the grand monthly parade, I shall be certain to behold him, on +the 15th of the present month of Brumaire, according to the republican +calendar, which day answers to the 6th of November. I have therefore to check +my impatience for a week longer.</p> +<p>However, if I have not yet seen BONAPARTE himself, I have at least seen a +person who has seen him, and will take care that I shall have an opportunity of +seeing him too: this person is no less than a general—who accompanied him +in his expedition to Egypt—who was among the chosen few that returned +with him from that country—who there surveyed the mouths of the +Nile—who served under him in the famous campaign of Syria; and who at +this day is one of the first military engineers in Europe. In a word, it is +General A----y, of the artillery, at present Director of that scientific +establishment, called the DÉPÔT DE LA GUERRE. He invited me the day before +yesterday to breakfast, with a view of meeting some of his friends whom he had +purposely assembled.</p> +<p>I am not fond of breakfasting from home; <i>mais il faut vivre à Rome comme +à Rome</i>. Between ten and eleven o'clock I reached the <i>Dépôt</i>, which is +situated in the <i>Rue de l'Université</i>, <i>Faubourg St, Germain</i>, at the +<i>ci-devant Hôtel d'Harcourt</i>, formerly belonging to the duke of that name. +Passing through the gate-way, I was proceeding boldly to the principal entrance +of the hotel, when a sentinel stopped me short by charging his bayonet. +"Citizen," said he fiercely, at the same time pointing to the lodge on the +right, "you must speak to the porter." I accordingly obeyed the mandate. +"What's your business, citizen?" inquired the porter gruffly.—"My +business, citizen," replied I, "is only to breakfast with the +general."—"Be so good, citizen," rejoined he in a milder tone, "as to +take the trouble to ascend the grand stair-case, and ring the bell on the +first-floor."</p> +<p>Being introduced into the general's apartments, I there found eight or ten +persons of very intelligent aspect, seated at a round table, loaded with all +sorts of good things, but, in my mind, better calculated for dinner than +breakfast. Among a great variety of delicacies, were beef-steaks, or, as they +are here termed, <i>bif-ticks à l'Anglaise</i>. Oysters too were not forgotten: +indeed, they compose an essential part of a French breakfast; and the ladies +seem particularly partial to them, I suppose, because they are esteemed +strengthening to a delicate constitution.</p> +<p>Nothing could be more pleasant than this party. Most of the guests were +distinguished literati, or military men of no ordinary stamp. One of the +latter, a <i>chef de brigade</i> of engineers, near whom I considered myself +fortunate in being placed, spoke to me in the highest terms of Mr. SPENCER +SMITH, Sir Sidney's brother, to whose interference at <i>Constantinople</i>, he +was indebted for his release from a Turkish prison.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the continual clatter of knives and forks, and the +occasional gingle of glasses, the conversation, which suffered no interruption, +was to me extremely interesting: I never heard any men express opinions more +liberal on every subject that was started. It was particularly gratifying to my +feelings, as an Englishman, to hear a set of French gentlemen, some of whom had +participated in the sort of disgrace attached to the raising of the siege of +<i>St. Jean d'Acre</i>, generously bestow just encomiums on my brother-officer, +to whose heroism they owed their failure. Addison, I think, says, somewhere in +the Spectator, that national prejudice is a laudable partiality; but, however +laudable it may be to indulge such a partiality, it ought not to render us +blind to the merit of individuals of a rival nation.</p> +<p>General A----y, being one of those whose talents have been found too useful +to the State to be suffered to remain in inaction, was obliged to attend at the +<i>Conseil des Mines</i> soon after twelve o'clock, when the party separated. +Just as I was taking leave, he did me the favour to put into my hand a copy of +his <i>Histoire du Canal du Midi</i>, of which I shall say more when I have had +leisure to peruse it.</p> +<p>I do not know that a man in good health, who takes regular exercise, is the +worse for breakfasting on a beef-steak, in the long-exploded style of Queen +Bess; but I am no advocate for all the accessories of a French <i>déjeûner à la +fourchette</i>. The strong Mocha coffee which I swallowed, could not check the +more powerful effect of the Madeira and <i>crème de rose</i>. I therefore +determined on taking a long walk, which, when saddle-horses are not to be +procured, I have always found the best remedy for the kind of restlessness +created by such a breakfast.</p> +<p>I accordingly directed my steps across the <i>Pont & Place de la +Concorde</i>, traversed the street of the same name; and, following the +<i>Boulevard</i> for a certain distance, struck off to the left, that is, +towards the north, in order to gain the summit of</p> +<p class="center">MONTMARTRE.</p> +<p>In ancient times, there stood on this hill a temple dedicated to Mars, +whence the name <i>Mons Martis</i>, of which has been made <i>Montmartre</i>. +At the foot of it, was the <i>Campus Martius</i>, or <i>Champ de Mars</i>, +where the French kings of the first race caused their throne to be erected +every year on the first of May. They came hither in a car, decorated with green +boughs and flowers, and drawn by four oxen. Such, indeed, was the town-equipage +of king DAGOBERT.</p> +<p class="bq">"Quatre bœufs attelés, d'un pas tranquil et lent,<br /> +Promenaient dans Paris le monarque indolent."</p> +<p>Having seated themselves on the throne, they gave a public audience to the +people, at the same time giving and receiving presents, which were called +<i>estrennes</i>. Hence annual presents were afterwards termed <i>étrennes</i>, +and this gave rise to the custom of making them.</p> +<p>On this hill too fell the head of +<i>Διονυσιος</i> or +<i>St. Denis</i>; and in latter times, this was the spot chosen by the Marshal +DE BROGLIE, who commanded the thirty-five thousand troops by which the French +capital was surrounded in May 1789, for checking the spirit of the turbulent +Parisians, by battering their houses' about their ears, and burying them under +the ruins.</p> +<p>On the summit of <i>Montmartre</i>, is a circular terrace, in the centre of +which stands a windmill, and not far from it, are several others. Round its +brow are several <i>maisonettes</i>, or little country boxes, and also some +public gardens with bowers, where lovers often regale their mistresses. Hence +you command a full view of the city of Paris. You behold roof rising above +roof; and the churches towering above the houses have, at this distance, +somewhat the appearance of lofty chimnies. You look down on the capital as far +as the Seine, by which it is intersected: beyond that river, the surface of the +land rises again in the form of an amphitheatre. On all sides, the prospect is +bounded by eminences of various degrees of elevation, over which, as well as +over the plains, and along the banks of the river, are scattered villas, +windmills, country-seats, hamlets, villages, and coppices; but, from want of +enclosures, the circumjacent country has not that rich and variegated aspect +which delights the eye in our English rural scenery. This was always one of my +favourite walks during my residence in Paris before the revolution; and I doubt +not, when you visit the French capital, that you will have the curiosity to +scale the heights of <i>Montmartre</i>.</p> +<p>As to the theatres, concerning which you interrogate me, I shall defer +entering into any particular detail of them, till I have made myself fully +acquainted with the attractions of each: this mode of proceeding will not +occasion any material delay, as I generally visit one of them every evening, +but always endeavour to go to that house where the <i>best</i> performers are +to be seen, in their <i>best</i> characters, and in the <i>best</i> pieces. I +mention this, in order that you may not think me inattentive to your request, +by having hitherto omitted to point out to you the difference between the +theatrical amusements here under the monarchy, and those of the republic.</p> +<p>The <i>thèâtre des arts</i> or grand French opera, the <i>opera buffa</i> or +Italian comic opera, the <i>théâtre Feydeau</i> or French comic opera, and the +<i>théâtre Français</i>, chiefly engage my attention. Yesterday evening I went +to the last-mentioned theatre purposely to see Mademoiselle CONTAT, who played +in both pieces. The first was <i>Les Femmes Savantes</i>, a comedy, in which +Molière, wishing to aim a blow at female pedantry, has, perhaps, checked, in +some French women, a desire for improvement; the second was <i>La fausse +Agnès</i>, a laughable afterpiece. Notwithstanding the enormous +<i>embonpoint</i> which this celebrated comic actress has acquired since I saw +her last on the Parisian stage upwards of ten years ago, she acquitted herself +with her accustomed excellence. I happened to sit next to a very warm admirer +of her superior talents, who told me that, bulky as she was become, he had been +highly gratified in seeing her perform at <i>Rouen</i> not long since, in her +favourite character of <i>Roxalane</i>, in <i>Les Trois Sultanes</i>. "She was +much applauded, no doubt." observed I.—"Not at all," replied he, "for the +crowd was so great, that in no part of the house was it possible for a man to +use his hands."</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let10">LETTER X.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 2, 1801.</i></p> +<p>On reaching Paris, every person, whether Jew or Gentile, foreigner or not, +coming from any department of the republic, except that of <i>La Seine</i>, in +which the capital is situated, is now bound to make his appearance at the +<i>Préfecture de Police</i>.</p> +<p>The new-comer, accompanied by two housekeepers, first repairs to the +Police-office of the <i>arrondissement</i>, or district, in which he has taken +up his residence, where he delivers his travelling passport; in lieu of which +he receives a sort of certificate, and then he shews himself at the +<i>Préfecture de Police</i>, or General Police-office, at present established +in the <i>Cité</i>.</p> +<p>Here, his name and quality, together with a minute description of his person +and his place of abode, are inserted in a register kept for that purpose, to +which he puts his signature; and a printed paper, commonly called a <i>permis +de séjour</i>, is given to him, containing a duplicate of all these matters, +filled up in the blanks, which he also signs himself. It is intended that he +should always carry this paper about him, in order that he may produce it when +called on, or, in case of necessity, for verifying his person, on any +particular occasion, such as passing by a guard-house on foot after eleven +o'clock at night, or being unexpectedly involved in any affray. In a word, it +answers to a stranger the same end as a <i>carte de sureté</i>, or ticket of +safety, does to an inhabitant of Paris.</p> +<p>I accordingly went through this indispensable ceremony in due form on my +arrival here; but, having neglected to read a <i>nota bene</i> in the margin of +the <i>permis de séjour</i>, I had not been ten hours in my new apartments +before I received a visit from an Inspector of Police of the +<i>arrondissement</i>, who, very civilly reminding me of the omission, told me +that I need not give myself the trouble of going to the Central Police-office, +as he would report my removal. However, being determined to be strictly <i>en +règle</i>, I went thither myself to cause my new residence to be inserted in +the paper.</p> +<p>I should not have dwelt on the circumstance, were it not to shew you the +precision observed in the administration of the police of this great city.</p> +<p>Under the old <i>régime</i>, every master of a ready-furnished hotel was +obliged to keep a register, in which he inserted the name and quality of his +lodgers for the inspection of the police-officers whenever they came: this +regulation is not only strictly adhered to at present; but every person in +Paris, who receives a stranger under his roof as an inmate, is bound, under +penalty of a fine, to report him to the police, which is most vigilantly +administered by Citizen FOUCHÉ.</p> +<p>Last night, not being in time to find good places at the <i>Théâtre des +Arts</i>, or Grand French Opera, I went to the <i>Théâtre Louvois</i>, which is +within a few paces of it, in hopes of being more successful. I shall not at +present attempt to describe the house, as, from my arriving late, I was too ill +accommodated to be able to view it to advantage.</p> +<p>However, I was well seated for seeing the performance. It consisted of three +<i>petites pièces</i>: namely, <i>Une heure d'absence</i>, <i>La petite +ville</i>, and <i>Le café d'une petite ville</i>. The first was entertaining; +but the second much more so; and though the third cannot claim the merit of +being well put together, I shall say a few words of it, as it is a production +<i>in honour of peace</i>, and on that score alone, would, at this juncture, +deserve notice.</p> +<p>After a few scenes somewhat languid, interspersed with common-place, and +speeches of no great humour, a <i>dénouement</i>, by no means interesting, +promised not to compensate the audience for their patience. But the author of +the <i>Café d'une petite ville</i>, having eased himself of this burden, +revealed his motive, and took them on their weak side, by making a strong +appeal to French enthusiasm. This cord being adroitly struck, his warmth became +communicative, and animating the actors, good humor did the rest. The +accessories were infinitely more interesting than the main subject. An +allemande, gracefully danced by two damsels and a hero, in the character of a +French hussar, returned home from the fatigues of war and battle, was much +applauded; and a Gascoon poet, who declares that, for once in his life, he is +resolved to speak truth, was loudly encored in the following couplets, adapted +to the well-known air of <i>"Gai, le cœur à la danse."</i></p> +<p class="bq"><i>"Celui qui nous donne la paix,<br /> +Comme il fit bien la guerre!<br /> +Sur lui déjà force conplets....<br /> +Mai il en reste à faire:<br /> +Au diable nous nous donnions,<br /> +Il revient, nous respirons....<br /> +Il fait changer la danse;<br /> +Par lui chez nous plus de discord;<br /> +Il regle la cadence,<br /> +Et nous voilà d'accord."</i></p> +<p>True it is, that BONAPARTE, as principal ballet-master, has changed the +dance of the whole nation; he regulates their step to the measure of his own +music, and <i>discord</i> is mute at the moment: but the question is, whether +the French are bona-fide <i>d'accord</i>, (as the Gascoon affirms,) that is, +perfectly reconciled to the new tune and figure? Let us, however, keep out of +this maze; were we to enter it, we might remain bewildered there, perhaps, till +old Father Time came to extricate us.</p> +<p>The morning is inviting: suppose we take a turn in the <i>Tuileries</i>, not +with a view of surveying this garden, but merely to breathe the fresh air, and +examine the</p> +<p class="center">PALAIS DU GOUVERNEMENT.</p> +<p>Since the Chief Consul has made it his town-residence, this is the new +denomination given to the <i>Palais des Tuileries</i>, thus called, because a +tile-kiln formerly stood on the site where it is erected. At that time, this +part of Paris was not comprised within its walls, nothing was to be seen here, +in the vicinity of the tile-kiln, but a few coppices and scattered +habitations.</p> +<p>Catherine de Medicis, wishing to enlarge the capital on this side, visited +the spot, and liking the situation, directed PHILIBERT DE L'ORME and JEAN +BULLAN, two celebrated French architects, to present her with a plan, from +which the construction of this palace was begun in May 1564. At first, it +consisted only of the large square pavilion in the centre of the two piles of +building, which have each a terrace towards the garden, and of the two +pavilions by which they are terminated.</p> +<p>Henry IV enlarged the original building, and, in 1600, began the grand +gallery which joins it to the <i>Louvre</i>, from the plan of DU CERCEAU. Lewis +XIII made some alterations in the palace; and in 1664, exactly a century from +the date of its construction being begun, Lewis XIV directed LOUIS DE VEAU to +finish it, by making the additions and embellishments which have brought it to +its present state. These deviations from the first plan have destroyed the +proportions required by the strict rules of art; but this defect would, +probably, be overlooked by those who are not connoisseurs, as the architecture, +though variously blended, presents, at first sight, an <i>ensemble</i> which is +magnificent and striking.</p> +<p>The whole front of the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i> consists of five +pavilions, connected by four piles of building, standing on the same line, and +extending for the space of one thousand and eleven feet. The first order of the +three middle piles is Ionic, with encircled columns. The two adjoining +pavilions are also ornamented with Ionic pillars; but fluted, and embellished +with foliage, from the third of their height to the summit. The second order of +these two pavilions is Corinthian. The two piles of building, which come next, +as well as the two pavilions of the wings, are of a Composite order with fluted +pillars. From a tall iron spindle, placed on the pinnacle of each of the three +principal pavilions is now seen floating a horizontal tri-coloured streamer. +Till the improvements made by Lewis XIV, the large centre pavilion had been +decorated with the Ionic and Corinthian orders only, to these was added the +Composite.</p> +<p>On the façade towards the <i>Place du Carrousel</i>, the pillars of all +these orders are of brown and red marble. Here may be observed the marks of +several cannon-balls, beneath each of which is inscribed, in black, 10 +AOÛT.</p> +<p>This tenth of August 1792, a day ever memorable in the history of France, +has furnished many an able writer with the subject of an episode; but, I +believe, few of them were, any more than myself, actors in that dreadful scene. +While I was intently remarking the particular impression of a shot which struck +the edge of one of the casements of the first floor of the palace, my <i>valet +de place</i> came up to know at which door I would have the carriage remain in +waiting.</p> +<p>On turning round, I fancied I beheld the man who "drew Priam's curtain in +the dead of night." That messenger, I am sure, could not have presented a +visage more pale, more spiritless than my Helvetian. Recollecting that he had +served in the Swiss guards, I was the less at a loss to account for his extreme +agitation. "In what part of the <i>château</i> were you, Jean," said I, "when +these balls were aimed at the windows?"----"There was my post," replied he, +recovering himself, and pointing to one of the centre casements.—"Is it +true," continued I, "that, by way of feigning a reconciliation, you threw down +cartridges by handfuls to the Marseillese below, and called out; <i>vive la +nation?"</i>----"It is but too true," answered Jean; "we then availed ourselves +of the moment when they advanced under the persuasion that they were to become +our friends, and opened on them a tremendous fire, by which we covered the +place with dead and dying. But we became victims of our own treachery: for our +ammunition being, by this <i>ruse de guerre</i>, the sooner expended, we +presently had no resource left but the bayonet, by which we could not prevent +the mob from closing on us."—"And how did you contrive to escape," said +I?—"Having thrown away my Swiss uniform," replied he, "in the general +confusion, I fortunately possessed myself of the coat of a national volunteer, +which he had taken off on account of the hot weather. This garment, bespattered +with blood, I instantly put on, as well as his hat with a tri-coloured +cockade."—"This disguise saved your life," interrupted I.—"Yes, +indeed;" rejoined he. "Having got down to the vestibule, I could not find a +passage into the garden; and, to prevent suspicion, I at once mixed with the +mob on the place where we are now standing."—"How did you get off at +last," said I?—"I was obliged," answered he, "to shout and swear with the +<i>poissardes</i>, while the heads of many of my comrades were thrown out of +the windows."—"The <i>poissardes</i>," added I, "set no bounds to their +cruelty?"—"No," replied he, "I expected every moment to feel its effects; +my disguise alone favoured my escape: on the dead bodies of my countrymen they +practised every species of mutilation." Here Jean drew a picture of a nature +too horrid to be committed to paper. My pen could not trace it.----In a word, +nothing could exceed the ferocity of the infuriate populace; and the sacking of +the palace of the Trojan king presents but a faint image of what passed here on +the day which overset the throne of the Bourbons.</p> +<p>According to a calculation, founded as well on the reports of the police as +on the returns of the military corps, it appears that the number of men killed +in the attack of the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i> on the 10th of August 1792, +amounted in the whole to very near six thousand, of whom eight hundred and +fifty-two were on the side of the besieged, and three thousand seven hundred +and forty on the side of the besiegers.</p> +<p>The interior of this palace is not distinguished by any particular style of +architecture, the kings who have resided here having made such frequent +alterations, that the distribution throughout is very different from that which +was at first intended. Here it was that Catherine de Medicis shut herself up +with the Guises, the Gondis, and Birague, the chancellor, in order to plan the +horrible massacre of that portion of the French nation whose religious tenets +trenched on papal power, and whose spirit of independence alarmed regal +jealousy.</p> +<p>Among the series of entertainments, given on the marriage of the king of +Navarre with Marguerite de Valois, was introduced a ballet, in which the +papists, commanded by Charles IX and his brothers, defended paradise against +the huguenots, who, with Navarre at their head, were all repulsed and driven +into hell. Although this pantomime, solely invented by Catherine, was evidently +meant as a prelude to the dreadful proscription which awaited the protestants, +they had no suspicion of it; and four days after, was consummated the massacre, +where that monster to whom nature had given the form of a woman, feasted her +eyes on the mangled corpses of thousands of bleeding victims!</p> +<p>No sooner was the Pope informed of the horrors of St. Bartholemew's day; by +the receipt of Admiral de Coligny's head which Catherine embalmed and sent to +him, than he ordered a solemn procession, by way of returning thanks to heaven +for the <i>happy event</i>. The account of this procession so exasperated a +gentlemen of Anjou, a protestant of the name of Bressaut de la Rouvraye, that +he swore he would make eunuchs of all the monks who should fall into his hands; +and he rendered himself famous by keeping his word, and wearing the trophies of +his victory.</p> +<p>The <i>Louvre</i> and the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i> were alternately +the residence of the kings of France, till Lewis XIV built that of Versailles, +after which it was deserted till the minority of Lewis XV, who, when a little +boy, was visited here by Peter the Great, but, in 1722, the court quitted Paris +altogether for Versailles, where it continued fixed till the 5th of October +1789.</p> +<p>During this long interval, the palace was left under the direction of a +governor, and inhabited only by himself, and persons of various ranks dependent +on the bounty of the crown. When Lewis XVI and his family were brought hither +at that period, the two wings alone were in proper order; the remainder +consisted of spacious apartments appointed for the king's reception when he +came occasionally to Paris, and ornamented with stately, old-fashioned +furniture, which had not been deranged for years. The first night of their +arrival, they slept in temporary beds, and on the king being solicited the next +day to choose his apartments, he replied: "Let everyone shift for himself; for +my part, I am very well where I am." But this fit of ill-humor being over, the +king and queen visited every part of the palace, assigning particular rooms to +each person of their suite, and giving directions for sundry repairs and +alterations.</p> +<p>Versailles was unfurnished, and the vast quantity of furniture collected in +that palace, during three successive reigns, was transported to the +<i>Tuileries</i> for their majesties' accommodation. The king chose for himself +three rooms on the ground-floor, on the side of the gallery to the right as you +enter the vestibule from the garden; on the entresol, he established his +geographical study; and on the first floor, his bed-chamber: the apartments of +the queen and royal family were adjoining to those of the king; and the +attendants were distributed over the palace to the number of between six and +seven hundred persons.</p> +<p>The greater part of the furniture, &c. in the palace of the +<i>Tuileries</i> was sold in the spring of 1793. The sale lasted six months, +and, had it not been stopped, would have continued six months longer. Some of +the king's dress-suits which had cost twelve hundred louis fetched no more than +five. By the inventory taken immediately after the 10th of August 1792, and +laid before the Legislative Assembly, it appears that the moveables of every +description contained in this palace were valued at 12,540,158 livres +(<i>circa</i> £522,560 sterling,) in which was included the amount of the +thefts, committed on that day, estimated at 1,000,000 livres, and that of the +dilapidations, at the like sum, making together about £84,000 sterling.</p> +<p>When Catherine de Medicis inhabited the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>, it +was connected to the <i>Louvre</i> by a garden, in the middle of which was a +large pond, always well stocked with fish for the supply of the royal table. +Lewis XIV transformed this garden into a spacious square or <i>place</i>, where +in the year 1662, he gave to the queen dowager and his royal consort a +magnificent fête, at which, were assembled princes, lords, and knights, with +their ladies, from every part of Europe. Hence the square was named</p> +<p class="center">PLACE DU CARROUSEL.</p> +<p>Previously to the revolution, the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>, on this +side, was defended by a wall, pierced by three gates opening into as many +courts, separated by little buildings, which, in part, served for lodging a few +troops and their horses. All these buildings are taken down; the <i>Place du +Carrousel</i> is considerably enlarged by the demolition of various +circumjacent edifices; and the wall is replaced by a handsome iron railing, +fixed on a parapet about four feet high. In this railing are three gates, the +centre one of which is surmounted by cocks, holding in their beak a civic crown +over the letters R. F. the initials of the words <i>République Française</i>. +On each side of it are small lodges, built of stone; and at the entrance are +constantly posted two <i>vedettes</i>, belonging to the horse-grenadiers of the +consular guard.</p> +<p>On the piers of the other two gates are placed the four famous horses of +gilt bronze, brought from St. Mark's place at Venice, whither they had been +carried after the capture of Byzantium. These productions are generally +ascribed to the celebrated Lysippus, who flourished in the reign of Alexander +the Great, about 325 years before the christian era; though this opinion is +questioned by some distguished antiquaries and artists. Whoever may be the +sculptor, their destiny is of a nature to fix attention, as their removal has +always been the consequence of a political revolution. After, the conquest of +Greece by the Romans, they were transported from Corinth to Rome, for the +purpose of adorning the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus. Hence they were +removed to Byzantium, when that city became the seat of the eastern empire. +From Byzantium, they were conveyed to Venice, and from Venice they have at last +reached Paris.</p> +<p>As on the plain of Pharsalia the fate of Rome was decided by Cæsar's triumph +over Pompey, so on the <i>Place du Carrousel</i> the fate of France by the +triumph of the Convention over Robespierre and his satellites. Here, Henriot, +one of his most devoted creatures, whom he had raised to the situation of +commandant general of the Parisian guard, after having been carried prisoner +before the Committee of Public Safety, then sitting in the palace of the +<i>Tuileries</i>, was released by Coffinhal, the President of the Revolutionary +Tribunal, who suddenly made his appearance at the head of a large body of horse +and foot, supported by four pieces of cannon served by gunners the most devoted +to Robespierre.</p> +<p>It was half past seven o'clock in the evening, where Coffinhal, decorated +with his municipal scarf, presented himself before the Committee: all the +members thought themselves lost, and their fright communicating to the very +bosom of the Convention, there spread confusion and terror. But Coffinhal's +presence of mind was not equal to his courage: he availed himself only in part +of his advantage. After having, without the slightest resistance, disarmed the +guards attached to the Convention, he loosened the fettered hands of Henriot +and his aides-de-camp, and conducted them straight to the <i>Maison +Commune</i>.</p> +<p>It is an incontestable fact that had either Coffinhal or Henriot imitated +the conduct of Cromwell in regard to the Levellers, and marched at the head of +their troops into the hall of the Convention, he might have carried all before +him, and Robespierre's tyranny would have been henceforth established on a +basis not to be shaken.</p> +<p>But, when Henriot soon after appeared on the <i>Place du Carrousel</i>, with +his staff and a number of followers, he in vain endeavoured by haranguing the +people to stir them up to act against the Convention; his voice was drowned in +tumultuous clamours, and he was deserted by his hitherto-faithful gunners. The +Convention had had time to recover from their panic, and to enlighten the +Sections. Henriot was outlawed by that assembly, and, totally disconcerted by +this news, he fled for refuge to the <i>Maison Commune</i>, where Robespierre +and all his accomplices were soon surrounded, and fell into the hands of those +whom but an instant before, they had proscribed as conspirators deserving of +the most exemplary punishment.</p> +<p>Henriot, confused and terrified, sought his safety in flight, and was +stealing along one of the galleries of the <i>Maison Commune</i> when he met +Coffinhal, who was also flying. At the sight of Henriot, who on coming from the +Committee, had pledged his life on the success of his measures, Coffinhal was +unable to check his rage. "Coward!" said he to him, "to this then has led your +certain means of defence! Scoundrel! you shall not escape the death you are +endeavouring to avoid!" Saying these words, he seized Henriot by the middle, +and threw him out of a window of the second story of the <i>Maison Commune</i>. +Henriot falling on the roof of a building in a narrow street adjoining, was not +killed; but he had scarcely recovered himself before he was recognized by some +soldiers in quest of him: he then crawled into a sewer, close to the spot where +he had fallen; when a soldier thrusting his bayonet into the sewer, put out one +of his eyes, and forced him to surrender.</p> +<p>Thus, the destiny of France, as is seen, hung by the thread of the moment. +It will be recollected that Henriot had the arsenal at his disposal; he +commanded the Parisian guard, and six thousand men encamped on the <i>Plaine +des Sablons</i>, close to the capital: in a word, all the springs of the public +force were in his hands. Had he seized the critical minute, and attacked the +Convention at the instant of his release, the scene of the 10th of August would +have been renewed, and the <i>Place du Carrousel</i> again stained with the +blood of thousands.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let11">LETTER XI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 5, 1801.</i></p> +<p>I rise much later to-day than usual, in consequence of not having gone to +bed till near seven o'clock this morning. Happening to call yesterday on a +French lady of my acquaintance, I perceived some preparations which announced +that she expected company. She did not leave me long in suspense, but invited +me to her party for that evening.</p> +<p>This good lady, who is no longer in the flower of her age, was still in bed, +though it was four o'clock when I paid my visit. On expressing my fears that +she was indisposed, she assured me of the contrary, at the same time adding +that she seldom rose till five in the afternoon, on account of her being under +the necessity of keeping late hours. I was so struck by the expression, that I +did not hesitate to ask her what was the <i>necessity</i> which compelled her +to make a practice of turning day into night? She very courteously gave me a +complete solution of this enigma, of which the following is the substance.</p> +<p>"During the reign of terror," said she, "several of us <i>ci-devant +noblesse</i> lost our nearest relatives, and with them our property, which was +either confiscated, or put under sequestration, so that we were absolutely +threatened by famine. When the prisoners were massacred in September 1792, I +left nothing unattempted to save the life of my uncle and grandfather, who were +both in confinement in the <i>Abbaye</i>. All my efforts were unavailing. My +interference served only to exasperate their murderers and contributed, I fear, +to accelerate their death, which it was my misfortune to witness. Their inhuman +butchers, from whom I had patiently borne every species of insult, went so far +as to present to me, on the end of a pike, a human heart, which had the +appearance of having been broiled on the embers, assuring me that, as it was +the heart of my uncle, I might eat it with safety."—Here an ejaculation, +involuntarily escaping me, interrupted her for a moment.</p> +<p>"For my part," continued she, "I was so overwhelmed by a conflict of rage, +despair, and grief, that I scarcely retained the use of my senses. The excess +of my horror deprived me of utterance.—What little I was able to save +from the wreck of my fortune, not affording me sufficient means of subsistence, +I was, however reluctantly, at length compelled to adopt a plan of life, by +which I saw other women, in my forlorn situation, support a decent appearance. +I therefore hired suitable apartments, and twice in each decade, I receive +company. On one of these two nights I give a ball and supper, and on the other, +under the name of <i>société</i>, I have cards only.</p> +<p>"Having a numerous circle of female acquaintance," concluded she, "my balls +are generally well attended: those who are not fond of dancing, play at the +<i>bouillotte</i>; and the card-money defrays the expenses of the +entertainment, leaving me a handsome profit. In short, these six parties, +during the month, enable me to pay my rent, and produce me a tolerable +pittance."</p> +<p>This meloncholy recital affected me so much, that, on its being terminated, +I was unable to speak; but I have reason to think that a favourable +construction was put on my silence. A volume, of the size of a family bible, +would not be sufficient to display half the contrasts engendered by the +revolution. Many a <i>Marquise</i> has been obliged to turn sempstress, in +order to gain a livelihood; but my friend the <i>Comtesse</i> had much ready +wit, though no talents of that description. Having soothed her mind by venting +a few imprecations against the murderers of her departed relatives, she +informed me that her company began to assemble between the hours of eleven and +twelve, and begged that I would not fail to come to her</p> +<p class="center">PRIVATE BALL.</p> +<p>About twelve o'clock, I accordingly went thither, as I had promised, when I +found the rooms perfectly crowded. Among a number of very agreeable ladies, +several were to be distinguished for the elegance of their figure, though there +were no more than three remarkable for beauty. These terrestrial divinities +would not only have embarrassed the Grand Signior for a preference, but even +have distracted the choice of the Idalian shepherd himself. The dancing was +already begun to an excellent band of music, led by Citizen JULIEN, a mulatto, +esteemed the first player of country-dances in Paris. Of the dancers, some of +the women really astonished me by the ease and gracefulness of their movements: +steps, which are known to be the most difficult, seemed to cost them not the +smallest exertion. Famous as they have ever been for dancing, they seem now, in +Cibber's words, "to outdo their usual outdoings."</p> +<p>In former times, an extraordinary degree of curiosity was excited by any +female who excelled in this pleasing accomplishment. I remember to have read +that Don Juan of Austria, governor of the Low Countries, set out post from +Brussels, and came to Paris <i>incog.</i> on purpose to see Marguerite de +Valois dance at a dress-ball, this princess being reckoned, at that time, the +best dancer in Europe. What then would be the admiration of such an +<i>amateur</i>, could he now behold the perfection attained here by some of the +beauties of the present day?</p> +<p>The men, doubtless, determined to vie with the women, seemed to pride +themselves more on agility than grace, and, by attempting whatever required +extraordinary effort, reminded me of <i>figurans</i> on the stage, so much have +the Parisian youth adopted a truly theatrical style of dancing.</p> +<p>The French country-dances (or cotilions, as we term them in England) and +waltzes, which are as much in vogue here as in Germany, were regularly +interchanged. However, the Parisians, in my opinion, cannot come up to the +Germans in this, their native dance. I should have wished to have had Lavater +by my side, and heard his opinion of the characters of the different female +waltzers. It is a very curious and interesting spectacle to see one woman +assume a languishing air, another a vacant smile, a third an aspect of stoical +indifference; while a fourth seems lost in a voluptuous trance, a fifth +captivates by an amiable modesty, a sixth affects the cold insensibility of a +statue, and so on in ever-varying succession, though all turning to the +animating changes of the same lively waltz. In short I observed that, in this +species of dance, the eyes and feet of almost every woman appeared to be +constantly at variance.</p> +<p>Without assuming the part of a moralist, I cannot help thinking that Werter +was not altogether in the wrong when he swore, that, were it to cost him his +life, no woman on whom he had set his affections, should ever waltz with any +one but himself. I am not singular in this opinion; for I recollect to have met +with the same ideas in a book written by M. JACOBI, I think, a German +author.</p> +<p>Speaking of the waltz, "We either ought," says he, "not to boast so much of +the propriety of our manners, or else not suffer that our wives and daughters, +in a complete delirium, softly pressed in the arms of men, bosom to bosom, +should thus be hurried away by the sound of intoxicating music. In this +<i>whirligig</i> dance, every one seems to forget the rules of decorum; and +though an innocent, young creature, exposed in this manner, were to remain pure +and spotless, can she, without horror, reflect that she becomes, the sport of +the imagination of the licentious youths to whom she so abandons herself? It +were to be wished," adds he, "that our damsels (I mean those who preserve any +vestige of bashfulness), might, concealed in a private corner, hear sometimes +the conversation of those very men to whom they yield themselves with so little +reserve and caution."</p> +<p>To the best of my recollection, these are the sentiments of M. JACOBI, +expressed twelve or fourteen years ago; yet I do not find that the waltz is +discontinued, or even less practised, in Germany, than it was at the time when +his work first appeared. This dance, like every other French fashion, has now +found its way into England, and is introduced between the acts, by way of +interlude I presume, at some of our grand private balls and assemblies. But, +however I may be amused by the waltzing of the Parisian belles, I feel too much +regard for my fair country-women to wish to see them adopt a dance, which, by +throwing them off their guard, lays them completely open to the shafts of +ridicule and malice.</p> +<p>Leaving this point to be settled by the worthy part of our British matrons, +let us return to the Parisian ball, from which I have been led into a little +digression.</p> +<p>The dancing continued in this manner, that is, French country-dances and +waltzes alternately, till four o'clock, when soup was brought round to all the +company. This was dispatched <i>sans façon</i>, as fast as it could be +procured. It was a prelude to the cold supper, which was presently served in +another spacious apartment. No sooner were the folding-doors of an adjoining +room thrown open, than I observed that, large as it was, it could not possibly +afford accommodation to more than half of the number present. I therefore +remained in the back-ground, naturally supposing that places would first be +provided for all the women. Not so, my friend; several men seated themselves, +and, in the twinkling of an eye, deranged the economy of the whole table; while +the female bystanders were necessitated to seek seats at some temporary tables +placed in the ballroom. Here too were they in luck if they obtained a few +fragments from the grand board; for, such determined voracity was there +exhibited, that so many vultures or cormorants could not have been more +expeditious in clearing the dishes.</p> +<p>For instance, an enormous salmon, which would have done honour to the Tweed +or the Severn, graced the middle of the principal table. In less than five +minutes after the company were seated, I turned round, and missing the fish, +inquired whether it had proved tainted. No: but it is all devoured, was the +reply of a young man, who, pointing to the bone, offered me a pear and a piece +of bread, which he shrewdly observed was all that I might probably get to +recruit my strength at this entertainment. I took the hint, and, with the +addition of a glass of common wine, at once made my supper.</p> +<p>In half an hour, the tables being removed, the ball was resumed, and +apparently with renewed spirit. The card-room had never been deserted. <i>Mind +the main chance</i> is a wholesome maxim, which the good lady of the house +seemed not to have forgotten. Assisted by a sort of <i>croupier</i>, she did +the honours of the <i>bouillotte</i> with that admirable sang-froid which you +and I have often witnessed in some of our hostesses of fashion; and, had she +not communicated to me the secret, I should have been the last to suspect, +while she appeared so indifferent, that she, like those ladies, had so great an +interest in the card-party being continued till morning.</p> +<p>As an old acquaintance, she took an opportunity of saying to, me, with joy +in her eyes: "<i>Le jeu va bien</i>;" but, at the same time, expressed her +regret that the supper was such a scramble. While we were in conversation, I +inquired the name and character of the most striking women in the room, and +found that, though a few of them might be reckoned substantial in fortune, as +well as in reputation, the female part of the company was chiefly composed of +ladies who, like herself, had suffered by the revolution; several were divorced +from their husbands, but as incompatibility of temper was the general plea for +such a disunion, that alone could not operate as a blemish.</p> +<p>To judge of the political predilection of these belles from their exterior, +a stranger would, nine times out of ten, be led into a palpable error. He might +naturally conclude them to be attached to a republican system, since they have, +in general, adopted the Athenian form of attire as their model; though they +have not, in the smallest degree, adopted the simple manners of that people. +Their arms are bare almost to the very shoulder; their bosom is, in a great +measure, uncovered; their ankles are encircled by narrow ribbands in imitation +of the fastenings of sandals; and their hair, turned up close behind, is +confined on the crown of the head in a large knot, as we see it in the antique +busts of Grecian beauties.</p> +<p>The rest of their dress is more calculated to display, than to veil the +contours of their person. It was thus explained to me by my friend, the +<i>ci-devant Comtesse</i>, who at the same time assured me that young French +women, clad in this airy manner, brave all the rigour of winter. "A simple +piece of linen, slightly laced before," said she, "while it leaves the waist +uncompressed, answers the purpose of a corset. If they put on a robe, which is +not open in front, they dispense with petticoats altogether; their cambric +<i>chemise</i> having the semblance of one, from its skirt being trimmed with +lace. When attired for a ball, those who dance, as you may observe, commonly +put on a tunic, and then a petticoat becomes a matter of necessity, rather than +of choice. Pockets being deemed an incumbrance, they wear none: what money they +carry, is contained in a little morocco leather purse; this is concealed in the +centre of the bosom, whose form, in our well-shaped women, being that of the +Medicean Venus, the receptacle occasionally serves for a little gold watch, or +some other trinket, which is suspended to the neck by a collar of hair, +decorated with various ornaments. When they dance, the fan is introduced within +the zone or girdle; and the handkerchief is kept in the pocket of some sedulous +swain, to whom the fair one has recourse when she has occasion for it. Some of +the elderly ladies, like myself," added she, "carry these appendages in a sort +of work-bag, denominated a <i>ridicule</i>. Not long since, this was the +universal fashion first adopted as a substitute for pockets; but, at present, +it is totally laid aside by the younger classes."</p> +<p>The men at this ball, were, for the most part, of the military class, thinly +interspersed with returned emigrants. Some of the generals and colonels were in +their hussar dress-uniform, which is not only exceedingly becoming to a +well-formed man, but also extremely splendid and costly. All the seams of the +jacket and pantaloons of the generals are covered with rich and tasteful +embroidery, as well as their sabre-tash, and those of the colonels with gold or +silver lace: a few even wore boots of red morocco leather.</p> +<p>Most of the Gallic youths, having served in the armies, either a few years +ago under the requisition, or more recently under the conscription, have +acquired a martial air, which is very discernible, in spite of their <i>habit +bourgeois</i>. The brown coat cannot disguise the soldier. I have met with +several young merchants of the first respectability in Paris, who had served, +some two, others four years in the ranks, and constantly refused every sort of +advancement. Not wishing to remain in the army, and relinquish the mercantile +profession in which they had been educated, they cheerfully passed through +their military servitude as privates, and, in that station, like true soldiers, +gallantly fought their country's battles.</p> +<p>The hour of six being arrived, I was assailed, on all sides, by applications +to set down this or that lady, as the morning was very rainy, and, +independently of the long rank of hackney-coaches, which had been drawn up at +the door, every vehicle that could be procured, had long been in requisition. +The mistress of the house had informed two of her particular female friends +that I had a carriage in waiting; and as I could accommodate only a certain +number at a time, after having consented to take those ladies home first; I +conceived myself at liberty, on my return, to select the rest of my convoy. To +relieve beauty in distress was one of the first laws of ancient chivalry; and +no knight ever accomplished that vow with greater ardour than I did on this +occasion.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="letr12">LETTER XII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 7, 1801.</i></p> +<p>My impatience is at length gratified. I have seen BONAPARTE. Yesterday, the +6th, as I mentioned in a former letter, was the day of the grand parade, which +now takes place on the fifteenth only of every month of the Republican +Calendar. The spot where this military spectacle is exhibited, is the +court-yard of the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>, which, as I have before +observed, is enclosed by a low parapet wall, surmounted by a handsome iron +railing.</p> +<p>From the kind attention of friend, I had the option of being admitted into +the palace, or introduced into the hotel of Cn. MARET, the Secretary of State, +which adjoins to the palace, and standing at right angles with it, commands a +full view of the court where the troops are assembled. In the former place, I +was told, I should not, on account of the crowd, have an opportunity to see the +parade, unless I took my station at a window two or three hours before it +began; while from the latter, I should enjoy the sight without any annoyance or +interruption.</p> +<p>Considering that an interval of a month, by producing a material change in +the weather, might render the parade far less brilliant and attractive, and +also that such an offer might not occur a second time, I made no hesitation in +preferring Cn. MARET'S hotel.</p> +<p>Accompanied by my introducer, I repaired thither about half past eleven +o'clock, and certainly I had every reason to congratulate myself on my +election. I was ushered into a handsome room on the first-floor, where I found +the windows partly occupied by some lovely women. Having paid my devoirs to the +ladies, I entered into conversation with an officer of rank of my acquaintance, +who had introduced me to them; and from him I gathered the following +particulars respecting the</p> +<p class="center">GRAND MONTHLY PARADE.</p> +<p>On the fifteenth of every month, the First Consul in person reviews all the +troops of the consular guard, as well as those quartered in Paris, as a +garrison, or those which may happen to be passing through this city.</p> +<p>The consular guard is composed of two battalions of foot-grenadiers, two +battalions of light infantry, a regiment of horse-grenadiers, a regiment of +mounted chasseurs or guides, and two companies of flying artillery. All this +force may comprise between six and seven thousand men; but it is in +contemplation to increase it by a squadron of Mamalûks, intermixed with Greeks +and Syrians, mounted on Arabian horses.</p> +<p>This guard exclusively does duty at the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>, and +at <i>Malmaison</i>, BONAPARTE's country-seat: it also forms the military +escort of the Consuls. At present it is commanded by General LASNES; but, +according to rumour, another arrangement is on the point of being made. The +consular guard is soon to have no other chief than the First Consul, and under +him are to command, alternately, four generals; namely, one of infantry, one of +cavalry, one of artillery, and one of engineers; the selection is said to have +fallen on the following officers, BESSIÈRES, DAVOUST, SOULT, and SONGIS.</p> +<p>The garrison (as it is termed) of Paris is not constantly of the same +strength. At this moment it consists of three demi-brigades of the line, a +demi-brigade of light infantry, a regiment of dragoons, two demi-brigades of +veterans, the horse <i>gendarmerie</i>, and a new corps of choice +<i>gendarmerie</i>, comprising both horse and foot, and commanded by the +<i>Chef de brigade</i> SAVABY, aide-de-camp to the First Consul. This garrison +may amount to about 15,000 effective men.</p> +<p>The consular guard and all these different corps, equipped in their best +manner, repair to the parade, and, deducting the troops on duty, the number of +men assembled there may, in general be from twelve to fifteen thousand.</p> +<p>By a late regulation, no one, during the time of the parade, can remain +within the railing of the court, either on foot or horseback, except the field +and staff officers on duty; but persons enter the apartments of the +<i>Tuileries</i>, by means of tickets, which are distributed to a certain +number by the governor of the palace.</p> +<p>While my obliging friend was communicating to me the above information, the +troops continued marching into the court below, till it was so crowded that, at +first sight, it appeared impracticable for them to move, much less to +manœuvre. The morning was extremely fine; the sun shone in full +splendour, and the gold and silver lace and embroidery on the uniforms of the +officers and on the trappings of their chargers, together with their naked +sabres, glittered with uncommon lustre. The concourse of people without the +iron railing was immense: in short, every spot or building, even to the walls +and rafters of houses under demolition, whence a transient view of the parade +could be obtained, was thronged with spectators.</p> +<p>By twelve o'clock, all the troops were drawn up in excellent order, and, as +you may suppose, presented a grand <i>coup d'œil.</i> I never beheld a +finer set of men than the grenadiers of the consular guard; but owing, perhaps, +to my being accustomed to see our troops with short skirts, I thought that the +extreme length of their coats detracted from their military air. The horses +mostly of Norman breed, could not be compared to our English steeds, either for +make or figure; but, sorry and rough as is their general appearance, they are, +I am informed, capable of bearing much fatigue, and resisting such privations +as would soon render our more sleek cavalry unfit for service. That they are +active, and surefooted, I can vouch; for, in all their sudden wheelings and +evolutions in this confined space, not one of them stumbled. They formed, +indeed, a striking contrast to the beautiful white charger that was led about +in waiting for the Chief Consul.</p> +<p>The band of the consular guard, which is both numerous and select, continued +playing martial airs, till the colours having been brought down from the +palace, under the escort of an officer and a small detachment, the drums beat +<i>aux champs</i>, and the troops presented arms, when they were carried to +their respective stations. Shortly after, the impatient steed, just mentioned, +was conducted to the foot of the steps of the grand vestibule of the palace. I +kept my eye stedfastly fixed on that spot; and such was the agility displayed +by BONAPARTE in mounting his horse, that, to borrow the words of Shakspeare, he +seemed to</p> +<p class="bq">"Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury,<br /> +And vaulted with such ease into his seat,<br /> +As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds<br /> +To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,<br /> +And witch the world with noble horsemanship."</p> +<p>Off he went at a hand canter, preceded by his aides-de-camp, and attended, +on his right, by General LASNES and followed by other superior officers, +particularly the general commanding the garrison of Paris, and him at the head +of the district.</p> +<p>BONAPARTE was habited in the consular dress, scarlet velvet embroidered with +gold, and wore a plain cocked hat with the national cockade. As I purpose to +obtain a nearer view of him, by placing myself in the apartments of the palace +on the next parade day, I shall say nothing of his person till that opportunity +offers, but confine myself to the military show in question.</p> +<p>Having rid rapidly along the several lines of infantry and cavalry, and +saluted the colours as he passed, BONAPARTE (attended by all his retinue, +including a favourite Mamalûk whom he brought from Egypt), took a central +position, when the different corps successively filed off before him with most +extraordinary briskness; the corps composing the consular guard preceded those +of the garrison and all the others: on inquiry, however, I find, that this +order is not always observed.</p> +<p>It is no less extraordinary than true, that the news of the establishment of +this grand parade produced on the mind of the late emperor of Russia the first +impression in favour of the Chief Consul. No sooner did Paul I. hear of the +circumstance, than he exclaimed: "BONAPARTE is, however, a great man."</p> +<p>Although the day was so favourable, the parade was soon over, as there was +no distribution of arms of honour, such as muskets, pistols, swords, +battle-axes, &c. which the First Consul presents with his own hand to those +officers and soldiers who have distinguished themselves by deeds of valour or +other meritorious service.</p> +<p>The whole ceremony did not occupy more than half an hour, when BONAPARTE +alighted at the place where he had taken horse, and returned to his +audience-room in the palace, for the purpose of holding his levee. I shall +embrace a future opportunity to speak of the interior etiquette observed on +this occasion in the apartments, and close this letter with an assurance that +you shall have an early account of the approaching <i>fête</i>.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let13">LETTER XIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 8, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Great preparations for the <i>fête</i> of to-morrow have, for several days, +employed considerable numbers of people: it therefore becomes necessary that I +should no longer delay to give you an idea of the principal scene of action. +For that purpose, we must direct our steps to the</p> +<p class="center">JARDIN DES TUILERIES.</p> +<p>This garden, which is the most magnificent in Paris, was laid out by the +celebrated LE NOTRE in the reign of Lewis XIV. <a name="let13fr1"></a>It covers +a space of three hundred and sixty toises[<a href="#let13f1">1</a>] long by one +hundred and sixty-eight broad. To the north and south, it is bordered, +throughout its length, by two terraces, one on each side, which, with admirable +art, conceal the irregularity of the ground, and join at the farther end in the +form of a horse-shoe. To the east, it is limited by the palace of the +<i>Tuileries</i>; and to the west, by the <i>Place de la Concorde</i>.</p> +<p>From the vestibule of the palace, the perspective produces a most striking +effect: the eye first wanders for a moment over the extensive parterre, which +is divided into compartments, planted with shrubs and flowers, and decorated +with basins, <i>jets-d'eau</i>, vases, and statues in marble and bronze; it +then penetrates through a venerable grove which forms a beautiful vista; and, +following the same line, it afterwards discovers a fine road, bordered with +trees, leading by a gentle ascent to <i>Pont de Neuilly</i>, through the +<i>Barrière de Chaillot</i>, where the prospect closes.</p> +<p>The portico of the palace has been recently decorated with several statues. +On each side of the principal door is a lion in marble.</p> +<p>The following is the order in which the copies of antique statues, lately +placed in this garden, are at present disposed.</p> +<p>On the terrace towards the river, are: 1. Venus <i>Anadyomene</i>. 2. An +Apollo of Belvedere. 3. The group of Laocoon. 4. Diana, called by antiquaries, +<i>Succincta</i>. 5. Hercules carrying Ajax.</p> +<p>In front of the palace: 1. A dying gladiator. 2. A fighting gladiator. 3. +The flayer of Marsyas. 4. VENUS, styled <i>à la coquille</i>, crouched and +issuing from the bath. N. B. All these figures are in bronze.</p> +<p>In the alley in front of the parterre, in coming from the terrace next the +river: 1. Flora Farnese. 2. Castor and Pollux. 3. Bacchus instructing young +Hercules. 4. Diana.</p> +<p>On the grass-plot, towards the <i>manège</i> or riding-house, Hippomenes and +Atalanta. At the further end is an Apollo, in front of the horse-shoe walk, +decorated with a sphynx at each extremity.</p> +<p>In the corresponding gras-plot towards the river, Apollo and Daphne; and at +the further end, a Venus <i>Callypyga</i>, or (according to the French term) +<i>aux belles fesses</i>.</p> +<p>In the compartment by the horse-chesnut trees, towards the riding-house, the +Centaur. On the opposite side, the Wrestlers. Farther on, though on the same +side, an Antinoüs.</p> +<p>In the niche, under the steps in the middle of the terrace towards the +river, a Cleopatra.</p> +<p>In the alley of orange-trees, near the <i>Place de la Concorde</i>, +Meleager; and on the terrace, next to the riding-house, Hercules Farnese.</p> +<p>In the niche to the right, in front of the octagonal basin, a Faun carrying +a kid. In the one to the left, Mercury Farnese.</p> +<p>Independently of these copies after the antique, the garden is decorated +with several other modern statues, by COYZEVOX, REGNAUDIN, COSTOU, LE GROS, LE +PAUTRE, &c. which attest the degree of perfection that had been attained, +in the course of the last century, by French sculptors. For a historical +account of them, I refer you to a work, which I shall send you by the first +opportunity, written by the learned MILLIN.</p> +<p>Here, in summer, the wide-spreading foliage of the lofty horse-chesnut trees +afford a most agreeable shade; the air is cooled by the continual play of the +<i>jets-d'eau</i>; while upwards of two hundred orange-trees, which are then +set out, impregnate it with a delightful perfume. The garden is now kept in +much better order than it was under the monarchy. The flower-beds are carefully +cultivated; the walks are well gravelled, rolled, and occasionally watered; in +a word, proper attention is paid to the convenience of the public.</p> +<p>But, notwithstanding these attractions, as long as it was necessary for +every person entering this garden to exhibit to the sentinels the national +cockade, several fair royalists chose to relinquish its charming walks, shaded +by trees of a hundred years' growth, rather than comply with the republican +mandate. Those anti-revolutionary <i>élégantes</i> resorted to other +promenades; but, since the accession of the consular government, the wearing of +this doubtful emblem of patriotism has been dispensed with, and the garden of +the <i>Tuileries</i> is said to be now as much frequented in the fine season as +at any period of the old <i>régime</i>.</p> +<p>The most constant visiters are the <i>quidnuncs</i>, who, according to the +difference of the seasons, occupy alternately three walks; the <i>Terrasse des +Feuillans</i> in winter; that which is immediately underneath in spring; and +the centre or grand alley during the summer or autumn.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, this garden was not open to the populace, except on +the festival of St. Lewis, and the eve preceding, when there was always a +public concert, given under a temporary amphitheatre erected against the west +façade of the palace: at present no person whatever is refused admittance.</p> +<p>There are six entrances, at each of which sentinels are regularly mounted +from the grenadiers of the consular guard; and, independently of the grand +guard-room over the vestibule of the palace, there is one at the end of the +garden which opens on the <i>Place de la Concorde</i>, and another on the +<i>Terrasse des Feuillans</i>.</p> +<p>But what is infinitely more interesting, on this terrace, is a new and +elegant building, somewhat resembling a <i>casino</i>, which at once unites +every accommodation that can be wished for in a coffee-house, a tavern, or a +confectioner's. Here you may breakfast <i>à l'Anglaise</i> or <i>à la +fourchette</i>, that is in the most substantial manner, in the French fashion, +read the papers, dine, or sup sumptuously in any style you choose, or drink +coffee and liqueurs, or merely eat ices. While thus engaged, you enjoy a full +view of the company passing and repassing, and what adds beyond measure to the +beauty of the scene, is the presence of the ladies, who not unfrequently come +hither with their admirers to indulge in a <i>téte-à-téte</i>, or make larger +parties to dine or sup at these fashionable rendezvous of good cheer.</p> +<p>According to the scandalous chronicle, Véry, the master of the house, is +indebted to the charms of his wife for the occupation of this tasteful edifice, +which had been erected by the government on a spot of ground that was national +property, and, of course, at its disposal. Several candidates were desirous to +be tenants of a building at once so elegant and so centrical. Véry himself had +been unsuccessful, though he had offered a <i>pot de vin</i> (that is the +Parisian term for <i>good-will</i>) of five hundred louis, and six thousand +francs a year rent. His handsome wife even began to apprehend that her mission +would be attended with no better fortune. She presented herself, however, to +the then Minister of the Interior, who, unrelenting as he had hitherto been to +all the competitors, did not happen to be a Scipio. On the contrary, he is said +to have been so struck by the person of the fair supplicant, that he at once +declared his readiness to accede to her request, on condition that she would +favour him with her company to supper, and not forget to put her night-cap in +her pocket. <i>Relata refero</i>.</p> +<p>Be this as it may, I assure you that Madame Véry, without being a perfect +beauty, is what the French call a <i>beau corps de femme</i>, or, in plain +English, a very desirable woman, and such as few ministers of L'n. +B--------te's years would choose to dismiss unsatisfied. This is not the age of +continence, and I am persuaded that any man who sees and converses with the +amiable Madame Véry, if he do not envy the Minister the nocturnal sacrifice, +will, on contemplating the elegance of her arrangements, at least allow that +this spot of ground has not been disposed of to disadvantage.</p> +<p>Every step we take, in this quarter of Paris, calls to mind some remarkable +circumstance of the history of the revolution. As the classic reader, in +visiting <i>Troas</i>, would endeavour to trace the site of those interesting +scenes described in the sublime numbers of the prince of poets; so the calm +observer, in perambulating this garden, cannot but reflect on the great +political events of which it has been the theatre. In front of the west façade +of the palace, the unfortunate Lewis XVI, reviewed the Swiss, and some of the +national guards, very early in the morning of the 10th of August 1792. On the +right, close to the <i>Terrasse des Feuillans</i>, still stands the +<i>manège</i> or riding-house, where the National Assembly at that time held +their sittings, and whither the king, with his family, was conducted by +ROEDERER, the deputy. That building, after having since served for various +purposes, is at present shut up, and will, probably, be taken down, in +consequence of projected improvements in this quarter.</p> +<p>In the centre of the west end of the garden, was the famous <i>Pont +tournant</i>, by which, on the 11th of July 1789, the Prince de Lambesc entered +it at the head of his regiment of cavalry, and, by maltreating some peaceable +saunterers, gave the Parisians a specimen of what they were to expect from the +disposition of the court. This inconsiderate <i>galopade</i>, as the French +term it, was the first signal of the general insurrection.</p> +<p>The <i>Pont tournant</i> is destroyed, and the ditch filled up. Leaving the +garden of the <i>Tuileries</i> by this issue, we enter the</p> +<p class="center">PLACE DE LA CONCORDE.</p> +<p>This is the new name given to the <i>Place de Louis XV</i>. After the +abolition of royalty in France, it was called the <i>Place de la +Révolution</i>. When the reign of terror ceased, by the fall of Robespierre, it +obtained its present appellation, which forms a strong contrast to the number +of victims that have here been sacrificed to the demon of faction.</p> +<p>This square, which is seven hundred and eighty feet in length by six hundred +and thirty in breadth, was planned after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and +finished in 1763. It forms a parallelogram with its angles cut off, which are +surrounded by ditches, guarded by balustrades, breast high. To repair from the +<i>Tuileries</i> to the <i>Champs Elysées</i>, you cross it in a straight line +from east to west, and from north to south, to proceed from the <i>Rue de la +Concorde (ci-devant Rue Royale)</i> to the <i>Pont de la Concorde (ci-devant +Pont de Louis XVI.)</i></p> +<p>Near the intersection of these roads stood the equestrian statue in bronze +of Lewis XV, which caught the eye in a direct line with the centre of the grand +alley of the garden of the <i>Tuileries</i>. It has since been replaced by a +statue of Liberty. This colossal figure was removed a few days ago, and, by all +accounts, will not be re-erected.</p> +<p>The north part of this square, the only one that is occupied by buildings, +presents, on each side of the <i>Rue de la Concorde</i>, two edifices, each two +hundred and forty-eight feet in front, decorated with insulated columns of the +Corinthian order, to the number of twelve, and terminated by two pavilions, +with six columns, crowned by a pediment. On the ground-floor of these edifices, +one of which, that next the <i>Tuileries</i>, was formerly the <i>Garde-Meuble +de la Couronne</i>, are arcades that form a gallery, in like manner as the +colonnade above, the cornice of which is surmounted by a balustrade. I have +been thus particular in describing this façade, in order to enable you to judge +of the charming effect which it must produce, when illuminated with thousands +of lamps on the occasion of the grand <i>fête</i> in honour of peace, which +takes place to-morrow.</p> +<p>It was in the right hand corner of this square, as you come out of the +garden of the <i>Tuileries</i> by the centre issue, that the terrible +guillotine was erected. From the window of a friend's room, where I am now +writing, I behold the very spot which has so often been drenched with the mixed +blood of princes, poets, legislators, philosophers, and plebeians. On that spot +too fell the head of one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe.</p> +<p>I have heard much regret expressed respecting this execution; I have +witnessed much lamentation excited by it both in England and France; but I +question whether any of those loyal subjects, who deserted their king when they +saw him in danger, will ever manifest the sincere affection, the poignant +sensibility of DOMINIQUE SARRÈDE.</p> +<p>To follow Henry IV to the battle of Ivry in 1533, SARRÈDE had his wounded +leg cut off, in order that he might be enabled to sit on horseback. This was +not all. His attachment to his royal master was so great, that, in passing +through the <i>Rue de la Ferronnerie</i> two days after the assassination of +that prince, and surveying the fatal place where it had been committed, he was +so overcome by grief, that he fell almost dead on the spot, and actually +expired the next morning. I question, I say, whether any one of those +emigrants, who made so officious a display of their zeal, when they knew it to +be unavailing, will ever moisten with a single tear the small space of earth +stained with the blood of their unfortunate monarch.</p> +<p>Since I have been in Paris, I have met with a person of great +respectability, totally unconnected with politics, who was present at several +of those executions: at first he attended them from curiosity, which soon +degenerated into habit, and at last became an occupation. He successively +beheld the death of Charlotte Corday, Madame Roland, Louis XVI, Marie +Antoinette, Madame Elizabeth, Philippe Egalité, Madame du Barry, Danton, +Robespierre, Couthon, St. Just, Henriot, Fouquier-Tinville, <i>cum mullis +aliis</i>, too numerous to mention.</p> +<p>Among other particulars, this person informed me that Lewis XVI struggled +much, by which the fatal instrument cut through the back of his head, and +severed his jaw: the queen was more resigned; on the scaffold, she even +apologized to Samson, the executioner in chief, for treading accidentally on +his toe. Madame Roland met her fate with the calm heroism of a Roman matron. +Charlotte Corday died with a serene and dignified countenance; one of the +executioners having seized her head when it fell, and given it several slaps, +this base act of cowardice raised a general murmur among the people.</p> +<p>As to Robespierre, no sooner had he ascended the scaffold, amid the +vociferous acclamations of the joyful multitude, than the executioner tore off +the dirty bandage in which his wounded head was enveloped and which partlv +concealed his pale and ferocious visage. This made the wretch roar like a wild +beast. His under jaw then falling from the upper, and streams of blood gushing +from the wound, gave him the most ghastly appearance that can be imagined. When +the national razor, as the guillotine was called by his partisans, severed +Robespierre's head from his body; and the executioner, taking it by the hair, +held it up to the view of the spectators, the plaudits lasted for twenty +minutes. Couthon, St. Just, and Henriot, his heralds of murder, who were placed +in the same cart with himself, next paid the debt of their crimes. They were +much disfigured, and the last had lost an eye. Twenty-two persons were +guillotined at the same time with Robespierre, all of them his satellites. The +next day, seventy members of the commune, and the day following twelve others, +shared the fate of their atrocious leader, who, not many hours before, was +styled the virtuous and incorruptible patriot.</p> +<p>You may, probably, imagine that, whatever dispatch might be employed, the +execution of seventy persons, would demand a rather considerable portion of +time, an hour and a half, or two hours, for instance. But, how wide of the +mark! Samson, the executioner of Paris, worked the guillotine with such +astonishing quickness, that, including the preparatives of the punishment, he +has been known to cut off no less than forty-five heads, the one after the +other, in the short space of fifteen minutes; consequently, at this expeditious +rate of three heads in one minute it required no more than twenty-three minutes +and twenty seconds to decapitate seventy persons.</p> +<p>Guillotin, the physician, who invented or rather improved this machine, +which is called after his name with a feminine termination, is said to have +been a man of humanity; and, on that principle alone, he recommended the use of +it, from the idea of saving from painful sensations criminals condemned to die. +Seeing the abuse made of it, from the facility which it afforded of dispatching +several persons in a few minutes, he took the circumstance so much to heart +that grief speedily shortened his existence.</p> +<p>According to Robespierre, however, the axe of the guillotine did not do +sufficient execution. One of his satellites announced to him the invention of +an instrument which struck off nine heads at once: the discovery pleased him, +and he caused several trials of this new machine to be made at <i>Bicêtre</i>. +It did not answer; but human nature gained nothing by its failure. Instead of +half a dozen victims a day, Robespierre wished to have daily fifty or sixty, or +more; and he was but too well obeyed. Not only had he his own private lists of +proscription; but all his creatures, from the president of the revolutionary +tribunal down to the under-jailers, had similar lists; and the <i>almanac +royal</i>, or French court calendar, was converted into one by himself.</p> +<p>The inhabitants of the streets through which the unfortunate sufferers were +carried, wearied at length by the daily sight of so melancholy a spectacle, +ventured to utter complaints. Robespierre, no less suspicious than cruel, was +alarmed, and, dreading an insurrection, removed the scene of slaughter. The +scaffold was erected on the <i>Place de la Bastille</i>: but the inhabitants of +this quarter also murmured, and the guillotine was transferred to the +<i>Barrière St. Antoine</i>.</p> +<p>Had not this modern Nero been cut off in the midst of his cruelties, it is +impossible to say where he would have stopped. Being one day asked the +question, he coolly answered: "The generation which has witnessed the old +<i>règime</i>, will always regret it. Every individual who was more than +fifteen in 1789, must be put to death: this is the only way to consolidate the +revolution."</p> +<p>It was the same in the departments as in Paris. Every where blood ran in +streams. In all the principal towns the guillotine was rendered permanent, in +order, as Robespierre expressed himself, to <i>regenerate the nation</i>. If +this sanguinary monster did not intend to "wade through slaughter to a throne," +it is certain at least that he "shut the gates of mercy on mankind."</p> +<p>But what cannot fail to excite your astonishment and that of every thinking +person, is, that, in the midst of these executions, in the midst of these +convulsions of the state, in the midst of these struggles for power, in the +midst of these outcries against the despots of the day, in the midst of famine +even, not artificial, but real; in short, in the midst of an accumulation of +horrors almost unexampled, the fiddle and tambourin never ceased. Galas, +concerts, and balls were given daily in incredible numbers; and no less than +from fifteen to twenty theatres, besides several, other places of public +entertainment, were constantly open, and almost as constantly filled.</p> +<p>P. S. I am this moment informed of the arrival of Lord Cornwallis.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let13f1">Footnote 1</a>: The ratio between the English +fathom and the French toise, as determined between the first astronomers of +both countries, is as 72 to 76.734. <a href="#let13fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let14">LETTER XIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 10, 1801.</i></p> +<p>On the evening of the 8th, there was a representation <i>gratis</i> at all +the theatres, it being the eve of the great day, of the occurrences of which I +shall now, agreeably to my promise, endeavour to give you a narrative. I mean +the</p> +<p class="bq">NATIONAL FÉTE,<br /> +IN HONOUR OF PEACE,<br /> +<i>Celebrated on the 18th of Brumaire, year X,<br /> +the anniversary of</i> BONAPARTE'S<br /> +<i>accession to the consulate</i>.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the prayers which the Parisians had addressed to the sun for +the preceding twenty-four hours,</p> +<p class="bq">"----<i>Nocte pluit totà, redeunt spectacula mane</i>,"</p> +<p>it rained all night, and was still raining yesterday morning, when the day +was ushered in by discharges of artillery from the saluting battery at the +<i>Hôtel des Invalides</i>. This did not disturb me; I slept soundly till, +about eight o'clock, a tintamarre of trumpets, kettle-drums, &c. almost +directly under my window, roused me from my peaceful slumber. For fear of +losing the sight, I immediately presented myself at the casement, just as I +rose, in my shirt and night-cap. The officers of the police, headed by the +Prefect, and escorted by a party of dragoons, came to the <i>Place des +Victoires</i>, as the third station, to give publicity, by word of mouth, to +the Proclamation of the Consuls, of which I inclose you a printed copy. The +civil officers were habited in their dresses of parade, and decorated with +tricoloured sashes; the heads of their steeds, which, by the bye, were not of a +fiery, mettlesome race, being adorned in like manner.</p> +<p>This ceremony being over, I returned not to bed, but sat down to a +substantial breakfast, which I considered necessary for preparing my strength +for the great fatigues of so busy a day. Presently the streets were crowded +with people moving towards the river-side, though small, but heavy rain +continued falling all the forenoon. I therefore remained at home, knowing that +there was nothing yet to be seen for which it was worth while to expose myself +to a good wetting.</p> +<p>At two o'clock the sun appeared, as if to satisfy the eager desire of the +Parisians; the mist ceased, and the weather assumed a promising aspect. In a +moment the crowd in the streets was augmented by a number of persons who had +till now kept within doors, in readiness to go out, like the Jews keeping +Easter, <i>cincti renibus & comedentes festinantur</i>. I also sallied +forth, but alone, having previously refused every invitation from my friends +and acquaintance to place myself at any window, or join any party, conceiving +that the best mode to follow the bent of my humour was to go unaccompanied, +and, not confining myself to any particular spot or person, stroll about +wherever the most interesting objects presented themselves.</p> +<p>With this view, I directed my steps towards the <i>Tuileries</i>, which, in +spite of the immense crowd, I reached without the smallest inconvenience. The +appearance of carriages of every kind had been strictly prohibited, with the +exception of those belonging to the British ambassador; a compliment well +intended, no doubt, and very gratifying when the streets were so extremely +dirty.</p> +<p>For some time I amused myself with surveying the different countenances of +the groups within immediate reach of my observation, and which to me was by no +means the least diverting part of the scene; but on few of them could I +discover any other impression than that of curiosity: I then took my station in +the garden of the <i>Tuileries</i>, on the terrace next the river. Hence was a +view of the <i>Temple of Commerce</i> rising above the water, on that part of +the Seine comprised between the <i>Pont National</i> and the <i>Pont Neuf</i>. +The quays on each side were full of people; and the windows, as well as the +roofs of all the neighbouring houses, were crowded beyond conception. In the +newspapers, the sum of 500 francs, or £20 sterling, was asked for the hire of a +single window of a house in that quarter.</p> +<p>Previously to my arrival, a flotilla of boats, decked with streamers and +flags of different colours, had ascended the river from <i>Chaillot</i> to this +temple, and were executing divers evolutions around it, for the entertainment +of the Parisians, who quite drowned the music by their more noisy +acclamations.</p> +<p>About half after three, the First Consul appeared at one of the windows of +the apartments of the Third Consul, LEBRUN, which, being situated in the +<i>Pavillon de Flore</i>, as it is called, at the south end of the palace of +the <i>Tuileries</i>, command a complete view of the river. He and LEBRUN were +both dressed in their consular uniform.</p> +<p>In a few minutes, a balloon, previously prepared at this floating <i>Temple +of Commerce</i>, and adorned with the flags of different nations, ascended +thence with majestic slowness, and presently took an almost horizontal +direction to the south-west. In the car attached to it were Garnerin, the +celebrated aëronaut, his wife, and two other persons, who kept waving their +tricoloured flags, but were soon under the necessity of putting them away for a +moment, and getting rid of some of their ballast, in order to clear the +steeples and other lofty objects which appeared to lie in their route. The +balloon, thus lightened, rose above the grosser part of the atmosphere, but +with such little velocity as to afford the most gratifying spectacle to an +immense number of spectators.</p> +<p>While following it with my eyes, I began to draw comparisons in my mind, and +reflect on the rapid improvement made in these machines, since I had seen +Blanchard and his friend, Dr. Jefferies, leave Dover Cliff in January 1785. +They landed safely within a short distance of Calais, as every one knows: yet +few persons then conceived it possible, or at least probable, that balloons +could ever be applied to any useful purpose, still less to the art of war. We +find, however, that at the battle of Fleurus, where the Austrians were +defeated, Jourdan, the French General, was not a little indebted for his +victory to the intelligence given him of the enemy's dispositions by his +aëronautic reconnoitring-party.</p> +<p>The sagacious Franklin seems to have had a presentiment of the future +utility of this invention. On the first experiments being made of it, +some one asked him: "Of what use are balloons?"—"Of what use is a +new-born child!" was the philosopher's answer.</p> +<p>Garnerin and his fellow-travellers being now at such a distance as not to +interest an observer unprovided with a telespope, I thought it most prudent to +gratify that ever-returning desire, which, according to Dr. Johnson, excites +once a day a serious idea in the mind even of the most thoughtless. I +accordingly retired to my own apartments, where I had taken care that dinner +should be provided for myself and a friend, who, assenting to the propriety of +allowing every man the indulgence of his own caprice, had, like me, been taking +a stroll alone among the innumerable multitude of Paris.</p> +<p>After dinner, my friend and I sat chatting over our dessert, in order that +we might not arrive too soon at the scene of action. At six, however, we rose +from table, and separated. I immediately proceeded to the <i>Tuileries</i>, +which I entered by the centre gate of the <i>Place du Carrousel</i>. The whole +facade of the palace, from the base of the lowest pillars up to the very +turrets of the pavilions, comprising the entablatures, &c. was decorated +with thousands of <i>lampions</i>, whence issued a steady, glaring light. By +way of parenthesis, I must inform you that these <i>lampions</i> are nothing +more than little circular earthen pans, somewhat resembling those which are +used in England as receptacles for small flower-pots. They are not filled with +oil, but with a substance prepared from the offals of oxen and in which a thick +wick is previously placed. Although the body of light proceeding from +<i>lampions</i> of this description braves the weather, yet the smoke which +they produce, is no inconsiderable drawback on the effect of their +splendour.</p> +<p>Nothing could exceed the brilliancy of the <i>coup d'œil</i> from the +vestibule of the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>. The grand alley, as well as +the end of the parterre on each side and the edges of the basins, was +illuminated in a style equally tasteful and splendid. The frame-work on which +the lamps were disposed by millions, represented lofty arcades of elegant +proportion, with their several pillars, cornices, and other suitable ornaments. +The eye, astonished, though not dazzled, penetrated through the garden, and, +directed by this avenue of light, embraced a view of the temporary obelisk +erected on the ridge of the gradual ascent, where stands the <i>Barrière de +Chaillot</i>; the road on each side of the <i>Champs Elysées</i> presenting an +illuminated perspective, whose vanishing point was the obelisk +before-mentioned.</p> +<p>After loitering a short time to contemplate the west façade of the palace, +which, excelling that of the east in the richness of its architecture, also +excelled it in the splendour of its illuminations, I advanced along the centre +or grand alley to the <i>Place de la Concorde</i>. Here, rose three +<i>Temples</i> of correct design and beautiful symmetry, the most spacious of +which, placed in the centre, was dedicated to <i>Peace</i>, that on the right +hand to the <i>Arts</i>, and that on the left to <i>Industry</i>.</p> +<p>In front of these temples, was erected an extensive platform, about five +feet above the level of the ground, on which was exhibited a pantomime, +representing, as I was informed, the horrors of war succeeded by the blessings +of peace. Though I arrived in time to have seen at least a part of it, I saw +nothing, except the back of the spectators immediately before me, and others, +mounted on chairs and benches, some of whom seemed to consider themselves +fortunate if they recovered their legs, when they came now and then to the +ground, by losing their equilibrium. These little accidents diverted me for the +moment; but a misadventure of a truly-comic nature afforded me more +entertainment than any pantomime I ever beheld, and amply consoled me for being +thus confined to the back-ground.</p> +<p>A lusty young Frenchman, who, from his head-dress <i>à la Titus</i>, I shall +distinguish by that name, escorting a lady whom, on account of her beautiful +hair, I shall style <i>Berenice</i>, stood on one of the hindmost benches. The +belle, habited in a tunic <i>à la Grecque</i>, with a species of sandals which +displayed the elegant form of her leg, was unfortunately not of a stature +sufficiently commanding to see over the heads of the other spectators. It was +to no purpose that the gentleman called out "<i>à bas les chapeaux!</i>" When +the hats were off, the lady still saw no better. What will not gallantry +suggest to a man of fashionable education? Our considerate youth perceived, at +no great distance, some persons standing on a plank supported by a couple of +casks. Confiding the fair <i>Berenice</i> to my care, he vanished: but, almost +in an, instant, he reappeared, followed by two men, bearing an empty hogshead, +which, it seems, he procured from the tavern at the west entrance of the +<i>Tuileries</i>. To place the cask near the feet of the lady, pay for it, and +fix her on it, was the business of a moment. Here then she was, like a statue +on its pedestal, enjoying the double gratification of seeing and being seen. +But, for enjoyment to be complete, we must share it with those we love. On +examining the space where she stood, the lady saw there was room for two, and +accordingly invited the gentleman to place himself beside her. In vain he +resisted her entreaties; in vain he feared to incommode her. She commanded; he +could do no less than obey. Stepping up on the bench, he thence nimbly sprang +to the cask; but, O! fatal catastrophe! while, by the light of the neighbouring +clusters of lamps, every one around was admiring the mutual attention of this +sympathizing pair, in went the head of the hogshead.</p> +<p>Our till-then-envied couple fell suddenly up to the middle of the leg in the +wine-lees left in the cask, by which they were bespattered up to their very +eyes. Nor was this all: being too eager to extricate themselves, they overset +the cask, and came to the ground, rolling in it and its offensive contents. It +would be no easy matter to picture the ludicrous situation of Citizen +<i>Titus</i> and Madame <i>Berenice</i>. This being the only mischief resulting +from their fall, a universal burst of laughter seized the surrounding +spectators, in which I took so considerable a share, that I could not +immediately afford my assistance.</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let15">LETTER XV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 11, 1801.</i></p> +<p>What fortunate people are the Parisians! Yesterday evening so thick a fog +came on, all at once, that it was almost impossible to discern the lamps in the +streets, even when they were directly over-head. Had the fog occurred +twenty-four hours earlier, the effect of the illuminations would have been +entirely lost; and the blind would have had the advantage over the +clear-sighted. This assertion experience has proved: for, some years ago, when +there was, for several successive days, a duration of such fogs in Paris, it +was found necessary, by persons who had business to transact out of doors, to +hire the blind men belonging to the hospital of the <i>Quinze-Vingts</i>, to +lead them about the streets. These guides, who were well acquainted with the +topography of the capital, were paid by the hour, and sometimes, in the course +of the day, each of them cleared five louis.</p> +<p>Last night, persons in carriages, were compelled to alight, and grope their +way home as they could: in this manner, after first carefully ascertaining +where I was, and keeping quite close to the wall, I reached my lodgings in +safety, in spite of numberless interrogations put to me by people who had, or +pretended to have, lost themselves.</p> +<p>When I was interrupted in my account of the <i>fète</i>, we were, if I +mistake not, on the <i>Place de la Concorde</i>.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the many loads of small gravel scattered here, with a view +of keeping the place clean, the quantity of mud collected in the space of a few +hours was really astonishing. <i>N'importe</i> was the word. No fine lady, by +whatever motive she was attracted hither, regretted at the moment being up to +her ankles in dirt, or having the skirt of her dress bemired. All was busy +curiosity, governed by peaceable order.</p> +<p>For my part, I never experienced the smallest uncomfortable squeeze, except, +indeed, at the conclusion of the pantomime, when the impatient crowd rushed +forward, and, regardless of the fixed bayonets of the guards in possession of +the platform, carried it by storm. Impelled by the torrent, I fortunately +happened to be nearly in front of the steps, and, in a few seconds, I found, +myself safely landed on the platform.</p> +<p>The guard now receiving a seasonable reinforcement, order was presently +restored without bloodshed; and, though several persons were under the +necessity of making a retrograde movement, on my declaring that I was an +Englishman, I was suffered to retain my elevated position, till the musicians +composing the orchestras, appropriated to each of the three temples, had taken +their stations. Admittance then became general, and the temples were presently +so crowded that the dancers had much difficulty to find room to perform the +figures.</p> +<p>Good-humour and decorum, however, prevailed to such a degree that, during +the number, of hours I mixed in the crowd, I witnessed not the smallest +disturbance.</p> +<p>Between nine and ten o'clock, I went to the <i>Pont de la Concorde</i> to +view the fireworks played off from the <i>Temple of Commerce</i> on the river; +but these were, as I understand, of a description far inferior to those +exhibited at the last National Fête of the 14th of July, the anniversary of the +taking of the Bastille.</p> +<p>This inferiority is attributed to the precaution dictated, by the higher +authorities, to the authors of the fireworks to limit their ingenuity; as, on +the former occasion, some accidents occurred of a rather serious nature. The +spectators, in general, appeared to me to be disappointed by the mediocrity of +the present exhibition.</p> +<p>I was compensated for the disappointment by the effect of the illumination +of the quays, which, being faced with stone, form a lofty rampart on each +embankment of the river. These were decorated with several tiers of lamps from +the top of the parapet to the water's edge; the parapets and cornices of the +bridges, together with the circumference of the arches, were likewise +illuminated, as well as the gallery of the <i>Louvre</i>, and the stately +buildings adjoining the quays.</p> +<p>The palace of the Legislative Body, which faces the south end of the <i>Pont +de la Concorde</i>, formed a striking object, being adorned, in a magnificent +style, with variegated lamps and transparencies. No less splendid, and in some +respects more so, from the extent that it presented, was the façade of the +<i>ci-devant Garde-Meuble</i>, and the corresponding buildings, which form the +north side of the <i>Place de la Concorde</i>, whither I now returned.</p> +<p>The effect of the latter was beautiful, as you may judge from the +description which I have already given you of this façade, in one of my +preceding letters. Let it suffice then to say, that, from the base of the lower +pillars to the upper cornice, it was covered with lamps so arranged as to +exhibit, in the most brilliant manner, the style and richness of its +architecture.</p> +<p>The crowd, having now been attracted in various directions, became more +penetrable; and, in regaining the platform on the <i>Place de la Concorde</i>, +I had a full view of the turrets, battlements, &c. erected behind the three +temples, in which the skilful machinist had so combined his plan, by +introducing into it a sight of the famous horses brought from <i>Marly</i>, and +now occupying the entrance of the <i>Champs Elysées</i>, that these beautiful +marble representations of that noble animal seemed placed here on purpose to +embellish his scenery.</p> +<p>Finding myself chilled by standing so many hours exposed to the dampness of +a November night, I returned to the warmer atmosphere of the temples, in order +to take a farewell view of the dancers. The scene was truly picturesque, the +male part of the groups being chiefly composed of journeymen of various trades, +and the females consisting of a ludicrous medley of all classes; but it +required no extraordinary penetration to perceive, that, with the exception of +a few particular attachments, the military bore the bell, and, all things +considered, this was no more than justice. Independently of being the best +dancers, after gaining the laurels of victory in the hard-fought field, who can +deny that they deserved the prize of beauty?</p> +<p>The dancing was kept up with the never-flagging vivacity peculiar to this +nation, and, as I conclude, so continued till a very late hour in the morning. +At half past eleven I withdrew, with a friend whom I chanced to meet, to +Véry's, the famous <i>restaurateur's</i> in the <i>Tuileries</i>, where we +supped. On comparing notes, I found that I had been more fortunate than he, in +beholding to advantage all the sights of the day: though it was meant to be a +day of jubilee, yet it was far from being productive of that mirth or gaiety +which I expected. The excessive dearness of a few articles of the first +necessity may, probably, be one cause of this gloom among the people. Bread, +the staff of life, (as it may be justly termed in France, where a much greater +proportion is, in general, consumed than in any other country,) is now at the +enormous price of eighteen <i>sous</i> (nine-pence sterling) for the loaf of +four pounds. Besides, the Parisians have gone through so much during the +revolution, that I apprehend they are, to a certain degree, become callous to +the spontaneous sensations of joy and pleasure. Be the cause what it may, I am +positively assured that the people expressed not so much hilarity at this fête +as at the last, I mean that of the 14th of July.</p> +<p>In my way home, I remarked that few houses were illuminated, except those of +the rich in the streets which are great thorough-fares. People here, in +general, I suppose, consider themselves dispensed from lighting up their +private residence from the consideration that they collectively contribute to +the public illumination, the expenses of which are defrayed by the government +out of the national coffers.</p> +<p>Several songs have been composed and published in commemoration of this +joyful event. Among those that have fallen under my notice, I have selected the +following, of which our friend M---s, with his usual facility and taste, will, +I dare say, furnish you an imitation.</p> +<p class="bq">CHANT D'ALLÉGRESSE,<br /><br /> +<i>Pour la paix.</i><br /><br /> +Air: <i>de la Marche Triomphante</i>.<br /><br /> +<i>"Reviens pour consoler la terre,<br /> + Aimable Paix, descends des cieux,<br /> +Depuis assez long-tems la guerre<br /> + Afflige un peuple généreux,<br /> +Ah! quell' aurore pure & calme<br /> + S'offre à nos regards satisfaits!<br /> +Nous obtenons la double paline<br /> + De la victoire & de la +paix.</i> bis.<br /> +<br /> +<i>"Disparaissez tristes images,<br /> + D'un tems malheureux qui n'est plus,<br /> +Nous réparerons nos dommages<br /> + Par la sagesse & les vertus.<br /> +Que la paix enfin nous rallie!<br /> + Plus d'ingrats ni de mécontens,<br /> +O triomphe de la patrie!<br /> + Plus de Français +indifférens.</i> bis.<br /><br /> +<i>"Revenez phalanges guerrières,<br /> + Héros vengeurs de mon pays,<br /> +Au sein d'une épouse, d'un père,<br /> + De vos parens, de vos amis,<br /> +Revenez dans votre patrie<br /> + Après tant d'effrayans hazards,<br /> +Trouver ce qui charme la vie,<br /> + L'amitié, l'amour, et les +arts.</i> bis.<br /> +<br /> +<i>"Oh! vous qui, sous des catacombes,<br /> + Etes couchés au champ d'honneur,<br /> +Nos yeux sont fixés sur vos tombes,<br /> + En chantant l'hymne du vainqueur,<br /> +Nous transmettrons votre mémoire<br /> + Jusqu' aux siécles à venir,<br /> +Avec le burin de l'histoire,<br /> + Et les larmes du souvenir."</i> bis. +</p><p /> +<p class="bq">SONG OF JOY,<br /><br /> +<i>In honor of peace.</i><br /> +Imitated from the French.<br /><br /> +To the same tune: <i>de la Marche Triomphante.</i><br /><br /> +Come, lovely Peace, from heav'n descending,<br /> + Thy presence earth at length shall grace;<br /> +Those terrible afflictions ending,<br /> + That long have griev'd a gen'rous race:<br /> +We see Aurora rise refulgent;<br /> + Serene she comes to bless our sight;<br /> +While Fortune to our hopes indulgent,<br /> + Bids victory and peace unite.<br /><br /> +Be gone, ye dark imaginations,<br /> + Remembrances of horrors past:<br /> +Virtue's and Wisdom's reparations<br /> + Shall soon be made, and ever last.<br /> +Now peace to happiness invites us;<br /> + The bliss of peace is understood:<br /> +With love fraternal peace delights us,<br /> + Our private ease, and country's good.<br /><br /> +Re-enter, sons of war, your houses;<br /> + Heroic deeds for peace resign:<br /> +Embrace your parents and your spouses,<br /> + And all to whom your hearts incline:<br /> +Behold your countrymen invite you,<br /> + With open, arms, with open hearts;<br /> +Here find whatever can delight you;<br /> + Here friendship, love, and lib'ral arts.<br /><br /> +Departed heroes, crown'd with glory,<br /> + While you are laid in Honour's bed,<br /> +Sad o'er your tombs we'll sing the story,<br /> + How Gallia's warriors fought and bled:<br /> +And, proud to shew to future ages<br /> + The claims to patriot valour due,<br /> +We'll vaunt, in our historic pages,<br /> + The debt immense we owe to you. +</p> +<p /><p /> +<h2><a name="let16">LETTER XVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 13, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Enriched, as this capital now is, with the spoils of Greece and Italy, it +may literally be termed the repository of the greatest curiosities existing. In +the CENTRAL MUSEUM are collected all the prodigies of the fine arts, and, day +after day, you may enjoy the sight of these wonders.</p> +<p>I know not whether you are satisfied with the abridged account I gave you of +the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES; but, on the presumption that you did not expect from +me a description of every work of sculpture contained in it, I called your +attention to the most pre-eminent only; and I shall now pursue the same plan, +respecting the master-pieces of painting exhibited in the great</p> +<p class="center">GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE</p> +<p>This gallery, which is thirteen hundred and sixty-five feet in length by +thirty in breadth, runs north and south all along the quays of the river Seine, +and joins the <i>Louvre</i> to the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>. It was begun +by Charles IX, carried as far as the first wicket by Henry IV, to the second by +Lewis XIII, and terminated by Lewis XIV. One half, beginning from a narrow +strip of ground, called the <i>Jardin de l'Infante</i>, is decorated externally +with large pilasters of the Composite order, which run from top to bottom, and +with pediments alternately triangular and elliptical, the tympanums of which, +both on the side of the <i>Louvre</i>, and towards the river, are charged with +emblems of the Arts and Sciences. The other part is ornamented with coupled +pilasters, charged with vermiculated rustics, and other embellishments of +highly-finished workmanship.</p> +<p>In the inside of this gallery are disposed the <i>chefs d'œuvre</i> of +all the great masters of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools. The +pictures, particularly the historical ones, are hung according to the +chronological order of the painters' birth, in different compartments, the +number of which, at the present period, amounts to fifty-seven; and the +productions of each school and of each master are as much as possible +assembled; a method which affords the advantage of easily comparing one school +to another, one master to another, and a master to himself. If the chronology +of past ages be considered as a book from which instruction is to be imbibed, +the propriety of such a classification requires no eulogium. From the pictures +being arranged chronologically, the GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE becomes a sort of +dictionary, in which may be traced every degree of improvement or decline that +the art of painting has successively experienced.</p> +<p>The entrance to the great GALLERY OF PAINTINGS is precisely the same as that +to the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. After ascending a noble stone stair-case, and +turning to the left, you reach the</p> +<p class="center">SALOON OF THE LOUVRE.</p> +<p>This apartment, which serves as a sort of antichamber to the great Gallery, +is, at the present moment, appropriated to the annual monthly exhibition of the +productions of living painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, and +draughtsmen. Of these modern works, I shall, perhaps, speak on a future +occasion. But, in the course of a few days, they will give place to several +master-pieces of the Italian School, some of which were under indispensable +repair, when the others were arranged in the great Gallery.</p> +<p>It would be no easy task to express the various sentiments which take +possession of the mind of the lover of the arts, when, for the first time, he +enters this splendid repository. By frequent visits, however, the imagination +becomes somewhat less distracted, and the judgment, by degrees, begins to +collect itself. Although I am not, like you, conversant in the Fine Arts, would +you tax me with arrogance, were I to presume to pass an opinion on some of the +pictures comprised in this matchless collection?</p> +<p>Painting being a representation of nature, every spectator, according to the +justness of his ideas, may form an opinion how far the representation is +happily pourtrayed, and in beholding it, experience a proportionate degree of +pleasure: but how different the sensations of him who, combining all the +requisites of a connoisseur, contemplates the composition of a masterly genius! +In tracing the merits of such a production, his admiration gradually becomes +inflamed, as his eye strays from beauty to beauty.</p> +<p>In painting or sculpture, beauty, as you well know, is either natural, or +generally admitted: the latter depends on the perfection of the performance, on +certain rules established, and principles settled. This is what is termed +<i>ideal</i> beauty, which is frequently not within the reach of the vulgar; +and the merit of which may be lost on him who has not learned to know and +appreciate it. Thus, one of the finest pictures, ever conceived and executed by +man, might not, perhaps, make an impression on many spectators. Natural beauty, +on the contrary, is a true imitation of nature: its effect is striking and +general, so that it stands not in need of being pointed out, but is felt and +admired by all.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding this truth, be assured that I should never, of my own +accord, have ventured to pronounce on the various degrees of merit of so many +<i>chefs d'œuvre</i>, which all at once solicit attention. This would +require a depth of knowledge, a superiority of judgment, a nicety of +discrimination, a fund of taste, a maturity of experience, to none of which +have I any pretension. The greatest masters, who have excelled in a particular +branch, have sometimes given to the world indifferent productions; while +artists of moderate abilities have sometimes produced master-pieces far above +their general standard. In a picture, which may, on the whole, merit the +appellation of a <i>chef d'œuvre</i>, are sometimes to be found beauties +which render it superior, negligences which border on the indifferent, and +defects which constitute the bad. Genius has its flights and deviations; +talent, its successes, attempts, and faults; and mediocrity even, its flashes +and chances.</p> +<p>Whatever some persons may affect, a true knowledge of the art of painting is +by no means an easy acquirement; it is not a natural gift, but demands much +reading and study. Many there are, no doubt, who may be able to descant +speciously enough, perhaps, on the perfections and defects of a picture; but, +on that account alone, they are not to be regarded as real judges of its +intrinsic merit.</p> +<p>Know then, that, in selecting the most remarkable productions among the vast +number exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM, I have had the good fortune to be +directed by the same first-rate connoisseur who was so obliging as to fix my +choice in the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. I mean M. VISCONTI.</p> +<p>Not confining myself either to alphabetical or chronological order, I shall +proceed to point out to you such pictures of each school as claim particular +notice.</p> +<h3>ITALIAN SCHOOL.</h3> +<p>N. B. <i>Those pictures to which no number is prefixed, are not yet publicly +exhibited</i>.</p> +<p class="center">RAFFAELLO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 55.</td><td>(Saloon.)<i>The Virgin and Child, +&c.</i> commonly known by the name of the <i>Madonna di +Foligno</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This is one of the master-pieces of RAPHAEL for vigour of colouring, and for +the beauty of the heads and of the child. It is in his second manner; although +his third is more perfect, seldom are the pictures of this last period entirely +executed by himself. This picture was originally painted on pannel, and was in +such a lamentable state of decay, that doubts arose whether it could safely be +conveyed from Italy. It has been recently transferred to canvass, and now +appears as fresh and as vivid, as if, instead of a lapse of three centuries, +three years only had passed since it was painted. Never was an operation of the +like nature performed in so masterly a manner. The process was attended by a +Committee of the National Institute, appointed at the particular request of the +Administration of the Museum. The <i>Madonna di Foligno</i> is to be engraved +from a drawing taken by that able draughtsman DU TERTRE.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° ( )</td><td><i>The Holy +Family</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This valuable picture of RAPHAEL'S third manner is one of the most perfect +that ever came from his pencil. It belonged to the old collection of the crown, +and is engraved by EDELINCK. Although superior to the <i>Madonna di Foligno</i> +as to style and composition, it is inferior in the representation of the child, +and in vigour of colouring.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° ( )</td><td><i>The +Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>This is the last production of RAPHAEL, and his most admirable <i>chef +d'œuvre</i> as to composition and grace of the contours in all its +figures. It is not yet exhibited, but will be shortly. This picture is in +perfect preservation, and requires only to be cleaned from a coat of dust and +smoke which has been accumulating on it for three centuries, during which it +graced the great altar of St. Peter's church at Rome.</p> +<p>Among the portraits by RAPHAEL, the most surprising are:</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 58.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>Baltazzare +Castiglione</i>, a celebrated writer in Italian and Latin.</td></tr> +<tr><td>N° ( )</td><td><i>Leo X.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>Every thing that RAPHAEL'S pencil has produced is in the first order. That +master has something greatly superior in his manner: he really appears as a god +among painters. Addison seems to have been impressed with the truth of this +sentiment, when he thus expresses himself:</p> +<p class="bq"> +"Fain would I RAPHAEL'S godlike art rehearse,<br /> +And shew th' immortal labours in my verse,<br /> +When from the mingled strength of shade and light,<br /> +A new creation rises, to my sight:<br /> +Such heav'nly figures from his pencil flow,<br /> +So warm with life his blended colours glow,<br /> +From theme to theme with secret pleasure lost,<br /> +Amidst the soft variety I'm lost." +<p class="center">LEONARDO DA VINCI.</p> +<p>There are several pictures by this master in the present exhibition; but you +may look here in vain for the portrait of <i>La Gioconda</i>, which he employed +four years in painting, and in which he has imitated nature so closely, that, +as a well-known author has observed, "the eyes have all the lustre of life, the +hairs of the eye brows and lids seem real, and even the pores of the skin are +perceptible."</p> +<p>This celebrated picture is now removed to the palace of the +<i>Tuileries</i>; but the following one, which remains, is an admirable +performance.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° ( )</td><td><i>Portrait of +Charles VIII.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">FRA BARTOLOMEO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 28.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>St. Mark the +Evangelist</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 29.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>The Saviour of the +world</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>These two pictures, which were in the <i>Pitti</i> palace at Florence, give +the idea of the most noble simplicity, and of no common taste in the +distribution of the lights and shades.</p> +<p class="center">GIULIO ROMANO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 35.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>The +Circumcision</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This picture belonged to the old collection of the crown. The figures in it +are about a foot and a half in height. It is a real <i>chef d'œuvre</i>, +and has all the grace of the antique bas-reliefs.</p> +<p class="center">TIZIANO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 69.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>The Martyrdom of St. +Peter</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This large picture, which presents a grand composition in colossal figures, +with a country of extraordinary beauty in the back-ground, is considered as the +<i>chef d'œuvre</i> of TITIAN. It was painted on pannel; but, having +undergone the same operation as the <i>Madonna di Foligno</i>, is now placed on +canvass, and is in such a state as to claim the admiration of succeeding +ages.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">74.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>The +Portraits of Titian and his mistress.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">70.</td><td>(Saloon.) +<i>Portrait of the Marquis del Guasto with some ladies</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>Both these pictures belonged to the old collection of the crown, and are to +be admired for grace and beauty.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">940.</td><td>(Gallery.) +<i>Christ crowned with thorns</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td valign="top"> </td><td valign="top">941.</td><td>(Gallery.) +<i>Christ carried to the grave</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>There is a wonderful vigour of colouring in these two capital pictures.</p> +<p>The preceding are the most admirable of the productions which are at present +exhibited of this inimitable master, the first of painters for truth of +colouring.</p> +<p class="center">CORREGGIO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 753.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Virgin, the +infant Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and St. Jerome.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>This picture, commonly distinguished by the appellation of the <i>St. +Jerome</i> of CORREGGIO, is undoubtedly his <i>chef d'œuvre</i>. In the +year 1749, the king of Portugal is said to have offered for it a sum equal in +value to £18,000 sterling.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">756.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +Marriage of St. Catherine</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">757.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>Christ taken +down from the cross</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This last-mentioned picture has just been engraved in an excellent manner by +an Italian artist, M. ROSA-SPINA.</p> +<p>The grace of his pencil and his <i>chiaro oscuro</i> place CORREGGIO in the +first class of painters, where he ranks the third after RAPHAEL and TITIAN. He +is inferior to them in design and composition; however the scarceness of his +pictures frequently gives them a superior value. Poor CORREGGIO! It grieves one +to recollect that he lost his life, in consequence of the fatigue of staggering +home under a load of <i>copper</i> coin, which avaricious monks had given him +for pictures now become so valuable that they are not to be purchased for their +weight, even in <i>gold</i>.</p> +<p>No collection is so rich in pictures of CORREGGIO as that of the CENTRAL +MUSEUM.</p> +<p class="center">PAOLO VERONESE.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td>44.</td><td valign="top">(Saloon.) <i>The +Wedding at Cana</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">45.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>The Repast at the +house of Levi</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">51.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>The Pilgrims of +Emmaüs</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>These are astonishing compositions for their vast extent, the number and +beauty of the figures and portraits, and the variety and truth of the +colouring. Nothing in painting can be richer.</p> +<p class="center">ANDREA DEL SARTO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 4.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>Christ taken down from +the cross</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">ANDREA SQUAZZELLI (his pupil.)</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° ( )</td><td><i>Christ laid in +the tomb</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This capital picture is not in the catalogue.</p> +<p class="center">GIORGIONE DEL CASTEL-FRANCO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 32.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>A Concert containing +three portraits</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This master-piece is worthy of TITIAN.</p> +<p class="center">GUERCINO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 33.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>St. +Petronilla</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This large picture was executed for St. Peter's church in the Vatican, where +it was replaced by a copy in Mosaic, on being removed to the pontificate palace +of Monte Cavallo, at Rome.</p> +<p>In the great Gallery are exhibited no less than twenty-three pictures by +GUERCINO: but to speak the truth, though, in looking at some of his +productions, he appears an extremely agreeable painter, as soon as you see a +number of them, you can no longer bear him. This is what happens to +<i>mannerists</i>. The dark shades at first astonish you, afterwards they +disgust you.</p> +<p class="center">ANDREA SACCHI.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 65.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>St. +Remuald</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This picture was always one of the most esteemed of those in the churches at +Rome. It was the altar-piece of the church of St. Remuald in that city.</p> +<p class="center">ALBANO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td>N°</td><td>676.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>Fire.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>677.</td><td><i>Air.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>678.</td><td><i>Water.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>679.</td><td><i>Earth.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>In the Gallery are twenty-nine pictures of this master, and all of them +graceful; but the preceding four, representing the elements, which were taken +from the royal Cabinet of Turin, are the most remarkable.</p> +<p class="center">BAROCCIO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">686.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +Virgin, St Anthony, and St. Lucia.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">688.</td><td><i>St. +Michaelina.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>These are the best pictures of BAROCCIO already exhibited. His colouring is +enchanting. It is entirely transparent and seems as if impregnated with light: +however, his forms, and every thing else, bespeak the <i>mannerist</i>.</p> +<p class="center">ANNIBALE CARRACCI.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">721.</td><td>(Gallery.) +<i>Christ dead on the knees of the Virgin.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">723.</td><td><i>The Resurrection of +Christ.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">728.</td><td><i>The Nativity of +Christ.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">730.</td><td><i>Christ laid in the +tomb.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>Of the CARRACCI, ANNIBALE is the most perfect. He is also remarkable for the +different manners which he has displayed in his works. They appear to be by two +or three different painters. Of more than twenty in the Gallery, the above are +the best of his productions.</p> +<p class="center">MICHAEL ANGELO DA CARAVAGGIO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 744.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>Christ laid in the +tomb.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>This wonderful picture, which was brought from Rome, is, for vigour of +execution and truth of colouring, superior to all the others by the same +master. Every one of his works bears the stamp of a great genius.</p> +<p class="center">DOMENICHINO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 763.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Communion of +St. Jerome.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>This picture, the master-piece of DOMENICHICO, comes from the great altar of +the church of <i>San Geronimo della Carità</i>, at Rome. It will appear +incredible that for a work of such importance, which cost him so much time, +study, and labour, he received no more than the sum of about £10 sterling.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 769.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>St. +Cecilia</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This capital performance is now removed to the drawing-room of the First +Consul, in the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>.</p> +<p>After RAPHAEL, DOMENICHINO is one of the most perfect masters; and his +<i>St. Jerome</i>, together with RAPHAEL'S Transfiguration, are reckoned among +the most famous <i>chefs d'œuvre</i> of the art of painting.</p> +<p class="center">GUIDO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">797.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +Crucifixion of St. Peter</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>800.</td><td><i>Fortune</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>These are the finest of the twenty pictures by that master, now exhibited in +the CENTRAL MUSEUM. They both came from Rome; the former, from the Vatican; the +latter, from the Capitol.</p> +<p>GUIDO is a noble and graceful painter; but, in general, he betrays a certain +negligence in the execution of several parts.</p> +<p class="center">LUINI.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 860.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Holy +Family</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this picture, LUINI has fallen little short of his master, LEONARDO DA +VINCI.</p> +<p class="center">ANDREA SOLARIO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 896.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Daughter of +Herodias receiving the head of St. John</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>SOLARIO is another worthy pupil of LEONARDO. This very capital picture +belonged to the collection of the crown, and was purchased by Lewis XIV.</p> +<p class="center">PIERUNO DEL VAGA.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 928.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Muses +challenged by the Piërides</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>An excellent picture from Versailles.</p> +<p class="center">BALTASSARE PERUZZI.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 929.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Virgin +discovering the infant Jesus asleep</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>A remarkably fine production.</p> +<p class="center">SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° ( )</td><td><i>Portrait of +the young sculptor, Baccio Bomdinelli</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This picture is worthy of the pencil of RAPHAEL. It is not yet +exhibited.</p> +<p class="center">PIETRO DA CORTONA.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">52.</td><td>(Saloon.) <i>The +Birth of the Virgin</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">53.</td><td><i>Remus and +Romulus</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>These are the finest pictures in the collection by this master.</p> +<p>We have now noticed the best productions of the Italian School: in our next +visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM, I shall point out the most distinguished pictures +of the French and Flemish Schools.</p> +<p>P. S. Lord Cornwallis is sumptuously entertained here, all the ministers +giving him a grand dinner, each in rotation. After having viewed the +curiosities of Paris, he will, in about a fortnight, proceed to the congress at +Amiens. On his Lordship's arrival, I thought it my duty to leave my name at his +hotel, and was most agreeably surprised to meet with a very old acquaintance in +his military Secretary, Lieut. Col. L--------s. For any of the ambassador's +further proceedings, I refer you to the English newspapers, which seem to +anticipate all his movements.</p> +<h2><a name="let17">LETTER XVII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 15, 1801.</i></p> +<p>The more frequently I visit the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, the more am I +inclined to think that such a vast number of pictures, suspended together, +lessen each other's effect. This is the first idea which now presents itself to +me, whenever I enter the</p> +<p class="center">GALLERY OF THE LOUVRE.</p> +<p>Were this collection rendered apparently less numerous by being subdivided +into different apartments, the eye would certainly be less dazzled than it is, +at present, by an assemblage of so many various objects, which, though arranged +as judiciously as possible, somehow convey to the mind an image of confusion. +The consequence is that attention flags, and no single picture is seen to +advantage, because so many are seen together.</p> +<p>In proportion as the lover of the arts becomes more familiarized with the +choicest productions of the pencil, he perceives that there are few pictures, +if any, really faultless. In some, he finds beauties, which are general, or +forming, as it were, a whole, and producing a general effect; in others, he +meets with particular or detached beauties, whose effect is partial: assembled, +they constitute the beautiful: insulated, they have a merit which the amateur +appreciates, and the artist ought to study. General or congregated beauties +always arise from genius and talent: particular or detached beauties belong to +study, to labour, that is, to the <i>nulla die sine lineâ</i> and sometimes +solely to chance, as is exemplified in the old story of Protogenes, the +celebrated Rhodian painter.</p> +<p>To discover some of these beauties, requires no extraordinary discernment; a +person of common observation might decide whether the froth at the mouth of an +animal, panting for breath, was naturally represented: but a spectator, +possessing a cultivated and refined taste, minutely surveys every part of a +picture, examines the grandeur of the composition, the elevation of the ideas, +the nobleness of the expression, the truth and correctness of the design, the +grace scattered over the different objects, the imitation of nature in the +colouring, and the masterly strokes of the pencil.</p> +<p>Our last visit to the CENTRAL MUSEUM terminated with the Italian School; let +us now continue our examination, beginning with the</p> +<h3>FRENCH SCHOOL.</h3> +<p class="center">LE BRUN.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">17.</td><td>(Gallery) <i>The +Defeat of Porus.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">18.</td><td><i>The Family of Darius at the +feet of Alexander.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">19.</td><td><i>The Entrance of Alexander +into Babylon. The Passage of the Granicus.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">14.</td><td><i>Jesus asleep, or +Silence.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">16.</td><td><i>The Crucifix surrounded by +angels.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>The compositions of LE BRUN are grand and rich; his costume well-chosen, and +tolerably scientific; the tone of his pictures well-suited to the subject. But, +in this master, we must not look for purity and correctness of drawing, in an +eminent degree. He much resembles PIETRO DA CORTONA. LE BRUN, however, has a +taste more in the style of RAPHAEL and the antique, though it is a distant +imitation. The colouring of PIETRO DA CORTONA is far more agreeable and more +captivating.</p> +<p>Among the small pictures by LE BRUN, N°s. 14 and 16 deserve to be +distinguished; but his <i>chefs d'œuvre</i> are the achievements of +Alexander. When the plates from these historical paintings, engraved by AUDRAN, +reached Rome, it is related that the Italians, astonished, exclaimed: +"<i>Povero Raffaello! non sei più il primo</i>." But, when they afterwards saw +the originals, they restored, to RAPHAEL his former pre-eminence.</p> +<p class="center">CLAUDE LORRAIN.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">43.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>View +of a sea-port at sun-set</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">45.</td><td><i>A Sea-piece on a fine +morning</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">46.</td><td><i>A Landscape enlivened by the +setting sun</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>The superior merit of CLAUDE in landscape-painting is too well known to need +any eulogium, The three preceding are the finest of his pictures in this +collection. However, at Rome, and in England, there are some more perfect than +those in the CENTRAL MUSEUM. One of his <i>chefs d'œuvre</i>, formerly at +Rome, is now at Naples, in the Gallery of Prince Colonna.</p> +<p class="center">JOUVENET.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td>54.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>Christ taken down +from the cross.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>The above is the most remarkable picture here by this master.</p> +<p class="center">MIGNARD.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 57.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Virgin</i>, +called <i>La Vièrge à la grappe</i>, because she is taking from a basket of +fruit a bunch of grapes to present to her son.</td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">NICOLAS POUSSIN.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">70.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +Fall of the manna in the desert.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">75.</td><td><i>Rebecca and +Eleazar.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">77.</td><td><i>The Judgment of +Solomon.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">78.</td><td><i>The blind Men of +Jericho.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">82.</td><td><i>Winter or the +Deluge.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this collection, the above are the finest historical paintings of +POUSSIN; and of his landscapes, the following deserve to be admired.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">76.</td><td>(Gallery.) +<i>Diogenes throwing away his porringer.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">83.</td><td><i>The Death of +Eurydice.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>POUSSIN is the greatest painter of the French school. His compositions bear +much resemblance to those of RAPHAEL, and to the antique: though they have not +the same <i>naïveté</i> and truth. His back-grounds are incomparable; his +landscapes, in point of composition, superior even to those of CLAUDE. His +large altar-pieces are the least beautiful of his productions. His feeble +colouring cannot support proportions of the natural size: in these pictures, +the charms of the background are also wanting.</p> +<p class="center">LE SUEUR.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 98.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>St. Paul preaching +at Ephesus.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>This is the <i>chef d'œuvre</i> of LE SUEUR, who is to be admired for +the simplicity of his pencil, as well as for the beauty of his +compositions.</p> +<p class="center">VALENTINO.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">111.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +Martyrdom of St. Processa and St. Martinian.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">112.</td><td><i>Cæsar's +Tribute.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>These are the finest productions of this master, who was a worthy rival of +CARAVAGGIO.</p> +<p class="center">VERNET.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td>N° 121.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>A Sea-port at +sun-set</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>This painter's style is generally correct and agreeable. In the above +picture he rivals CLAUDE.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p>We now come to the school which, of all others, is best known in England. +This exempts me from making any observations on the comparative merits of the +masters who compose it. I shall therefore confine myself to a bare mention of +the best of their performances, at present exhibited in the CENTRAL MUSEUM.</p> +<h3>FLEMISH SCHOOL.</h3> +<p class="center">RUBENS.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">485.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>St. +Francis, dying, receives the sacrament.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">503.</td><td><i>Christ taken down from the +cross</i>, a celebrated picture from the cathedral of Antwerp.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">507.</td><td><i>Nicholas Rochox, a +burgomaster of the city of Antwerp, and a friend of</i> RUBENS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">509.</td><td><i>The Crucifixion of St. +Peter</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">513.</td><td><i>St. Roch interceding for +the people attacked by the plague.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">526.</td><td><i>The +Village-Festival</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In this repository, the above are the most remarkable productions of +RUBENS.</p> +<p class="center">VANDYCK.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">255.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +Mother of pity.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">264.</td><td><i>The portraits of Charles I, +elector palatine, and his brother, prince Robert.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">265.</td><td><i>A full-length portrait of a +man holding his daughter by the hand.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">266.</td><td><i>A full-length portrait of a +lady with her son.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>These are superior to the other pictures by VANDYCK in this collection.</p> +<p class="center">CHAMPAGNE.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 216.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +Nuns.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>The history of this piece is interesting. The eldest daughter of CHAMPAGNE +was a nun in the convent of <i>Port-Royal</i> at Paris. Being reduced to +extremity by a fever of fourteen months' duration, and given over by her +physicians, she falls to prayers with another nun, and recovers her health.</p> +<p class="center">CRAYER.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 227.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The Triumph of St. +Catherine.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">GERHARD DOUW.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 234.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The dropsical +Woman.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">HANS HOLBEIN.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 319.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>A young woman, +dressed in a yellow veil, and with her hands crossed on her +knees.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">JORDAENS.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td>351.</td><td>(Gallery.) +<i>Twelfth-Day</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">352.</td><td><i>The +Family-Concert</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">ADRIAN VAN OSTADE.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">428.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +family of Ostade, painted by himself.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">430.</td><td><i>A smoking +Club</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">431.</td><td><i>The Schoolmaster, with the +ferula in his hand, surrounded by his scholars</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +<p class="center">PAUL POTTER.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N° 446.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>An extensive +pasture, with cattle.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>This most remarkable picture represents, on the fore-ground, near an oak, a +bull, a ewe with its lamb, and a herdsman, all as large as life.</p> +<p class="center">REMBRANDT.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td valign="top">N°</td><td valign="top">457.</td><td>(Gallery.) <i>The +head of a woman with ear-rings, and dressed in a fur-cloak.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">458.</td><td><i>The good +Samaritan</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">465.</td><td><i>The Cabinet-maker's +family.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">466.</td><td><i>Tobias and his family +kneeling before the angel Raphael, who disappears from his sight, after having +made himself known.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td valign="top">469.</td><td><i>The Presentation of Jesus +in the temple.</i></td></tr> +</table> +<p>The pictures, exhibited in the <i>Saloon</i> of the <i>Louvre</i>, have +infinitely the advantage of those in the <i>Great Gallery</i>; the former +apartment being lighted from the top; while in the latter, the light is +admitted through large windows, placed on both sides, those on the one side +facing the compartments between those on the other; so that, in this respect, +the master-pieces in the <i>Gallery</i> are viewed under very unfavourable +circumstances.</p> +<p><a name="let17fr1"></a>The <i>Gallery</i> of the <i>Louvre</i> is still +capable of containing more pictures, one eighth part of it (that next to the +<i>Tuileries</i>), being under repair for the +purpose.[<a href="#let17f1">1</a>] It has long been a question with the French +republican government, whether the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i> should not be +connected to the <i>Louvre</i>, by a gallery parallel to that which borders the +Seine. Six years ago, I understand, the subject was agitated, and dropped +again, on consideration of the state of the country in general, and +particularly the finances. It is now revived; and I was told the other day, +that a plan of construction had absolutely been adopted. This, no doubt, is +more easy than to find the sums of money necessary for carrying on so expensive +an undertaking.</p> +<p>If the fact were true, it is of a nature to produce a great sensation in +modern art, since it is affirmed that the object of this work is to give a vast +display to every article appropriated to general instruction; for, according to +report, it is intended that these united buildings, should, in addition to the +National Library, contain the collections of statues, pictures, &c. &c. +still remaining at the disposal of the government. I would not undertake to +vouch for the precise nature of the object proposed; but it cannot be denied +that, in this project, there is a boldness well calculated to flatter the +ambition of the Chief Consul.</p> +<p>However, I think it more probable that nothing, in this respect, will be +positively determined in the present state of affairs. The expedition to St. +Domingo will cost an immense sum, not to speak of the restoration of the French +navy, which must occasion great and immediate calls for money. Whence I +conclude that the erection of the new Gallery, like that of the National +Column, will be much talked of, but remain among other projects in embryo, and +the discussion be adjourned <i>sine die</i>.</p> +<p>Leaving the <i>Great Gallery</i>, we return to the <i>Saloon</i> of the +<i>Louvre</i>, which, being an intermediate apartment, serves as a point of +communication between it and the</p> +<p class="center">GALLERY OF APOLLO.</p> +<p>The old gallery of this name, first called <i>La petite galérie du +Louvre</i>, was constructed under the reign of Henry IV, and, from its origin, +ornamented with paintings. This gallery having been consumed by fire in 1661, +owing to the negligence of a workman employed in preparing a theatre for a +grand ballet, in which the king was to dance with all his court, Lewis XIV +immediately ordered it to be rebuilt and magnificently decorated.</p> +<p>LE BRUN, who then directed works of this description in France, furnished +the designs of all the paintings, sculpture, and ornaments, which are partly +executed. He divided the vault of the roof into eleven principal compartments; +in that which is in the centre, he intended to represent <i>Apollo</i> in his +car, with all the attributes peculiar to the Sun, which was the king's device. +The <i>Seasons</i> were to have occupied the four nearest compartments; in the +others, were to have been <i>Evening</i> and <i>Morning</i>, <i>Night</i> and +<i>Day-break</i>, the <i>Waking of the Waters</i>, and that of the <i>Earth at +Sun-rise</i>.</p> +<p>Unfortunately for his fame, this vast project of LE BRUN was never +completed. Lewis XIV, captivated by Versailles, soon turned all his thoughts +towards the embellishment of that palace. The works of the GALLERY OF APOLLO +were entirely abandoned, and, of all this grand composition, LE BRUN was +enabled to execute no more than the following subjects:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li><i>Evening</i>, represented by Morpheus, lying on a bed of poppies, and +buried in a profound sleep.</li> +<li><i>Night</i> succeeding to day, and lighted by the silvery disk of the +Moon, which, under the figure of Diana, appears in a car drawn by hinds.</li> +<li><i>The Waking of the Waters</i>. Neptune and Amphitrite on a car drawn by +sea-horses, and accompanied by Tritons, Nereïds, and other divinities of the +waters, seem to be paying homage to the rising sun, whose first rays dispel the +Winds and Tempests, figured by a group to the left; while, to the right, +Polyphemus, seated on a rock, is calling with his loud instrument to his +Galatea.</li> +</ol> +<p>The other compartments, which LE BRUN could not paint, on account of the +cessation of the works, remained a long time vacant, and would have been so at +this day, had not the <i>ci-devant</i> Academy of Painting, to whom the king, +in 1764, granted the use of the GALLERY OF APOLLO, resolved that, in future, +the historical painters who might be admitted members, should be bound to paint +for their reception one of the subjects which were still wanting for the +completion of the ceiling. In this manner, five of the compartments, which +remained to be filled, were successively decorated, namely:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li><i>Summer</i>, by DURAMEAU.</li> +<li><i>Autumn</i>, by TARAVAL.</li> +<li><i>Spring</i>, by CALLET.</li> +<li><i>Winter</i>, by LAGRENÉE the younger,</li> +<li><i>Morning</i>, or day-break, by RENOU.</li> +</ol> +<p>The GALLERY OF APOLLO now making part of the CENTRAL MUSEUM, it would be +worthy of the government to cause its ceiling to be completed, by having the +three vacant compartments painted by skillful French artists.</p> +<p>Under the compartments, and immediately above the cornice, are twelve +medallions, which were to represent the <i>twelve months of the year</i>, +characterized by the different occupations peculiar to them: eight only are +executed, and these are the months of summer, autumn, and winter.</p> +<p>The rich borders in gilt stucco, which serve as frames to all these +paintings, the caryatides which support them, as well as the groups of Muses, +Rivers, and Children, that are distributed over the great cornice, are worthy +of remark. Not only were the most celebrated sculptors then in France, GASPAR +and BALTHAZAR MARSY, REGNAUDIN, and GIRARDON, chosen to execute them; but their +emulation was also excited by a premium of three hundred louis, which was +promised to him who should excel. GIRARDON obtained it by the execution of the +following pieces of sculpture:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li>The figure representing a river which is under the <i>Waking of the +Waters</i>; at the south extremity of the gallery.</li> +<li>The two trophies of arms which are near that river.</li> +<li>The caryatides that support one of the octagonal compartments towards the +quay, at the foot of which are seen two children; the one armed with a sickle, +the other leaning on a lion.</li> +<li>The group of caryatides that supports the great compartment where +<i>Summer</i> is represented, and below which is a child holding a +balance.</li> +<li>The two grouped figures of Tragedy and Comedy, which rest on the great +cornice.</li> +</ol> +<p>In the GALLERY OF APOLLO will be exhibited in succession, about twelve +thousand original drawings of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools, the +greater part of which formerly belonged to the crown. This valuable collection +had been successively enriched by the choice of those of JABAK, LANQUE, +MONTARSIS, LE BRUN, CROZAT, MARIETTE, &c. yet never rendered public. +Private and partial admission to it had, indeed, been granted; but artists and +amateurs, in general, were precluded from so rich a source of study. By +inconceivable neglect, it seemed almost to have escaped the attention of the +old government, having been for a hundred years shut up in a confined place, +instead of being exhibited to public view.</p> +<p>The variety of the forms and dimensions of these drawings having opposed the +more preferable mode of arranging them by schools, and in chronological order, +the most capital drawings of each master have been selected (for, in so +extensive a collection, it could not be supposed that they were all equally +interesting); and these even are sufficiently numerous to furnish several +successive exhibitions.</p> +<p>The present exhibition consists of upwards of two hundred drawings by the +most distinguished masters of the Italian school, about one hundred by those of +the Flemish, and as many, or rather more, by those of the French. They are +placed in glazed frames, so contrived as to admit of the subjects being changed +at pleasure. Among the drawings by RAPHAEL, is the great cartoon of the +Athenian School, a valuable fragment which served for the execution of the +grand <i>fresco</i> painting in the Vatican, the largest and finest of all his +productions. It was brought from the Ambrosian library at Milan, and is one of +the most instructive works extant for a study.</p> +<p>Besides the drawings, is a frame containing a series of portraits of +illustrious personages who made a figure in the reign of Lewis XIV. They are +miniatures in enamel, painted chiefly by the celebrated PETITOT of Geneva.</p> +<p>Here are also to be seen some busts and antique vases. The most remarkable +of the latter is one of Parian marble, about twenty-one inches in height by +twelve in diameter. It is of an oval form; the handles, cut out of the solid +stone, are ornamented with four swans' heads, and the neck with branches of +ivy. On the swell is a bas-relief, sculptured in the old Greek style, and in +the centre is an altar on which these words may be decyphered.</p> +<p class="bq"> +ΣΟΣΙΒΙΟΣ +ΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΣ +ΕΠΟΙΕΙ.<br /> +<i>Sosibios of Athens fecit.</i><br /> +</p> +<p><a name="let17fr2"></a>This beautiful vase[<a href="#let17f2">2</a>] is +placed on a table of violet African breccia, remarkable for its size, being +twelve feet in length, three feet ten inches in breadth, and upwards of three +inches in thickness.</p> +<p>It might, at first, be supposed that the indiscriminate admission of persons +of all ranks to a Museum, which presents so many attractive objects, would +create confusion, and occasion breaches of decorum. But this is by no means the +case. <i>Savoyards</i>, <i>poissardes</i>, and the whole motley assemblage of +the lower classes of both sexes in Paris, behave themselves with as much +propriety as the more refined visiters; though their remarks, perhaps, may be +expressed in language less polished. In conspicuous places of the various +apartments, boards are affixed, on which is inscribed the following significant +appeal to the uncultivated mind, "<i>Citoyens, ne touchez à rien; mais +respectez la Propriété Nationale</i>." Proper persons are stationed here and +there to caution such as, through thoughtlessness or ignorance, might not +attend to the admonition.</p> +<p>On the days appropriated to the accommodation of students, great numbers are +to be seen in different parts of the Museum, some mounted on little stages, +others standing or sitting, all sedulously employed in copying the favourite +object of their studies. Indeed, the epithet CENTRAL has been applied to this +establishment, in order to designate a MUSEUM, which is to contain the choicest +productions of art, and, of course, become the <i>centre</i> of study. Here, +nothing has been neglected that could render such an institution useful, either +in a political light, or in regard to public instruction. Its magnificence and +splendour speak to every eye, and are calculated to attract the attention of +foreigners from the four quarters of the globe; while, as a source of +improvement, it presents to students the finest models that the arts and +sciences could assemble. In a philosophical point of view, such a Museum may be +compared to a torch, whose light will not only dispel the remnant of that bad +taste which, for a century, has predominated in the arts dependent on design, +but also serve to guide the future progress of the rising generation.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let17f1">Footnote 1</a>: In the great <i>Gallery</i> of +the <i>Louvre</i> are suspended about nine hundred and fifty pictures; which, +with ninety in the <i>Saloon</i>, extend the number of the present exhibition +to one thousand and forty. <a href="#let17fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let17f2">Footnote 2</a>: Whatever may be the beauty of +this vase, two others are to be seen in Paris, which surpass it, according to +the opinion of one of the most celebrated antiquaries of the age, M. VISCONTI. +They are now in the possession of M. AUBRI, doctor of Physic, residing at +N°. 272, <i>Rue St. Thomas du Louvre</i>, but they formerly graced the +cabinet of the <i>Villa-Albani</i> at Rome. In this apartment, Cardinal +Alessandro had assembled some of the most valuable ornaments of antiquity. Here +were to be seen the Apollo <i>Sauroctonos</i> in bronze, the Diana in +alabaster, and the <i>unique</i> bas-relief of the apothesis of Hercules. By +the side of such rare objects of art, these vases attracted no less attention. +To describe them as they deserve, would lead me too far; they need only to be +seen to be admired. Although their form is antique, the execution of them is +modern, and ascribed to the celebrated sculptor, SILVIO DA VELETRI, who lived +in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Indeed, M. VISCONTI affirms that +antiquity affords not their equal; assigning as a reason that porphyry was +introduced into Rome at a period when the fine arts were tending to their +decline. Notwithstanding the hardness of the substance, they are executed with +such taste and perfection, that the porphyry is reduced to the thinness of +china. <a href="#let17fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let18">LETTER XVIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 17, 1801.</i></p> +<p>The <i>Louvre</i>, the <i>Tuileries</i>, together with the <i>National +Fête</i> in honour of Peace, and a crowd of interesting objects, have so +engrossed our attention, that we seem to have overlooked the <i>ci-devant +Palais Royal</i>. Let us then examine that noted edifice, which now bears the +name of</p> +<p class="center">PALAIS DU TRIBUNAT.</p> +<p>In 1629, Cardinal Richelieu began the construction of this palace. When +finished, in 1636, he called it the <i>Palais Cardinal</i>, a denomination +which was much criticized, as being unworthy of the founder of the French +Academy.</p> +<p>Like the politic Wolsey, who gave Hampton-Court to Henry VIII, the crafty +Richelieu, in 1639, thought proper to make a present of this palace to Lewis +XIII. After the death of that king, Anne of Austria, queen of France and regent +of the kingdom, quitted the <i>Louvre</i> to inhabit the <i>Palais +Cardinal</i>, with her sons Lewis XIV and the Duke of Anjou.</p> +<p>The first inscription was then removed, and this palace was called <i>le +Palais Royal</i>, a name which it preserved till the revolution, when, after +the new title assumed by its then owner, it was denominated <i>la Maison +Égalité</i>, till, under the consular government, since the Tribunate have here +established their sittings, it has obtained its present appellation of +<i>Palais du Tribunat</i>.</p> +<p>In the sequel, Lewis XIV granted to Monsieur, his only brother, married to +Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I, the enjoyment of the <i>Palais +Royal</i>, and afterwards vested the property of it in his grandson, the Duke +of Chartres.</p> +<p>That prince, become Duke of Orleans, and regent of France, during the +minority of Lewis XV, resided in this palace, and (to use Voltaire's +expression) hence gave the signal of voluptuousness to the whole kingdom. Here +too, he ruled it with principles the most daring; holding men, in general, in +great contempt, and conceiving them to be all as insidious, as servile, and as +covetous as those by whom he was surrounded. With the superiority of his +character, he made a sport of governing this mass of individuals, as if the +task was unworthy of his genius. The fact is illustrated by the following +anecdote.</p> +<p>At the commencement of his regency, the debts of the State were immense, and +the finances exhausted: such great evils required extraordinary remedies; he +wished to persuade the people that paper-money was better than specie. +Thousands became the dupes of their avarice, and too soon awoke from their +dream only to curse the authors of a project which ended in their total ruin. +It is almost needless to mention that I here allude to the Mississippi +bubble.</p> +<p>In circumstances so critical, the Parliament of Paris thought it their duty +to make remonstrances. They accordingly sent deputies to the regent, who was +persuaded that they wished to stir up the Parisians against him. After having +listened to their harangue with much phelgm, he gave them his answer in four +words: "Go and be d----n'd." The deputy, who had addressed him, nothing +disconcerted, instantly replied: "Sir, it is the custom of the Parliament to +enter in their registers the answers which they receive from the throne: shall +they insert this?"</p> +<p>The principles of the regent's administration, which succeeded those of +Lewis XIV, form in history, a very striking shade. The French nation, which, +plastic as wax, yields to every impression, was new-modelled in a single +instant. As a rotten speck, by spreading, contaminates the finest fruit, so was +the <i>Palais Royal</i> the corrupt spot, whence the contagion of debauchery +was propagated, even to the remotest parts of the kingdom.</p> +<p>This period, infinitely curious and interesting, paved the way to the +present manners. If the basis of morality be at this day overthrown in France, +the regency of Philip of Orleans, by completing what the dissolute court of +Lewis XIV had begun, has occasioned that rapid change, whose influence was felt +long before the revolution, and will, in all probability, last for ages. At +least, I think that such a conclusion is exemplified by what has occurred in +England since the profligate reign of Charles II, the effects of whose example +have never been done away.</p> +<p>Different circumstances have produced considerable alterations in this +palace, so that, at the present day, its numerous buildings preserve of the +first architect, LE MERCIER, no more than a small part of the second court.</p> +<p>The principal entrance of the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i> is from the <i>Rue +St. Honoré</i>. The façade, on this side, which was constructed in 1763, +consists of two pavilions, ornamented by Doric and Ionic pillars, and connected +by a lofty stone-wall, perforated with arches, to three grand gates, by which +you enter the first court. Here, two elegant wings present themselves, +decorated with pilasters, also of the Doric and Ionic orders, which are +likewise employed for the pillars of the avant-corps in the centre. This +avant-corps is pierced with three arches, which serve as a passage into the +second court, and correspond with the three gates before-mentioned.</p> +<p>Having reached the vestibule, between the two courts, where large Doric +pillars rise, though partly concealed by a number of little shops and stalls, +you see, on the right, the handsome elliptical stair-case, which leads to the +apartments. It branches off into two divisions at the third step, and is +lighted by a lofty dome. The balustrade of polished iron is beautiful, and is +said to have cost thirty-two workmen two years' labour. Before the revolution, +strangers repaired hither to admire the cabinet of gems and engraved stones, +the cabinet of natural history, the collection of models of arts, trades, and +manufactures, and the famous collection of pictures, belonging to the +<i>last</i> duke of Orleans, and chiefly assembled, at a vast expense, by his +grandfather, the regent.</p> +<p>This second court is larger than the first; but it still remains in an +incomplete state. The right-hand wing only is finished, and is merely a +continuation of that which we have seen in the other court. On the left hand, +is the site of the new hall intended for the sittings of the Tribunate. Workmen +are now employed in its construction; heaps of stones and mortar are lying +about, and, the building seems to proceed with tolerable expedition. Here, in +the back-ground, is a crowd of little stalls for the sale of various articles, +such as prints, plays, fruit, and pastry. In front stand such carriages as +remain in waiting for those who may have been set down at this end of the +palace. Proceeding onward, you pass through two parallel wooden galleries, +lined on each side with shops, and enter the formerly-enchanting regions of +the</p> +<p class="center">JARDIN DU PALAIS DU TRIBUNAT.</p> +<p>The old garden of the <i>Palais Royal</i>, long famous for its shady walks, +and for being the most fashionable public promenade in Paris, had, from its +centrical situation, gradually attracted to its vicinity a considerable number +of speculators, who there opened ready-furnished hotels, coffee-houses, and +shops of various descriptions. The success of these different establishments +awakened the cupidity of its wealthy proprietor, then Duke, of Chartres, who, +conceiving that the ground might be made to yield a capital augmentation to his +income, fixed on a plan for enclosing it by a magnificent range of +buildings.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the clamours of the Parisian public, who, from long habit, +considered that they had a sort of prescriptive right to this favourite +promenade, the axe was laid to the celebrated <i>arbre de Cracovie</i> and +other venerable trees, and their stately heads were soon levelled to the +ground. Every one murmured as if these trees had been his own private property, +and cut down against his will and pleasure. This will not appear extraordinary, +when it is considered that, under their wide-spreading branches, which afforded +a shelter impervious to the sun and rain, politicians by day, adjusted the +balance of power, and arbiters of taste discussed the fashions of the moment; +while, by night, they presented a canopy, beneath which were often arranged the +clandestine bargains of opera-girls and other votaries of Venus.</p> +<p>After venting their spleen in vague conjectures, witty epigrams, and +lampoons, the Parisians were silent. They presently found that they were, in +general, not likely to be losers by this devastation. In 1782, the execution of +the new plan was begun: in less than three years, the present inclosure was +nearly completed, and the modern garden thrown open to the public, uniting to +the advantages of the ancient one, a thousand others more refined and +concentrated.</p> +<p>The form of this garden is a parallelogram, whose length is seven hundred +and two feet by three hundred in breadth, taken at its greatest dimensions. It +is bordered, on three of its sides, by new, uniform buildings, of light and +elegant architecture. Rising to an elevation of forty-two feet, these buildings +present two regular stories, exclusively of the <i>mansarde</i>, or attic +story, decorated by festoons, bas-reliefs, and large Composite fluted pillars, +bearing an entablature in whose frieze windows are pierced. Throughout its +extent, the whole edifice is crowned by a balustrade, on the pedestals of which +vases are placed at equal distances.</p> +<p>In the middle of the garden stood a most singular building, partly +subterraneous, called a <i>Cirque</i>. This circus, which was first opened in +1789, with concerts, balls, &c. was also appropriated to more useful +objects, and, in 1792, a <i>Lyceum of Arts</i> was here established; but in +1797, it was consumed by fire, and its site is now occupied by a grass-plot. On +the two long sides of the garden are planted three rows of horse-chesnut trees, +not yet of sufficient growth to afford any shade; and what is new, is a few +shrubs and flowers in inclosed compartments. The walks are of gravel, and kept +in good order.</p> +<p>On the ground-floor, a covered gallery runs entirely round the garden. The +shops, &c. on this floor, as well as the apartments of the <i>entresol</i> +above them, receive light by one hundred and eighty porticoes, which are open +towards the garden, and used to have each a glass lantern, with reflectors, +suspended in the middle of their arch. In lieu of these, some of a less +brilliant description are now distributed on a more economical plan under the +piazzas; but, at the close of day, the rivalship of the shopkeepers, in +displaying their various commodities, creates a blaze of light which would +strike a stranger as the effect of an illumination.</p> +<p>The fourth side of the garden towards the <i>Rue St. Honoré</i> is still +occupied by a double gallery, constructed, as I have already mentioned, of +wood, which has subsisted nearly in its present state ever since I first +visited Paris in 1784. It was to have been replaced by a colonnade for the +inclosure of the two courts. This colonnade was to have consisted of six rows +of Doric pillars, supporting a spacious picture-gallery, (intended for the +whole of the Orleans collection), which was to have constituted the fourth +façade to the garden, and have formed a covered walk, communicating with the +galleries of the other three sides.</p> +<p>These galleries, whose whole circumference measures upwards of a third of a +mile, afford to the public, even in bad weather, a walk equally agreeable and +convenient, embellished, on the one side, by the aspect of the garden, and, on +the other, by the studied display of every thing that taste and fashion can +invent to captivate the attention of passengers.</p> +<p>No place in Paris, however, exhibits such a contrast to its former +attractions as this once-fashionable rendezvous. The change of its name from +<i>Palais Royal</i> to <i>Maison Égalité</i> conveys not to the imagination a +dissimilitude more glaring than is observable between the present frequenters +of this favourite promenade, and those who were in the habit of flocking hither +before the revolution.</p> +<p>At that period, the scene was enlivened by the most brilliant and most +captivating company in the capital, both in point of exterior and manners. At +this day, the medal is exactly reversed. In lieu of well-dressed or +well-behaved persons of both sexes, this garden, including its purlieus, +presents, morning and evening, nothing but hordes of stock-jobbers, +money-brokers, gamblers, and adventurers of every description. The females who +frequent it, correspond nearly to the character of the men; they are, for the +greater part, of the most debauched and abandoned class: for a Laïs of <i>bon +ton</i> seldom ventures to shew herself among this medley of miscreants.</p> +<p>In the crowd, may be occasionally remarked a few strangers attracted by +curiosity, and other individuals of respectable appearance called hither on +business, as well as some inoffensive newsmongers, resorting to the +coffee-houses to read the papers. But, in general, the great majority, of the +company, now seen here, is of a cast so extremely low, that no decent woman, +whether married or single, thinks of appearing in a place where she would run a +risk of being put out of countenance in passing alone, even in the daytime. In +the evening, the company is of a still worse complexion; and the concourse +becomes so great under the piazzas, particularly when the inclemency of the +weather drives people out of the garden, that it is sometimes difficult to +cross through the motley assemblage. At the conclusion of the performances in +the neighbouring theatres, there is a vast accession of the inferior order of +nymphs of the Cyprian corps; and then, amorous conversation and dalliance reach +the summit of licentious freedom.</p> +<p>The greater part of the political commotions which have, at different times, +convulsed Paris, took their rise in the <i>ci-devant Palais Royal</i>, or it +has, in some shape, been their theatre. In this palace too originated the +dreadful reverse of fortune which the queen experienced; and, indeed, when the +cart in which her majesty was carried to the scaffold, passed before the gates +of this edifice, she was unable to repress a sign of indignation.</p> +<p>All writers who have spoken of the inveterate hatred, which existed between +the queen and M. d'Orléans, have ascribed it to despised love, whose pangs, as +Shakspeare tells, us, are not patiently endured. Some insist that the duke, +enamoured of the charms of the queen, hazarded a declaration, which her majesty +not only received with disdain, but threatened to inform the king of in case of +a renewal of his addresses. Others affirm that the queen, at one time, shewed +that the duke was not indifferent to her, and that, on a hint being given to +him to that effect, he replied: "Every one may be ambitious to please the +queen, except myself. Our interests are too opposite for Love ever to unite +them." On this foundation is built the origin of the animosity which, in the +end, brought both these great personages to the scaffold.</p> +<p>Whatever may have been the motive which gave rise to it, certain it is that +they never omitted any opportunity of persecuting each other. The queen had no +difficulty in pourtraying the duke as a man addicted to the most profligate +excesses, and in alienating from him the mind of the king: he, on his side, +found it as easy, by means of surreptitious publications, to represent her as a +woman given to illicit enjoyments; so that, long before the revolution, the +character both of the queen and the duke were well known to the public; and +their example tended not a little to increase the general dissoluteness of +morals. The debaucheries of the one served as a model to all the young rakes of +fashion; while the levity of the other, was imitated by what were termed the +<i>amiable</i> women of the capital.</p> +<p>After his exile in 1788, the hatred of M. d'Orléans towards the queen roused +that ambition which he inherited from his ancestors. In watching her private +conduct, in order to expose her criminal weaknesses, he discovered a certain +political project, which gave birth to the idea of his forming a plan of a +widely-different nature. Hitherto he had given himself little trouble about +State affairs; but, in conjunction with his confidential friends, he now began +to calculate the means of profiting by the distress of his country.</p> +<p>The first shocks of the revolution had so electrified the greater part of +the Parisians, that, in regard to the Duke of Orleans, they imperceptibly +passed from profound contempt to blind infatuation. His palace became the +rendezvous of all the malcontents of the court, and his garden the place of +assembly of all the demagogues. His exile appeared a public calamity, and his +recall was celebrated as a triumph. Had he possessed a vigour of intellect, and +a daring equal to the situation of leader of a party, there is little doubt +that he might have succeeded in his plan, and been declared regent. His immense +income, amounting to upwards of three hundred thousand pounds sterling, was +employed to gain partisans, and secure the attachment of the people.</p> +<p>After the taking of the Bastille, it is admitted that his party was +sufficiently powerful to effect a revolution in his favour; but his +pusillanimity prevailed over his ambition. The active vigilance of the queen +thwarting his projects, he resolved to get rid of her; and in that intention +was the irruption of the populace directed to Versailles. This fact seems +proved: for, on some one complaining before him in 1792, that the revolution +proceeded too slowly. "It would have been terminated long ago," replied he, +"had the queen been sacrificed on the 5th of October 1789."</p> +<p>Two months before the fall of the throne, M. d'Orléans still reckoned to be +able to attain his wishes; but he soon found himself egregiously mistaken. The +factions, after mutually accusing each other of having him for their chief, +ended by deserting him; and, after the death of the king, he became a stranger +to repose, and, for the second time, an object of contempt. The necessity of +keeping up the exaltation of the people, had exhausted his fortune, great as it +was; and want of money daily detached different agents from his party. His +plate, his pictures, his furniture, his books, his trinkets, his gems, all went +to purchase the favour, and at length the protection, of the Maratists. Not +having it in his power to satisfy their cupidity, he opened loans on all sides, +and granted illusory mortgages. Having nothing more left to dispose of, he was +reduced, as a last resource, to sell his body-linen. In this very bargain was +he engaged, when he was apprehended and sent to Marseilles.</p> +<p>Although acquitted by the criminal tribunal, before which he was tried in +the south of France, he was still detained there in prison. At first, he had +shed tears, and given himself up to despair, but now hope once more revived his +spirits, and he availed himself of the indulgence granted him, by giving way to +his old habits of debauchery. On being brought to Paris after six months' +confinement, he flattered himself that he should experience the same lenity in +the capital. The jailer of the <i>Conciergerie,</i> not knowing whether M. +d'Orléans would leave that prison to ascend the throne or the scaffold, treated +him with particular respect; and he himself was impressed with the idea that he +would soon resume an ascendency in public affairs. But, on his second trial, he +was unanimously declared guilty of conspiring against the unity and +indivisibility of the Republic, and condemned to die, though no proof whatever +of his guilt was produced to the jury. One interrogatory put to him is +deserving of notice. It was this: "Did you not one day say to a deputy: <i>What +will you ask of me when I am king?</i> And did not the deputy reply: <i>I will +ask you for a pistol to blow out your brains?</i>"</p> +<p>Every one who was present at the condemnation of M. d'Orléans, and saw him +led to the guillotine affirms that if he never shewed courage before, he did at +least on that day. On hearing the sentence, he called out: "Let it be executed +directly." From the revolutionary tribunal he was conducted straight to the +scaffold, where, notwithstanding the reproaches and imprecations which +accompanied him all the way, he met his fate with unshaken firmness.</p> +<h2><a name="let19">LETTER XIX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 18, 1801.</i></p> +<p>But if the <i>ci-devant Palais Royal</i> has been the mine of political +explosions, so it still continues to be the epitome of all the trades in Paris. +Under the arcades, on the ground-floor, here are, as formerly, shops of +jewellers, haberdashers, artificial florists, milliners, perfumers, +print-sellers, engravers, tailors, shoemakers, hatters, furriers, glovers, +confectioners, provision-merchants, woollen-drapers, mercers, cutlers, toymen, +money-changers, and booksellers, together with several coffee-houses, and +lottery-offices, all in miscellaneous succession.</p> +<p>Among this enumeration, the jewellers' shops are the most attractive in +point of splendour. The name of the proprietor is displayed in large letters of +artificial diamonds, in a conspicuous compartment facing the door. This is a +sort of signature, whose brilliancy eclipses all other names, and really +dazzles the eyes of the spectators. But at the same time it draws the attention +both of the learned and the illiterate: I will venture to affirm that the name +of one of these jewellers is more frequently spelt and pronounced than that of +any great man recorded in history, either ancient or modern.</p> +<p>With respect to the price of the commodities exposed for sale in the +<i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, it is much the same as in <i>Bond Street</i>, you +pay one third at least for the idea of fashion annexed to the name of the place +where you make the purchase, though the quality of the article may be nowise +superior to what you might procure elsewhere. As in Bond Street too, the rents +in this building are high, on which account the shopkeepers are, in some +measure, obliged to charge higher than those in other parts of the town. Not +but I must do them the justice to acknowledge that they make no scruple to +avail themselves of every prejudice formerly entertained in favour of this +grand emporium, in regard to taste, novelty, &c. by a still further +increase of their prices. No small advantage to the shopkeepers established +here is the chance custom, arising from such a variety of trades being +collected together so conveniently, all within the same inclosure. A person +resorting hither to procure one thing, is sure to be reminded of some other +want, which, had not the article presented itself to his eye, would probably +have escaped his recollection; and, indeed, such is the thirst of gain, that +several tradesmen keep a small shop under these piazzas, independently of a +large warehouse in another quarter of Paris.</p> +<p>Pamphlets and other ephemeral productions usually make their first +appearance in the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>; and strangers may rely on being +plagued by a set of fellows who here hawk about prohibited publications, of the +most immoral tendency, embellished with correspondent engravings; such as +<i>Justine, ou les malheurs de la vertu, Les quarante manières, &c.</i> +They seldom, I am told, carry the publication about them, for fear of being +unexpectedly apprehended, but keep it at some secret repository hard by, whence +they fetch it in an instant. It is curious to see with what adroitness these +vagrants elude the vigilance of the police, I had scarcely set my foot in this +building before a Jew-looking fellow, coming close to me, whispered in my ear: +"<i>Monsieur veut-il la vie polissonne de Madame--------?</i>" Madame who do +you think? You will stare when I tell you to fill up the blank with the name of +her who is now become the first female personage in France? I turned round with +astonishment; but the ambulating book-vender had vanished, in consequence, as I +conclude, of being observed by some <i>mouchard.</i> Thus, what little virtue +may remain in the mind of youth is contaminated by precept, as well as example; +and the rising generation is in a fair way of being even more corrupted than +that which has preceded it.</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>Ætas parentum, pejor avis, tulit<br /> +Nos nequiores, mox daturos<br /> +Progeniem vitiosiorem.</i>"</p> +<p>Besides the shops, are some auction-rooms, where you may find any article of +wearing apparel or household furniture, from a lady's wig <i>à la Caraculla</i> +to a bed <i>à la Grecque:</i> here are as many puffers as in a mock auction in +London; and should you be tempted to bid, by the apparent cheapness of the +object put up for sale, it is fifty to one that you soon repent of your +bargain. Not so with the <i>magazins de confiance à prix fixé</i>, where are +displayed a variety of articles, marked at a fixed price, from which there is +no abatement.</p> +<p>These establishments are extremely convenient, not only to ingenious +mechanics, who have invented or improved a particular production of art, of +which they wish to dispose, but also to purchasers. You walk in, and if any +article strikes your fancy, you examine it at your ease; you consider the +materials, the workmanship, and lastly the price, without being hurried by a +loquacious shopkeeper into a purchase which you may shortly regret. A +commission of from five to one half per cent, in graduated proportions, +according to the value of the article, is charged to the seller, for +warehouse-room and all other expenses.</p> +<p>Such is the arrangement of the ground-floor; the apartments on the first +floor are at present occupied by <i>restaurateurs</i>, exhibitions of various +kinds, billiard-tables, and <i>académies de jeu</i>, or public gaming-tables, +where all the passions are let loose, and all the torments of hell +assembled.</p> +<p>The second story is let out in lodgings, furnished or unfurnished, to +persons of different descriptions, particularly to the priestesses of Venus. +The rooms above, termed <i>mansardes</i>, in the French architectural dialect, +are mostly inhabited by old batchelors, who prefer economy to show; or by +artists, who subsist by the employment of their talents. These chambers are +spacious, and though the ceilings are low, they receive a more uninterrupted +circulation of fresh air, than the less exalted regions.</p> +<p>Over the <i>mansardes</i>, in the very roof, are nests of little rooms, or +cock-lofts, resembling, I am told, the cells of a beehive. Journeymen +shopkeepers, domestics, and distressed females are said to be the principal +occupiers of these aërial abodes.</p> +<p>I had nearly forgot to mention a species of apartment little known in +England: I mean the <i>entresol</i>, which is what we should denominate a low +story, (though here not so considered), immediately above the ground-floor, and +directly under the first-floor. In this building, some of the <i>entresols</i> +are inhabited by the shopkeepers below; some, by women of no equivocal calling, +who throw out their lures to the idle youths sauntering under the arcades; and +others again are now become <i>maisons de pret</i>, where pawnbrokers exercise +their usurious dealings.</p> +<p>In the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, as you may remark, not an inch of space is +lost; every hole and corner being turned to account: here and there, the +cellars even: are converted into scenes of gaiety and diversion, where the +master of the house entertains his customers with a succession of vocal and +instrumental music, while they are taking such refreshments as he +furnishes.</p> +<p>This speculation, which has, by all accounts, proved extremely profitable, +was introduced in the early part of the revolution. Since that period, other +speculations, engendered by the luxury of the times, have been set on foot +within the precincts of this palace. Of two of these, now in full vigour and +exercise, I must say a few words, as they are of a nature somewhat curious.</p> +<p>The one is a <i>cabinet de décrotteur</i>, where the art of blacking shoes +is carried to a pitch of perfection hitherto unknown in this country.</p> +<p>Not many years ago, it was common, in Paris, to see counsellors, abbés, and +military officers, as well as <i>petits-maîtres</i> of every denomination, full +dressed, that is, with their hat under their arm, their sword by their side, +and their hair in a bag, standing in the open street, with one leg cocked up on +a stool, while a rough Savoyard or Auvergnat hastily cleaned their shoes with a +coarse mixture of lamp-black and rancid oil. At the present day, the +<i>décrotteurs</i> or shoe-blacks still exercise their profession on the +<i>Pont Neuf</i> and in other quarters; but, as a refinement of the art, there +is also opened, at each of the principal entrances of the <i>Palais du +Tribunat</i>, a <i>cabinet de décrotteur</i>, or small apartment, where you are +invited to take a chair, and presented with the daily papers.</p> +<p>The artist, with due care and expedition, first removes the dirt from your +shoes or boots with a sponge occasionally moistened in water, and by means of +several pencils, of different sizes, not unlike those of a limner, he then +covers them with a jetty varnish, rivaling even japan in lustre. This operation +he performs with a gravity and consequence that can scarcely fail to excite +laughter. Yet, according to the trite proverb, it is not the customer who ought +to indulge in mirth, but the <i>artist</i>. Although his price is much dearer +than that demanded by the other professors of this art, his cabinet is seldom +empty from morning to night; and, by a simple calculation, his pencil is found +to produce more than that of some good painters of the modern French +school.</p> +<p>At the first view of the matter, it should appear that the other speculation +might have been hit on by any man with a nose to his face; but, on more mature +consideration, one is induced to think that its author was a person of some +learning, and well read in ancient history. He, no doubt, took the hint from +VESPASIAN. As that emperor blushed not to make the urine of the citizens of +Rome a source of revenue, so the learned projector in question rightly judged +that, in a place of such resort as the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, he might, +without shame or reproach, levy a small tax on the Parisians, by providing for +their convenience in a way somewhat analogous. His penetration is not +unhandsomely rewarded; for he derives an income of 12,000 francs, or £500 +sterling, from his <i>cabinets d'aisance</i>.</p> +<p>Since political causes first occasioned the shuting up of the old <i>Théâtre +Français</i> in the <i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>, now reduced to a shell by +fire, Melpomene and Thalia have taken up their abode in the south-west angle of +the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, and in its north-west corner is another theatre, +on a smaller scale, where Momus holds his court; so that be you seriously, +sentimentally, or humorously disposed, you may, without quitting the shelter of +the piazzas, satisfy your inclination. Tragedy, Comedy, and Farce all lie +before you within the purlieus of this extraordinary edifice.</p> +<p>To sum up all the conveniences of the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, suffice it +to say, that almost every want, natural or artificial, almost every appetite, +gross or refined, might be gratified without passing its limits; for, while the +extravagant voluptuary is indulging in all the splendour of Asiatic luxury, the +parsimonious sensualist need not depart unsatisfied.</p> +<p>Placed in the middle of Paris, the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i> has been aptly +compared to a sink of vice, whose contagious effects would threaten society +with the greatest evils, were not the scandalous scenes of the capital here +concentrated into one focus. It has also been mentioned, by the same writer, +Mercier, as particularly worthy of remark, that, since this building is become +a grand theatre, where cupidity, gluttony, and licentiousness shew themselves +under every form and excess, several other quarters of Paris are, in a manner, +purified by the accumulation of vices which flourish in its centre.</p> +<p>Whether or not this assertion be strictly correct, I will not pretend to +determine: but, certain it is that the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i> is a vortex of +dissipation where many a youth is ingulfed. The natural manner in which this +may happen I shall endeavour briefly to explain, by way of conclusion to this +letter.</p> +<p>A young Frenchman, a perfect stranger in Paris, arrives there from the +country, and, wishing to equip himself in the fashion, hastens to the <i>Palais +du Tribunat</i>, where he finds wearing apparel of every description on the +<i>ground-floor</i>: prompted by a keen appetite, he dines at a +<i>restaurateur's</i> on the <i>first-floor</i>: after dinner, urged by mere +curiosity, perhaps, if not decoyed by some sharper on the look-out for novices, +he visits a public gaming-table on the same story. Fortune not smiling on him, +he retires; but, at that very moment, he meets, on the landing-place, a +captivating damsel, who, like Virgil's Galatea, flies to be pursued; and the +inexperienced youth, after ascending another flight of stairs, is, on the +<i>second-floor</i>, ushered into a brothel. Cloyed or disgusted there, he is +again induced to try the humour of the fickle goddess, and repairs once more to +the gaming-table, till, having lost all his money, he is under the necessity of +descending to the <i>entresol</i> to pawn his watch, before he can even procure +a lodging in a <i>garret</i> above.</p> +<p>What other city in Europe can boast of such an assemblage of accommodation? +Here, under the same roof, a man is, in the space of a few minutes, as +perfectly equipped from top to toe, as if he had all the first tradesmen in +London at his command; and shortly after, without setting his foot into the +street, he is as completely stripped, as if he had fallen into the hands of a +gang of robbers.</p> +<p>To cleanse this Augæan stable, would, no doubt, be a Herculean labour. For +that purpose, Merlin (of Douay), when Minister of the police, proposed to the +Directory to convert the whole of the buildings of the <i>ci-devant Palais +Royal</i> into barracks. This was certainly striking at the root of the evil; +but, probably, so bold a project was rejected, lest its execution, in those +critical times, should excite the profligate Parisians to insurrection.</p> +<h2><a name="let20">LETTER XX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 20, 1801.</i></p> +<p>One of the private entertainments here in great vogue, and which is +understood to mark a certain pre-eminence in the <i>savoir-vivre</i> of the +present day, is a nocturnal repast distinguished by the insignificant +denomination of a</p> +<p class="center">THÉ.</p> +<p>A stranger might, in all probability, be led to suppose that he was invited +to a tea-drinking party, when he receives a note couched in the following +terms:</p> +<p><i>"Madame R------ prie Monsieur B--------- de lui faire l'honneur de venir +au thé quelle doit donner le 5 de ce mois."</i></p> +<p>Considering in that light a similar invitation which I received, I was just +on the point of sending an apology, when I was informed that a <i>thé</i> was +nothing more or less than a sort of rout, followed by substantial refreshments, +and generally commencing after the evening's performance was ended at the +principal theatres.</p> +<p>On coming out of the opera-house then the other night, I repaired to the +lady's residence in question, and arriving there about twelve o'clock, found +that I had stumbled on the proper hour. As usual, there were cards, but for +those only disposed to play; for, as this lady happened not to be under the +necessity of recurring to the <i>bouillotte</i> as a financial resource, she +gave herself little or no concern about the card-tables. Being herself a very +agreeable, sprightly woman, she had invited a number of persons of both sexes +of her own character, so that the conversation was kept up with infinite +vivacity till past one o'clock, when tea and coffee were introduced. These were +immediately followed by jellies, sandwiches, pâtés, and a variety of savoury +viands, in the style of a cold supper, together with different sorts of wines +and liqueurs. In the opinion of some of the Parisian sybarites, however, no +<i>thé</i> can be complete without the addition of an article, which is here +conceived to be a perfect imitation of fashionable English cheer. This is hot +punch.</p> +<p>It was impossible for me to refuse the cheerful and engaging <i>dame du +logis</i> to taste her <i>ponche</i>, and, in compliment to me as an +Englishman, she presented me with a glass containing at least a treble +allowance. Not being overfond of punch, I would willingly have relinquished the +honour of drinking her health in so large a portion, apprehending that this +beverage might, in quality, resemble that of the same name which I had tasted +here a few evenings ago in one of the principal coffeehouses. The latter, in +fact, was a composition of new rum, which reminded me of the trash of that kind +distilled in New England, acidulated with rotten lemons, sweetened with +capillaire, and increased by a <i>quantum sufficit</i> of warm water. My +hostess's punch, on the contrary, was made of the best ingredients, agreeably +to the true standard; in a word, it was proper lady's punch, that is, hot, +sweet, sour, and strong. It was distributed in tea-pots, of beautiful +porcelaine, which, independently of keeping it longer warm, were extremely +convenient for pouring it out without spilling. Thus concluded the +entertainment.</p> +<p>About half past two o'clock the party broke up, and I returned home, +sincerely regretting the change in the mode of life of the Parisians.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, the fashionable hour of dinner in Paris was three +o'clock, or at latest four: public places then began early; the curtain at the +grand French opera drew up at a quarter past five. At the present day, the +workman dines at two; the tradesman, at three; the clerk in a public office, at +four; the rich upstart, the money-broker, the stock-jobber, the contractor, at +five; the banker, the legislator, the counsellor of state, at six; and the +ministers, in general, at seven, nay not unfrequently at eight.</p> +<p>Formerly, when the performance at the opera, and the other principal +theatres, was ended at nine o'clock, or a quarter past, people of fashion +supped at ten or half after; and a man who went much into public, and kept good +company, might retire peaceably to rest by midnight. In three-fourths of the +houses in Paris, there is now no such meal as supper, except on the occasion of +a ball, when it is generally a mere scramble. This, I presume, is one reason +why substantial breakfasts are so much in fashion.</p> +<p>"<i>Déjeûners froids et chauds</i>," is an inscription which now generally +figures on the exterior of a Parisian coffeehouse, beside that of "<i>Thé à +l'Anglaise, Café à la crême, Limonade, &c</i>." Solids are here the taste +of the times. Two ladies, who very gallantly invited themselves to breakfast at +my apartments the other morning, were ready to turn the house out of the +window, when they found that I presented to them nothing more than tea, coffee, +and chocolate. I was instantly obliged to provide cold fowl, ham, oysters, +white wine, &c. I marvel not at the strength and vigour of these French +belles. In appetite, they would cope with an English ploughman, who had just +turned up an acre of wholesome land on an empty stomach.</p> +<p>Now, though a <i>thé</i> may be considered as a substitute for a supper, it +cannot, in point of agreeableness, be compared to a <i>petit souper</i>. If a +man must sup, and I am no advocate for regular suppers, these were the suppers +to my fancy. A select number of persons, well assorted, assembled at ten +o'clock, after the opera was concluded, and spent a couple of hours in a +rational manner. Sometimes a <i>petit souper</i> consisted of a simple +<i>tête-à-tête</i>, sometimes of a <i>partie quarrée</i>, or the number was +varied at pleasure. But still, in a <i>petit souper</i>, not only much gaiety +commonly prevailed, but also a certain <i>épanchement de cœur</i>, which +animated the conversation to such a degree as to render a party of this +description the <i>acme</i> of social intercourse, "the feast of reason and the +flow of soul."</p> +<p>Under the old <i>régime</i>, not a man was there in office, from the +<i>ministre d'état</i> to the <i>commis</i>, who did not think of making +himself amends for the fatigues of the morning by a <i>petit souper</i>: these +<i>petits soupers</i>, however, were, in latter times, carried to an excessive +pitch of luxurious extravagance. But for refinements attempted in luxury, +though, I confess, of a somewhat dissolute nature, our countryman eclipsed all +the French <i>bons vivans</i> in originality of conception.</p> +<p>Being in possession of an ample fortune, and willing to enjoy it according +to his fancy, he purchased in Paris a magnificent house, but constructed on a +small scale, where every thing that the most refined luxury could suggest was +assembled. The following is the account given by one of his friends, who had +been an eye-witness to his manner of living.</p> +<p>"Mr. B---- had made it a rule to gratify his five senses to the highest +degree of enjoyment of which they were susceptible. An exquisite table, +perfumed apartments, the charms of music and painting; in a word, every thing +most enchanting that nature, assisted by art, could produce, successively +flattered his sight, his taste, his smell, his hearing, and his feeling.</p> +<p>"In a superb saloon, whither he conducted me," says this gentleman, "were +six young beauties, dressed in an extraordinary manner, whose persons, at first +sight, did not appear unknown to me: it struck me that I had seen their faces +more than once, and I was accordingly going to address them, when Mr. B----, +smiling at my mistake, explained to me the cause of it." "I have, in my +amours," said he, "a particular fancy. The choicest beauty of Circassia would +have ho merit in my eyes, did she not resemble the portrait of some woman, +celebrated in past ages: and while lovers set great value on a miniature which +faithfully exhibits the features of their mistress, I esteem mine only in +proportion to their resemblance to ancient portraits.</p> +<p>"Conformably to this idea," continued Mr. B----, "I have caused the +intendant of my pleasures to travel all over Europe, with select portraits, or +engravings, copied from the originals. He has succeeded in his researches, as +you see, since you have conceived that you recognized these ladies on whom you +have never before set your eyes; but whose likenesses you may, undoubtedly, +have met with. Their dress must have contributed to your mistake: they all wear +the attire of the personage they represent; for I wish their whole person to be +picturesque. By these means, I have travelled back several centuries, and am in +possession of beauties whom time had placed at a great distance."</p> +<p>"Supper was served up. Mr. B---- seated himself between Mary, queen of +Scots, and Anne Bullein. I placed myself opposite to him," concludes the +gentleman, "having beside me Ninon de l'Enclos, and Gabrielle d'Estrées. We +also had the company of the fair Rosamond and Nell Gwynn; but at the head of +the table was a vacant elbow-chair, surmounted by a canopy, and destined for +Cleopatra, who was coming from Egypt, and of whose arrival Mr. B---- was in +hourly expectation."</p> +<h2><a name="let21">LETTER XXI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 21, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Often as we have heard of the extraordinary number of places of public +entertainment in Paris, few, if any, persons in England have an idea of its +being so considerable as it is, even at the present moment. But, in 1799, at +the very time when we were told over and over again in Parliament, that France +was unable to raise the necessary supplies for carrying on the war, and would, +as a matter of course, be compelled not only to relinquish her further projects +of aggrandisement, but to return to her ancient territorial limits; at that +critical period, there existed in Paris, and its environs, no less than +seventy</p> +<p class="center">PUBLIC PLACES OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS.</p> +<p>Under the old <i>régime</i>, nothing like this number was ever known. Such +an almost incredible variety of amusements is really a phenomenon, in the midst +of a war, unexampled in its consumption of blood and treasure, It proves that, +whatever may have been the public distress, there was at least a great +<i>show</i> of private opulence. Indeed I have been informed that, at the +period alluded to, a spirit of indifference, prodigality, and dissipation, +seemed to pervade every class of society. Whether placed at the bottom or the +top of Fortune's wheel, a thirst of gain and want of economy were alike +conspicuous among all ranks of people. Those who strained every nerve to obtain +riches, squandered them with equal profusion.</p> +<p>No human beings on earth can be more fond of diversion than the Parisians. +Like the Romans of old, they are content if they have but <i>panem et +circenses</i>, which a Frenchman would render by <i>spectacles et de quoi +manger</i>. However divided its inhabitants may be on political subjects, on +the score of amusement at least the Republic is one and indivisible. In times +of the greatest scarcity, many a person went dinnerless to the theatre, eating +whatever scrap he could procure, and consoling himself by the idea of being +amused for the evening, and at the same time saving at home the expense of fire +and candle.</p> +<p>The following list of public places, which I have transcribed for your +satisfaction, was communicated to me by a person of veracity; and, as far as it +goes, its correctness has been confirmed by my own observation. Although it +falls short of the number existing here two years ago, it will enable you to +judge of the ardour still prevalent among the Parisians, for "running at the +ring of pleasure." Few of these places are shut up, except for the winter; and +new ones succeed almost daily to those which are finally closed. However, for +the sake of perspicuity, I shall annex the letter S to such as are intended +chiefly for summer amusement.</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li><i>Théâtre des Arts, Rue de la Loi</i>.</li> +<li><i>------- Français, Rue de la Loi.</i></li> +<li><i>------- Feydeau, Rue Feydeau.</i></li> +<li><i>------- Louvois, Rue de Louvois.</i></li> +<li><i>------- Favart,</i> now <i>Opéra Buffa.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de la Porte St. Martin.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de la Société Olympique</i> (late <i>Opéra Buffa.)</i></li> +<li><i>------- du Vaudeville, Rue de Chartres.</i></li> +<li><i>------- Montansier, Palais du Tribunat.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de l'Ambigu Comique, Boulevard du Temple.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de la Gaiété, Boulevard du Temple.</i></li> +<li><i>------- des Jeunes Artistes, Boulevard St. Martin.</i></li> +<li><i>------- des Jeunes Elèves, Rue de Thionville.</i></li> +<li><i>------- des Délassemens Comiques, Boulevard du Temple.</i></li> +<li><i>------- sans Prétension, Boulevard du Temple.</i></li> +<li><i>------- du Marais, Rue Culture Ste. Catherine.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de la Cité, vis-à-vis le Palais de Justice.</i></li> +<li><i>------- des Victoires, Rue du Bacq.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de Molière, Rue St. Martin.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de l'Estrapade.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de Mareux, Rue St. Antoine.</i></li> +<li><i>------- des Aveugles, Rue St. Denis.</i></li> +<li><i>------- de la Rue St. Jean de Beauvais.</i></li> +<li><i>Bal masqué de l'Opéra, Rue de la Loi.</i></li> +<li><i>---------- de l'Opéra Buffa, Rue de la Victoire.</i></li> +<li><i>Bal du Sallon des Étrangers, Rue Grange Batelière.</i></li> +<li><i>--- de l'Hôtel de Salm, Rue de Lille, Faubourg St. Germain.</i></li> +<li><i>--- de la Rue Michaudière.</i></li> +<li><i>Soirées amusantes de l'Hôtel Longueville, Place du Carrousel.</i></li> +<li><i>Veillées de la Cité, vis-à-vis le Palais de Justice.</i></li> +<li><i>Phantasmagorie de Robertson, Cour des Capucines.</i></li> +<li><i>Concert de Feydeau.</i></li> +<li><i>Ranelagh au bois de Boulogne.</i></li> +<li><i>Tivoli, Rue de Clichy</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>Frascati, Rue de la Loi</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>Idalie</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>Hameau de Chantilly, aux Champs Élysées.</i></li> +<li><i>Paphos, Boulevard du Temple.</i></li> +<li><i>Vauxhall d'hiver.</i></li> +<li><i>-------- d'été</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>-------- à Mousseaux</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>-------- à St. Cloud</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>-------- au Petit Trianon</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>Jardin de l'hôtel Biron, Rue de Varenne</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>------ Thélusson, Chaussée d'Antin</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>------ Marbœuf, Grille de Chaillot</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>------ de l'hôtel d'Orsay</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>Fêtes champêtres de Bagatelle</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>La Muette, à l'entrée du Bois de Boulogne</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>Colisée, au Parc des Sablons</i>, S.</li> +<li><i>Amphithéâtre d'équitation de Franconi, aux Capucines.</i></li> +<li><i>Panorama, même lieu.</i></li> +<li><i>Exhibition de Curtius, Boulevard du Temple.</i></li> +<li><i>Expériences Physiques, au Palais du Tribunat.</i></li> +<li><i>La Chaumière, aux Nouveaux Boulevards.</i></li> +<li><i>Cabinet de démonstration de Physiologie et de Pathologie, au Palais du +Tribunat, No. 38, au premier.</i></li> +</ol> +<p>Although, previously to the revolution, the taste for dramatic amusements +had imperceptibly spread, Paris could then boast of no more than three +principal theatres, exclusively of <i>l'Opéra Buffa</i> introduced in 1788. +These were <i>l'Opéra les Français</i>, and <i>les Italiens</i>, which, with +six inferior ones, called <i>petits spectacles</i>, brought the whole of the +theatres to ten in number. The subaltern houses were incessantly checked in +their career by the privileges granted to the <i>Comédie Française</i>, which +company alone enjoyed the right to play first-rate productions: it also +possessed that of censorship, and sometimes exercised it in the most despotic +manner. Authors, ever in dispute with the comedians, who dictated the law to +them, solicited, but in vain, the opening of a second French theatre. The +revolution took place, and the unlimited number of theatres was presently +decreed. A great many new ones were opened; but the attraction of novelty +dispersing the amateurs, the number of spectators did not always equal the +expectation of the managers; and the profits, divided among so many +competitors, ceased to be sufficiently productive for the support of every +establishment of this description. The consequence was, that several of them +were soon reduced to a state of bankruptcy.</p> +<p>Three theatres of the first and second rank have been destroyed by fire +within these two years, yet upwards of twenty are at present open, almost every +night, exclusively of several associations of self-denominated +<i>artistes-amateurs.</i></p> +<p>Amidst this false glare of dramatic wealth, theatres of the first rank have +imperceptibly declined, and at last fallen. It comes not within my province or +intention to seek the causes of this in the defects of their management; but +the fact is notorious. The <i>Théâtres Favart</i> and <i>Feydeau</i>, at each +of which French comic operas were chiefly represented, have at length been +obliged to unite the strength of their talents, and the disgrace which they +have experienced, has not affected any of those inferior playhouses where +subaltern performers establish their success on an assemblage of scenes more +coarse, and language more unpolished.</p> +<p>At the present moment, the government appear to have taken this decline of +the principal theatres into serious consideration. It is, I understand, alike +to be apprehended, that they may concern themselves too little or too much in +their welfare. Hitherto the persons charged with the difficult task of +upholding the falling theatres of the first rank, have had the good sense to +confine their measures to conciliation; but, of late, it has been rumoured that +the stage is to be subjected to its former restrictions. <a name="let21fr1"> +</a>The benefit resulting to the art itself and to the public, from a rivalship +of theatres, is once more called in question: and some people even go so far as +to assert that, with the exception of a few abuses, the direction of the +<i>Gentils-hommes de la chambre</i> was extremely good: thence it should seem +that the only difficulty is to find these lords of the bed-chamber, if there be +any still in being, in order to restore to them their dramatic +sceptre.[<a href="#let21f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>Doubtless, the liberty introduced by the revolution has been, in many +respects, abused, and in too many, perhaps, relative to places of public +amusement. But must it, on that account, be entirely lost to the stage, and +falling into a contrary excess, must recourse be had to arbitrary measures, +which might also be abused by those to whose execution they were intrusted? The +unlimited number of theatres may be a proper subject for the interference of +the government: but as to the liberty of the theatres, included in the number +that may be fixed on to represent pieces of every description, such only +excepted as may be hurtful to morals, seems to be a salutary and incontestable +principle. This it is that, by disengaging the French comic opera from the +narrow sphere to which it was confined, has, in a great measure, effected a +musical revolution, at which all persons of taste must rejoice, by introducing +on that stage the harmonic riches of Italy. This too it is that has produced, +on theatres of the second and third rank, pieces which are neither deficient in +regularity, connexion, representation, nor decoration. The effect of such a +principle was long wanted here before the revolution, when the independent +spirit of dramatic authors was fettered by the procrastinations of a set of +privileged comedians, who discouraged them by ungracious refusals, or disgusted +them by unjust preferences. Hence, the old adage in France that, when an author +had composed a good piece, he had performed but half his task; this was true, +as the more difficult half, namely, the getting it read and represented, still +remained to be accomplished.</p> +<p>As for the multiplicity of playhouses, it certainly belongs to the +government to limit their number, not by privileges which might be granted +through favour, or obtained, perhaps, for money. The taste of the public for +theatrical diversions being known, the population should first be considered, +as it is that which furnishes both money and spectators. It would be easy to +ascertain the proportion between the population of the capital and the number +of theatres which it ought to comprise. Public places should be free as to the +species of amusement, but limited in their number, so as not to exceed the +proportion which the population can bear. The houses would then be constantly +well attended, and the proprietors, actors, authors, and all those concerned in +their success, secure against the consequences of failure, and the true +interest of the art be likewise promoted. In a word, neither absolute +independence, nor exclusive privilege should prevail; but a middle course be +adopted, in order to fix the fate of those great scenic establishments, which, +by forming so essential a part of public diversion, have a proportionate +influence on the morals of the nation.</p> +<p>I have been led, by degrees, into these observations, not only from a review +of the decline of some of the principal playhouses here, but also from a +conviction that their general principle is applicable to every other capital in +Europe. What, for example, can be more absurd than, in the dog-days, when room +and air are particularly requisite, that the lovers of dramatic amusement in +the British metropolis are to be crammed into a little theatre in the +Haymarket, and stewed year after year, as in a sweating-room at a bagnio, +because half a century ago an exclusive privilege was inconsiderately +granted?</p> +<p>The playhouses here, in general, have been well attended this winter, +particularly the principal ones; but, in Paris, every rank has not exactly its +theatre as at a ball. From the <i>spectacles</i> on the <i>Boulevards</i> to +those of the first and second rank, there is a mixture of company. Formerly, +the lower classes confined themselves solely to the former; at present, they +visit the latter. An increase of wages has enabled the workman to gratify his +inclination for the indulgence of a species of luxury; and, by a sort of +instinct, he now and then takes a peep at those scenes of which he before +entertained, from hearsay, but an imperfect idea.</p> +<p>If you wish to see a new or favourite piece, you must not neglect to secure +a seat in proper time; for, on such occasions, the house is full long before +the rising of the curtain. As to taking places in the manner we do in England, +there is no such arrangement to be made, except, indeed, you choose to take a +whole box, which is expensive. <a name="let20fr2"></a>In that case you pay for +it at the time you engage it, and it is kept locked the whole evening, or till +you and your party, make your appearance.[<a href="#let20f2">2</a>]</p> +<p>At all the <i>spectacles</i> in Paris, you are literally kept on the outside +of the house till you have received a ticket, in exchange for your money, +through an aperture in the exterior wall. Within a few paces of the door of the +principal theatres are two receiver's offices, which are no sooner open, than +candidates for admission begin to form long ranks, extending from the portico +into the very street, and advance to them two abreast in regular succession. A +steady sentinel, posted at the aperture, repeats your wishes to the receiver, +and in a mild, conciliating manner, facilitates their accomplishment. Other +sentinels are stationed for the preservation of order, under the immediate eye +of the officer, who sees that every one takes his turn to obtain tickets: +however, it is not uncommon, for forestallers to procure a certain number of +them, especially at the representation of a new or favourite piece, and offer +them privately at a usurious price which many persons are glad to pay rather +than fall into the rear of the ranks.</p> +<p>The method I always take to avoid this unpleasant necessity, I will +recommend to you as a very simple one, which may, perhaps, prevent you from +many a theatrical disappointment. Having previously informed myself what +<i>spectacle</i> is best worth seeing, while I am at dinner I send my <i>valet +de place</i>, or if I cannot conveniently spare him, I desire him to dispatch a +<i>commissionnaire</i> for the number of tickets wanted, so that when I arrive +at the theatre, I have only to walk in, and place myself to the best +advantage.</p> +<p>It is very wisely imagined not to establish the receiver's offices in the +inside of the house, as in our theatres. By this plan, however great may be the +crowd, the entrance is always unobstructed, and those violent struggles and +pressures, which among us have cost the lives of many, are effectually +prevented. You will observe that no half-price is taken at any theatre in +Paris; but in different parts of the house, there are offices, called +<i>bureaux de supplément</i>, where, if you want to pass from one part of it to +another, you exchange your counter-mark on paying the difference.</p> +<p>Nothing can be better regulated than the present police, both interior and +exterior, of the theatres in Paris. The eye is not shocked, as was formerly the +case, by the presence of black-whiskered grenadiers, occupying different parts +of the house, and, by the inflexible sternness of their countenance, awing the +spectators into a suppression of their feelings. No fusileer, with a fixed +bayonet and piece loaded with ball, now dictates to the auditors of the pit +that such a seat must hold so many persons, though several among them might, +probably, be as broad-bottomed as Dutchmen. If you find yourself incommoded by +heat or pressure, you are at liberty to declare it without fear of giving +offence. The criticism of a man of taste is no longer silenced by the arbitrary +control of a military despot, who, for an exclamation or gesture, not exactly +coinciding with his own prepossessions, pointed him out to his myrmidons, and +transferred him at once to prison. You may now laugh with Molèire, or weep with +Racine, without having your mirth or sensibility thus unseasonably checked in +its expansion.</p> +<p>The existence of this despotism has been denied; but facts are stubborn +things, and I will relate to you an instance in which I saw it most wantonly +exercised. Some years ago I was present at the <i>Théâtre Français</i>, when, +in one of Corneille's pieces, Mademoiselle Raucourt, the tragic actress, was +particularly negligent in the delivery of a passage, which, to do justice to +the author, required the nicest discrimination. An amateur in the +<i>parterre</i> reproved her, in a very gentle manner, for a wrong emphasis. +Being at this time a favourite of the queen, she was, it seems, superior to +admonition, and persisted in her misplaced shrieks, till it became evident that +she set the audience at defiance: other persons then joined the former in +expressing their disapprobation. Instantly the <i>major</i> singled out the +leading critic: two grenadiers forced their way to the place where he was +seated, and conveyed him to prison for having had the audacity to reprove an +actress in favour at court. From such improper exercise of authority, the +following verse had become a proverb:</p> +<p class="center"><i>"II est bien des sifflets, mais nous avons la +garde."</i></p> +<p>Many there are, I know, who approved of this manner of bridling the fickle +Parisians, on the ground that they were so used to the curb that they could no +longer dispense with it. A guard on the outside of a theatre is unquestionably +necessary, and proper for the preservation of order; but that the public should +not be at liberty to approve or condemn such a passage, or such an actor, is at +once to stifle the expression of that general opinion which alone can produce +good performers. The interior police of the theatre being at present almost +entirely in the hands of the public themselves, it is, on that account, more +justly observed and duly respected.</p> +<p>Considering the natural impetuosity of their character, one is surprised at +the patient tranquillity with which the French range themselves in their +places. Seldom do they interrupt the performance by loud conversation, but +exchange their thoughts in a whisper. When one sees them applaud with rapture a +tender scene, which breathes sentiments of humanity or compassion, speaks home +to every feeling heart, and inspires the most agreeable sensations, one is +tempted to question whether the Parisians of the present day belong to the +identical race that could, at one time, display the ferocity of tigers, and, at +another, the tameness of lambs, while their nearest relations and best friends +were daily bleeding on the scaffold?</p> +<p>By the existing regulations, many of which are worthy of being adopted in +London, no theatre can be opened in Paris without the permission of the police, +who depute proper persons to ascertain that the house is solidly built, the +passages and outlets unincumbered and commodious, and that it is provided with +reservoirs of water, and an adequate number of fire-engines.</p> +<p>Every public place that may be open, is to be shut up immediately, if, for +one single day, the proprietors neglect to keep the reservoirs full of water, +the engines in proper order, and the firemen ready.</p> +<p>No persons can be admitted behind the scenes, except those employed in the +service of the theatre. Nor is the number of tickets distributed to exceed that +of the persons the house can conveniently hold.</p> +<p>No coachman, under any pretext whatever, can quit the reins of his horses, +while the persons he has driven, are getting out of or into their carriage. +Indeed, the necessity of his doing so is obviated by porters stationed at the +door of the theatres, and appointed by the police. They are distinguished by a +brass plate, on which their permission and the name of the theatre are +engraved.</p> +<p>At all the theatres in Paris, there is an exterior guard, which is at the +disposal of the <i>civil</i> officer, stationed there for the preservation of +order. This guard cannot enter the inside of the theatre but in case of the +safety of the public being exposed, and at the express requisition of the said +officer, who can never introduce the armed force into the house, till after he +has, in a loud voice, apprized the audience of his intention.</p> +<p>Every citizen is bound to obey, <i>provisionally</i>, the officer of police. +In consequence, every person invited by the officer of police, or summoned by +him, to quit the house, is immediately to repair to the police-office of the +theatre, in order to give such explanations as may be required of him. The said +officer may either transfer him to the competent tribunal, or set him at +liberty, according to circumstances.</p> +<p>Proper places are appointed for carriages to wait at. When the play is +ended, no carriage in waiting can move till the first crowd coming out of the +house has disappeared. The commanding officer of the guard on duty decides the +moment when carriages may be called.</p> +<p>No carriage can move quicker than a foot-pace, and but on a single rank, +till it has got clear of the streets in the vicinity of the theatre. Nor can it +arrive thither but by the streets appointed for that purpose.</p> +<p>Two hours before the rising of the curtain, sentinels are placed in +sufficient number to facilitate the execution of these orders, and to prevent +any obstruction in the different avenues of the theatre.</p> +<p>Indeed, obstruction is now seldom seen; I have more than once had the +curiosity to count, and cause to be counted, all the <i>private</i> carriages +in waiting at the grand French opera, on a night when the boxes were filled +with the most fashionable company. Neither I nor my <i>valet de place</i> could +ever reckon more than from forty to fifty; whereas, formerly, it was not +uncommon to see here between two and three hundred; and the noise of so many +equipages rattling through the streets, from each of the principal theatres, +sufficiently indicated that the performance was ended.</p> +<p>By the number of advertisements in the <i>petites affiches</i> or daily +advertiser of Paris, offering a reward for articles lost, no doubt can exist of +there being a vast number of pickpockets in this gay capital; and a stranger +must naturally draw such an inference from observing where the pockets are +placed in men's clothes: in the coat, it is in the inside of the facing, +parallel to the breast: in the waistcoat, it is also in the inside, but lower +down, so that when a Frenchman wants to take out his money, he must go through +the ceremony of unbuttoning first his surtout, if he wears one in winter, then +his coat, and lastly his waistcoat. In this respect, the ladies have the +advantage; for, as I have already mentioned, they wear no pockets.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let21f1">Footnote 1</a>: During the old <i>régime</i>, +the theatres were under the control of the <i>Gentils-hommes de la chambre</i>, +but at the establishment of the directorial government, they were placed in the +power of the Minister of the Interior, in whose department they have since +continued. Of late, however, it is asserted, that they are each to be under the +direction of a Prefect of the Palace. <a href="#let21fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let21f2">Footnote 2</a>: Independently of the boxes +reserved for the officers of the staff of the city of Paris, and those at the +head of the police, who have individually free admission to all the +<i>spectacles</i> on producing their ivory ticket, there is also a box at each +theatre appropriated to the Minister of Public +Instruction. <a href="#let21fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let22">LETTER XXII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 23, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Yesterday being the day appointed for the opening of the session of the +Legislative Body, I was invited by a member to accompany him thither, in order +to witness their proceedings. No one can be admitted without a ticket; and by +the last constitution it is decreed, that not more than two hundred strangers +are to be present at the sittings. The gallery allotted for the accommodation +of the public, is small, even in proportion to that number, and, in general, +extremely crowded. My friend, aware of this circumstance, did me the favour to +introduce me into the body of the hall, where I was seated very conveniently, +both for seeing and hearing, near the <i>tribune</i>, to the left of the +President.</p> +<p>This hall was built for the Council of Five Hundred, on the site of the +grand apartments of the <i>Palais Bourbon</i>. Since the accession of the +consular government, it has been appropriated to the sittings of the +Legislative Body, on which account the palace has taken their name, and over +the principal entrance is inscribed, in embossed characters of gilt bronze:</p> +<p class="center">PALAIS DU CORPS LÉGISLATIF.</p> +<p>The palace stands on the south bank of the Seine, facing the <i>Pont de la +Concorde</i>. It was begun, in 1722, for Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, a +legitimated daughter of Lewis XIV. GIRARDINI, an Italian architect, planned the +original building, the construction of which was afterwards superintended by +LASSURANCE and GABRIEL. The Prince de Condé having acquired it by purchase, he +caused it to be considerably augmented and embellished, at different times, +under the direction of BARRAU, CARPENTIER and BÉLISARD.</p> +<p>Had the <i>Pont de la Concorde</i> subsisted previously to the erection of +the <i>Palais Bourbon</i>, the principal entrance would, probably, have been +placed towards the river; but it faces the north, and is preceded by a paltry +square, now called <i>Place du Corps Législatif</i>.</p> +<p>In the centre of a peristyle, of the Corinthian order, is the grand gateway, +crowned by a sort of triumphal arch, which is connected, by a double colonnade, +to two handsome pavilions. The lateral buildings of the outer court, which is +two hundred and eighty feet in length, are decorated with the same order, and a +second court of two hundred and forty feet, includes part of the original +palace, which is constructed in the Italian style.</p> +<p>The principal entrances to the right and left lead to two halls; the one +dedicated to <i>Peace</i>; the other, to <i>Victory</i>. On the one side, is a +communication to the apartments of the old palace; on the other, are two +spacious rooms. The room to the left, inscribed to <i>Liberty</i>, is intended +for petitioners, &c.; that to the right, inscribed to <i>Equality</i>, is +appropriated to conferences. Between the halls of Liberty and Equality, is the +hall of the sittings of the Legislative Body.</p> +<p>The form of this hall is semicircular; the benches, rising gradually one +above the other, as in a Roman amphitheatre, are provided with backs, and well +adapted both for ease and convenience. They are intersected by passages, which +afford to the members the facility of reaching or quitting their places, +without disturbance or confusion. Every seat is distinguished by a number, so +that a deputy can never be at a loss to find his place. In the centre, is an +elevated rostrum, with a seat for the President, directly under which is the +<i>tribune</i>, also elevated, for the orator addressing the assembly. The +tribune is decorated by a bas-relief, in white marble, representing France +writing her constitution, and Fame proclaiming it. The table for the four +secretaries is placed facing the tribune, beneath which the <i>huissiers</i> +take their station. The desk and seat of the President, formed of solid +mahogany, are ornamented with <i>or moulu</i>. The folding doors, which open +into the hall, to the right and left of the President's chair, are also of +solid mahogany, embellished in the same manner. Their frames are of white +marble, richly sculptured. Independently of these doors, there are others, +serving as a communication to the upper-seats, by means of two elegant stone +stair-cases.</p> +<p>In six niches, three on each side of the tribune, are so many statues of +Greek and Roman legislators. On the right, are Lycurgus, Solon, and +Demosthenes: on the left, Brutus, Cato, and Cicero. The inside of the hall is +in stucco, and the upper part is decorated by a colonnade of the Ionic order. +The light proceeds from a cupola, glazed in the centre, and the remainder of +which is divided into small compartments, each ornamented by an emblematical +figure. The floor is paved with marble, also in compartments, embellished with +allegorical attributes.</p> +<p>Having made you acquainted with the hall of the sittings, I think it may not +be uninteresting to give you an account of the forms observed in opening the +session.</p> +<p>When I arrived, with my friend, at the Palace of the Legislative Body, most +of the members were already assembled in the apartments of their library. At +noon, they thence repaired to the hall, preceded by the <i>huissiers</i>, +messengers of state, and secretaries.</p> +<p>The opening of the session was announced by the report of artillery.</p> +<p>The oldest member, in point of years, took the President's chair, +provisionally.</p> +<p>The four youngest members of the assembly were called to the table to +discharge the office of secretaries, also provisionally.</p> +<p>The provisional President then declared, that the members of the Legislative +Body were assembled by virtue of Article XXXIII of the constitution, for the +session of the year X; that, being provisionally organized, the sitting was +opened; and that their names were going to be called over, for the purpose of +ascertaining the number of members present, and for forming definitive +arrangements, by the nomination of a president and four secretaries.</p> +<p>The names were then called over alphabetically, and, after they were all +gone through, they were recalled.</p> +<p>This ceremony being terminated, four committees, each composed of four +members, whose names were drawn by lot by the President, proceeded, in presence +of the assembly, to scrutinize the ballot.</p> +<p>It thence resulted, that the number of members present was two hundred and +twenty-eight;</p> +<p>That Citizen DUPUIS was elected President by a majority of votes;</p> +<p>That Citizens DUBOSC, BORD, ESTAQUE, and CLAVIER were individually elected, +by a similar majority, to officiate as secretaries.</p> +<p>In consequence. Citizen DUPUIS was proclaimed President, and took the chair. +He then moved the following resolution, which was agreed to:</p> +<p>"The Legislative Body declares, that it is definitely constituted, and +decrees that the present declaration shall be carried to the Conservative +Senate, to the Tribunate, and to the Consuls of the Republic, by a messenger of +State."</p> +<p>The President next addressed the assembly in these words:</p> +<p>"Citizens Legislators,</p> +<p>"After twelve years of a painful and glorious struggle against all Europe, +in order to insure the triumph of the liberty of man and that of nations, the +moment is at length arrived when Peace is on the point of crowning the efforts +of the French people, and securing the Republic on a foundation never to be +shaken. For this peace, which will unite by the bonds of friendship two great +nations, already connected by esteem, we are indebted to the valour and wisdom +of the heroic pacificator, to the wise administration of the government, to the +bravery of our invincible armies, to the good understanding subsisting between +all the constituted authorities, and, above all, to that spirit of moderation +which has known how to fix limits to victory itself. The name of peace, so dear +to the friend of human nature, ought to impose silence on all malignant +passions, cordially unite all the children of the same country, and be the +signal of happiness to the present generation, as well as to our posterity.</p> +<p>"How gratifying is it to us, Citizens Legislators, after having passed +through the storms of a long revolution, to have at length brought safely into +port the sacred bark of the Republic, and to begin this session by the +proclamation of peace to the world, as those who preceded us opened theirs by +the proclamation of the Rights of Man and that of the Republic! To crown this +great work, nothing more remains for us but to make those laws so long +expected, which are to complete social organization, and regulate the interests +of citizens. This code, already prepared by men of consummate prudence, will, I +hope, be soon submitted to your examination and sanction; and the present +session will be the most glorious epoch of our Republic: for there is nothing +more glorious to man than to insure the happiness of his fellow-creatures, and +scatter beforehand the first seeds of the liberty of the world."</p> +<p>"<i>L'impression! L'impression!</i>" was the cry that instantly proceeded +from bench to bench on the close of this speech, which was delivered in a +manner that did honour to the President's feelings. But, though you have it, as +it were, at second-hand, and cannot be struck by Citizen DUPUIS' manner, I hope +you will deem the matter sufficiently interesting to justify its insertion in +this letter.</p> +<p>Three orators, deputed by the government, were next announced, and +introduced in form. They were habited in their dress of Counsellors of State, +that is, a scarlet coat, richly embroidered in shaded silks of the same colour, +over which they wore a tricoloured silk sash.</p> +<p>One of them, having ascended the tribune, and obtained leave to speak, read +an extract from the registers of the Council of State, dated the 24th of +Brumaire, purporting that the First Consul had nominated the Counsellors of +State, REGNIER, BÉRENGER, and DUMAS to repair to the present sitting. Citizen +REGNIER then addressed the assembly in the name of the government. He read his +speech from a paper which he held in his hand. It began by announcing the +signature of the preliminaries of peace with England, and informed the +Legislative Body that measures had been taken by the government for regulating +the various branches of the interior administration and of its intention to +submit to them the civil code. It was replete with language of a conciliating +nature, and concluded with a wish that the most unalterable harmony might +subsist between the first authorities of the State, and strengthen in the mind +of the people the confidence which they already testified.</p> +<p>From the tenour of this speech, I think it may be inferred that the +government is apprehensive of a difference of opinion respecting the civil +code; not so much in this place, for, by the constitution, the lips of the +deputies are sealed, but in the Tribunate, where a warm discussion may be +expected.</p> +<p>The President made a short and apt reply to the orators of the government, +who then retired with the same ceremony with which they had entered. Both these +speeches were ordered to be printed.</p> +<p>The Conservative Senate addressed to the Legislative Body, by a message read +by the President, the different acts emanated from its authority since the last +session. Ordered to be inserted in the Journals. A few letters were also read +by the President from different members, excusing themselves for non-attendance +on account of indisposition. Several authors having addressed a copy of their +works to the Legislative Body, these presents were accepted, and ordered to be +placed in their library.</p> +<p>The administrative commission of the Legislative Body announced that the +ambassador of the Cisalpine Republic had sent a present of three hundred +medals, struck on occasion of the peace and of the <i>forum Bonaparte</i>, +which medals were distributed to the members.</p> +<p>The assembly the broke up, the next sitting being appointed for the +following day at noon.</p> +<p>Lord Cornwallis and suite sat in the box allotted to Foreign Ministers, +facing the President, as did the Marquis de Lucchesini, the Prussian +ambassador, and some others. A small box is likewise appropriated to reporters, +who take down the proceedings. The members were all habited in their appointed +dress, which consists of a dark blue coat embroidered with gold, blue +pantaloons and white waistcoat, also embroidered, a tricoloured silk sash, worn +above the coat, and ornamented with a rich gold fringe. They wore a plain +cocked hat, with the national cockade, and short boots. This meeting of +legislators, all in the same dress, undoubtedly presents a more imposing +spectacle than such a variegated assemblage as is sometimes to be seen in our +House of Commons.</p> +<p>By the present constitution, you will see that no new law can be +promulgated, unless decreed by the Legislative Body.</p> +<p>The votes in this assembly being taken by ballot, and the laws being enacted +without any discussion, on the part of its members, on the plans debated before +it by the orators of the Tribunate and of the government, it necessarily +follows that the sittings present far less interest to strangers, than would +result from an animated delivery of the opinion of a few leading orators.</p> +<p>Before I take leave of this palace, I must introduce you into the suite of +rooms formerly distinguished by the appellation of <i>petits appartemens du +Palais Bourbon</i>, and which, before the revolution, constituted one of the +curiosities of Paris.</p> +<p>In the distribution of these, BÉLISARD assembled all the charms of modern +elegance. The vestibule, coloured in French gray, contains, in the intervals +between the doors, figures of Bacchantes, and, in the ceiling, wreaths of roses +and other ornaments painted in imitation of relief. The eating-room, which +comes next, is decorated so as to represent a verdant bower, the paintings are +under mirrors, and tin-plate, cut out in the Chinese manner, seems to shew +light through the foliage. In two niches, made in the arbour-work, in the form +of porticoes, which Cupids are crowning with garlands, are placed two statues +from the antique, the one representing Venus <i>pudica</i>, and the other, +Venus <i>callypyga</i>, or <i>aux belles fesses</i>: mirrors, placed in the +niches, reflect beauties which the eye could not discover.</p> +<p>The drawing room, another enchanting place, is of a circular form, +surrounded with Ionic pillars. In the intercolumniations, are arches lined with +mirrors, and ornamented with the most tasteful hangings. Under each arch is a +sopha. The ceiling represents caryatides supporting a circular gallery, between +which are different subjects, such as the Toilet of Venus, the Departure of +Adonis, &c. Every thing here is gallant and rich; but mark the secret +wonder. You pull a string; the ceiling rises like a cloud, and exhibits to view +an extensive sky, with which it becomes confounded. The music of an invisible +orchestra, placed above the ceiling, used to be heard through the opening, and +produced a charming effect, when entertainments were given in these +apartments.</p> +<p>This is not all. You pull another string; and, by means of concealed +machinery, the aperture of the three casements suddenly becomes occupied by +pannels of mirrors, so that you may here instantly turn day into night. The +bed-chamber, the <i>boudoir</i>, the study, &c., are all decorated in a +style equally elegant and tasteful.</p> +<h2><a name="let23">LETTER XXIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 25, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Of all the public edifices in this capital, I know of none whose interior +astonishes so much, at first sight, and so justly claims admiration, especially +from those who have a knowledge of architecture or mechanics, as the</p> +<p class="center">HALLE AU BLÉ.</p> +<p>This building is destined for the reception of corn and flour: it was begun +in 1762, on the site of the ancient <i>Hôtel de Soissons</i>, which was +purchased by the city of Paris. In the space of three years, the hall and the +circumjacent houses were finished, under the direction of the architect, CAMUS +DE MEZIÈRE</p> +<p>The circular form of this hall, the solidity of its construction, its +insulated position, together with the noble simplicity of its decoration, +perfectly accord with the intention and character of the object proposed. +Twenty-five arches, all of equal size, serve each as an entrance. On the +ground-floor are pillars of the Tuscan order, supporting vast granaries, the +communication to which is by two stair-cases of well-executed design.</p> +<p>The court is covered by a cupola of one hundred and twenty feet in diameter, +forming a perfect semicircle, whose centre, taken on a level with the cornice, +is forty-four feet from the ground. The dome of the Pantheon at Rome, which is +the largest known, exceeds that of the <i>Halle au Blé</i> by thirteen feet +only. This cupola is entirely composed of deal boards, a foot in breadth, an +inch in thickness, and about four feet in length. It is divided into +twenty-five lateral openings, which give as many rays of light diverging from +the centre-opening, whose diameter is twenty-four feet. These openings are all +glazed, and the wood-work of the dome is covered with sheets of tinned +copper.</p> +<p>PHILIBERT DE L'ORME, architect to Henry II, was the original author of this +new method of covering domes, though he never carried it into execution. As a +homage for the discovery, MOLINOS and LEGRAND, the architects of the cupola, +have there placed a medallion with his portrait. It is said that this +experiment was deemed so hazardous, that the builder could find no person bold +enough to strike away the shores, and was under the necessity of performing +that task in person. To him it was not a fearful one; but the workmen, +unacquainted with the principles of this manner of roofing buildings, were +astonished at the stability of the dome, when the shores were removed.</p> +<p>No place in Paris could well be more convenient for giving a banquet than +the <i>Halle au Blé</i>; twelve or fourteen hundred persons might here be +accommodated at table; and little expense would be required for decoration, as +nothing can be more elegant than the cupola itself.</p> +<p>Several periodical publications give a statement, more or less exact, of the +quantity of flour lodged in this spacious repository, which is filled and +emptied regularly every four or five days. But these statements present not the +real consumption of Paris, since several bakers draw their supply directly from +the farmers of the environs; and, besides, a great quantity of loaves are +brought into the capital from some villages, famous for making bread, whose +inhabitants come and retail them to the Parisians.</p> +<p>The annual consumption of bread-corn in this capital has, on an average, +been computed at twenty-four millions of bushels. But it is not the consumption +only that it is useful to know: the most material point to be ascertained, is +the method of providing effectually for it; so that, from a succession of +unfavourable harvests, or any other cause, the regular supplies may not +experience even a momentary interruption. When it is considered that Paris +contains eight or nine hundred thousand of the human race, it is evident that +this branch of administration requires all the vigilance of the government.</p> +<p>Bread is now reckoned enormously dear, nineteen <i>sous</i> for the loaf of +four pounds; but, during the winter of 1794, the Parisians felt all the horrors +of a real famine. Among other articles of the first necessity, bread was then +so scarce, that long ranks of people were formed at the doors of the bakers' +shops, each waiting in turn to receive a scanty portion of two ounces.</p> +<p>The consumption of flour here is considerably increased by the immense +number of dogs, cats, monkies, parrots, and other birds, kept by persons of +every class, and fed chiefly on bread and biscuit.</p> +<p>No poor devil that has not in his miserable lodging a dog to keep him +company: not being able to find a friend among his own species, he seeks one in +the brute creation. A pauper of this description, who shared his daily bread +with his faithful companion, being urged to part with an animal that cost him +so much to maintain: "Part with him!" rejoined he; "who then shall I get to +love me?"</p> +<p>Near the <i>Halle au Blé</i>, stands a large fluted pillar of the Doric +order, which formerly belonged to the <i>Hôtel de Soissons</i>, and served as +an observatory to Catherine de Medicis. In the inside, is a winding stair-case, +leading to the top, whither that diabolical woman used frequently to ascend, +accompanied by astrologers, and there perform several mysterious ceremonies, in +order to discover futurity in the stars. She wore on her stomach a skin of +parchment, strewn with figures, letters, and characters of different colours; +which skin she was persuaded had the virtue of insuring her from any attempt +against her person.</p> +<p>Much about that period, 1572, there were reckoned, in Paris alone, no less +than thirty thousand astrologers. At the present day, the ambulating magicians +frequent the <i>Old Boulevards</i>, and there tell fortunes for three or four +<i>sous</i>; while those persons that value science according to the price set +on it, disdaining these two-penny conjurers, repair to fortune-tellers of a +superior class, who take from three to six francs, and more, when the +opportunity offers. The TROPHONIUS of Paris is Citizen Martin, who lives at +N° 1773 <i>Rue d'Anjou</i>: the PHEMONOË is Madame Villeneuve, <i>Rue de +l'Antechrist</i>.</p> +<p>Formerly, none but courtesans here drew the cards; now, almost every female, +without exception, has recourse to them. Many a fine lady even conceives +herself to be sufficiently mistress of the art to tell her own fortune; and +some think they are so skilled in reading futurity in the cards, that they dare +not venture to draw them for themselves, for fear of discovering some untoward +event.</p> +<p>This rage of astrology and fortune-telling is a disease which peculiarly +affects weak intellects, ruled by ignorance, or afflicted by adversity. In the +future, such persons seek a mitigation of the present; and the illusive +enjoyments of the mind make them almost forget the real sufferings of the body. +According to Pope,</p> +<p class="bq"> +"Hope springs eternal in the human breast,<br /> +Man never <i>is</i>, but always <i>to be</i> blest."<br /> +</p> +<p>At the foot of the above pillar, the only one of the sort in Paris, is +erected a handsome fountain, which furnishes water from the Seine. At +two-thirds of its height is a dial of a singular kind, which marks the precise +hour at every period of the day, and in all seasons. It is the invention of +Father Pingré, who was a regular canon of St. Geneviève, and member of the +<i>ci-devant</i> Academy of Sciences.</p> +<p>While we are in this quarter, let us avail ourselves of the moment; and, +proceeding from the <i>Halle au Blé</i> along the <i>Rue Oblin</i>, examine +the</p> +<p class="center">CHURCH OF SAINT EUSTACHE.</p> +<p>This church, which is one of the most spacious in Paris, is situated at the +north extremity of the <i>Rue des Prouvaires</i>, facing the <i>Rue du +Jour</i>. It was begun in 1532, but not finished till the year 1642.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the richness of its architecture, it presents not an +appearance uniformly handsome, on account of the ill-combined mixture of the +Greek and Gothic styles: besides, the pillars are so numerous in it, that it is +necessary to be placed in the nave to view it to the best advantage.</p> +<p>The new portal of <i>St. Eustache</i>, which was constructed in 1754, is +formed of two orders, the Doric and the Ionic, the one above the other. At each +extremity of this portal, rise two insulated towers, receding from all the +projection of the inferior order, and decorated by Corinthian columns with +pilasters, on an attic serving as a socle. These two towers were to have been +crowned by a balustrade; one alone has been finished.</p> +<p>Several celebrated personages have been interred in this church. Among them, +I shall particularize one only; but that one will long live in the memory of +every convivial British seaman. Who has not heard the lay which records the +defeat of Tourville? Yes—</p> +<p class="bq"> +He who "on the main triumphant rode<br /> +To meet the gallant Russel in combat o'er the deep;"<br /> +Who "led his noble troops of heroes bold<br /> +To sink the English admiral and his fleet."<br /> +</p> +<p>Though considered by his countrymen, as one of the most eminent seamen that +France ever produced, and enjoying at the time of his death the dignity of +Marshal, together with that of Vice-admiral of the kingdom, Tourville never had +an epitaph. He died on the 28th of May 1701, aged 59.</p> +<p>Some of the monuments which existed here have been transferred to the Museum +in the <i>Rue des Petits Augustins</i>, where may be seen the sarcophagus of +Colbert, Minister to Lewis XIV, and the medallion of Cureau de la Chambre, +physician to that king, and also his physiognomist, whom he is said to have +constantly consulted in the selection of his ministers. Among the papers of +that physician there still exists, in an unpublished correspondence with Lewis +XIV, this curious memorandum: "Should I die before his majesty, he would run a +great risk of making, in future, many a bad choice."</p> +<p>It is impossible to enter one of these sanctuaries without reflecting on the +rapid progress of irreligion among a people who, six months before, were, on +their knees, adoring the effigies which, at that period, they were eager to +mutilate and destroy. Iron crows and sledge-hammers were almost in a state of +requisition. In the beginning, it was a contest who should first aim a blow at +the nose of the Virgin Mary, or break the leg of her son. In one day, contracts +were entered into with masons for defacing images which for centuries, had been +partly concealed under the dusty webs of generations of spiders.</p> +<p>As for the statues within reach of swords and pikes, it was a continual +scene of amusement to the licentious to knock off the ear of one angel, and +scratch the face of another. Not an epitaph was left to retrace the patriotic +deeds of an upright statesman, or the more brilliant exploits of a heroic +warrior; not a memento, to record conjugal affection, filial piety, or grateful +friendship. The iconoclasts proceeded not with the impetuous fury of fanatics, +but with the extravagant foolery of atheistical buffoons.</p> +<p>All the gold and silver ornaments disappeared: a great part of them were +dissolved in the crucibles of the mint, after having been presented as a homage +to the Convention, some of whose members danced the <i>carmagnole</i> with +those who presented them at their bar, loaded on the back of mules and asses, +bedecked with all the emblems of catholic worship; while several of the rubies, +emeralds, &c. which had formerly decorated the glory, beaming round the +head of a Christ, were afterwards seen glittering on the finger of the +revolutionary committee-men.</p> +<p>Chaumette, an attorney, was the man who proclaimed atheism, and his example +had many imitators. It seemed the wish of that impious being to exile God +himself from nature. He it was who imagined those orgies, termed the festivals +of reason. One of the most remarkable of these festivals was celebrated in this +very church of <i>St. Eustache</i>.</p> +<p>Although Mademoiselle Maillard, the singing heroine of the French opera, +figured more than once as the goddess of reason, that divinity was generally +personified by some shameless female, who, if not a notorious prostitute, was +frequently little better. Her throne occupied the place of the altar; her +supporters were chiefly drunken soldiers, smoking their pipe; and before her, +were a set of half-naked vagabonds, singing and dancing the +<i>carmagnole</i>.</p> +<p>"In this church," says an eye-witness, "the interior of the choir +represented a landscape, decorated with cottages and clumps of trees. In the +distance were mysterious bowers, to which narrow paths led, through declivities +formed of masses of artificial rock.</p> +<p>"The inside of the church presented the spectacle of a large public-house. +Round the choir were arranged tables, loaded with bottles, sausages, pies, +pâtés, and other viands. On the altars of the lateral chapels, sacrifices were +made to luxury and gluttony; and the consecrated stones bore the disgusting +marks of beastly intemperance.</p> +<p>"Guests crowded in at all doors: whoever came partook of this festival: +children thrust their hands into the dishes, and helped themselves out of the +bottles, as a sign of liberty; while the speedy consequences of this freedom +became a matter of amusement to grown persons in a similar state of ebriety. +What a deplorable picture of the people, who blindly obeyed the will of a few +factious leaders!</p> +<p>"In other churches, balls were given; and, by way of shutting the door in +the face of modesty, these were continued during the night, in order that, +amidst the confusion of nocturnal revelry, those desires which had been kindled +during the day, might be freely gratified under the veil of darkness.</p> +<p>"The processions which accompanied these orgies, were no less attended with +every species of atheistical frenzy. After feasting their eyes with the +sacrifice of human victims, the Jacobin faction, or their satellites, followed +the car of their impure goddess: next came, in another car, a moving orchestra, +composed of blind musicians, a too faithful image of that Reason which was the +object of their adoration."</p> +<p>The state of France, at that period, proves that religion being detached +from social order, there remained a frightful void, Which nothing could have +filled up but its subsequent restoration. Without religion, men become enemies +to each other, criminals by principle, and bold violators of the laws; force is +the only curb that can restrain them. The inevitable consequence is, that +anarchy and rapine desolate the face of the earth, and reduce it to a heap of +misfortune and ruin.</p> +<h2><a name="let24">LETTER XXIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 27, 1801.</i></p> +<p>When we travel back in idea for the last ten years, and pass in review the +internal commotions which have distracted France during that period, and the +external struggle she has had to maintain for the security of her independence, +we cannot refuse our admiration to the constancy which the French have +manifested in forming institutions for the diffusion of knowledge, and +repositories of objects tending to the advancement of the arts and sciences. In +this respect, if we except the blood-thirsty reign of Robespierre, no clash of +political interests, no change in the form or administration of the government, +has relaxed their ardour, or slackened their perseverance. Whatever set of men +have been in power, the arts and sciences have experienced almost uninterrupted +protection.</p> +<p>In the opinion of the French themselves, the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES, in the +CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, may claim pre-eminence over every other repository +of sculpture; but many persons may, probably, feel a satisfaction more pure and +unadulterated in viewing the</p> +<p class="center">MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS.</p> +<p>Here, neither do insignia of triumph call to mind the afflicting scenes of +war, nor do emblems of conquest strike the eye of the travelled visiter, and +damp his enjoyment by blending with it bitter recollections. Vandalism is the +only enemy from whose attacks the monuments, here assembled, have been +rescued.</p> +<p>This Museum, which has, in fact, been formed out of the wrecks of the +revolutionary storm, merits particular attention. Although it was not open to +the public, for the first time, till the 15th of Fructidor, year III (2nd of +September 1795), its origin may be dated from 1790, when the Constituent +Assembly, having decreed the possessions of the Clergy to be national property, +charged the <i>Committee of Alienation</i> to exert their vigilance for the +preservation of all the monuments of the arts, spread throughout the wide +extent of the ecclesiastical domains.</p> +<p>The philanthropic LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, (the last Duke of the family), as +President of that committee, fixed on a number of artists and literati to +select such monuments as the committee were anxious to preserve. The +municipality of Paris, being specially entrusted, by the National Assembly, +with the execution of this decree, also nominated several literati and artists +of acknowledged merit to co-operate with the former in their researches and +labours. Of this association was formed a commission, called <i>Commission des +Monumens</i>. From that epoch, proper places were sought for the reception of +the treasures which it was wished to save from destruction. The <i>Committee of +Alienation</i> appointed the <i>ci-devant</i> monastery of the <i>Petits +Augustins</i> for the monuments of sculpture and pictures, and those of the +<i>Capucins, Grands Jesuites,</i> and <i>Cordeliers</i>, for the books and +manuscripts.</p> +<p>By these means, the monuments in the suppressed convents and churches were, +by degrees, collected in this monastery, which is situated in the <i>Rue des +Petits Augustins</i>, so named after that order of monks, whose church here was +founded, in 1613, by Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henry IV.</p> +<p>At the same period, ALEXANDRE LENOIR was appointed, by the Constituent +Assembly, director of this establishment. As I shall have frequent occasion to +mention the name of that estimable artist, I shall here content myself with +observing, that the choice did honour to their judgment.</p> +<p>In the mean time, under pretext of destroying every emblem of feudality, the +most celebrated master-pieces were consigned to ruin; but the commission +before-mentioned opportunely published instructions respecting the means of +preserving the valuable articles which they purposed to assemble.</p> +<p>The National Convention also gave indisputable proof of its regard for the +arts, by issuing several decrees in their favour. Its <i>Committee of Public +Instruction</i> created a commission, composed of distinguished literati and +artists of every class, for the purpose of keeping a watchful eye over the +preservation of the monuments of the arts. The considerable number of memoirs, +reports, and addresses, diffused through the departments by this learned and +scientific association, enlightened the people, and arrested the arm of those +modern Vandals who took a pleasure in mutilating the most admired statues, +tearing or defacing the most valuable pictures, and melting casts of bronze of +the most exquisite beauty.</p> +<p>Among the numerous reports to which these acts of blind ignorance gave +birth, three published by GRÉGOIRE, ex-bishop of Blois, claim particular +distinction no less on account of the taste and zeal which they exhibit for the +advancement of literature and the fine arts, than for the invective with which +they abound against the madness of irreligious barbarism. This last stroke, +aptly applied, was the means of recovering many articles of value, and of +preserving the monuments still remaining in the provinces.</p> +<p>In these eventful times, LENOIR, the Conservator of the rising museum, +collected, through his own indefatigable exertions, a considerable number of +mausolea, statues, bas-reliefs, and busts of every age and description. No +sooner did a moment of tranquillity appear to be reestablished in this country, +than he proposed to the government to place all these monuments in historical +and chronological order, by classing them, according to the age in which they +had been executed, in particular halls or apartments, and giving to each of +these apartments the precise character peculiar to each century. This plan +which, in its aggregate, united the history of the art and that of France, by +means of her monuments, met with general approbation, and was accordingly +adopted by the members of the government.</p> +<p>Thus, throughout this Museum, the architectural decorations of the different +apartments are of the age to which the monuments of Sculpture, contained in +each, belongs; and the light penetrates through windows of stained glass, from +the designs of RAPHAEL, PRIMATICCIO, ALBERT DURER, LE SUEUR, &c., the +production of the particular century corresponding to that of the +sculpture.</p> +<p>Come then, let us visit this Museum, and endeavour to discriminate the +objects which may be most interesting both to the artist and historian. We +first enter the</p> +<p class="center">ANTI-CHAMBER.</p> +<p>This apartment presents itself to our inquisitive looks, as a Hall of +Introduction, which may not be unaptly compared to the preface of a grand work. +Here we behold a crowd of monuments, arranged methodically, so as to prepare +our eyes for tracing the different ages through which we have to travel.</p> +<p>We first remark those altars, worn by the hand of Time, on which the trading +Gauls of the ancient <i>Lutetia</i>, now Paris, sacrificed to the gods in the +time of Tiberius. Jupiter, Mars, Vulcan, Mercury, Venus, Pan, Castor and +Pollux, and the religious ceremonies here sculptured, are sufficient to attest +that the Parisians were then idolaters, and followed the religion of the +Romans, to whom they were become tributary. The Inscriptions on each of these +monuments, which are five in number, leave no doubt as to their authenticity, +and the epoch of their erection.</p> +<p>These altars, five in number, are charged with bas-reliefs, and the first of +them is inscribed with the following words in Latin.</p> +<p class="bq"> +TIB. CAESARE.<br /> +AVG. IOVI OPTVMO<br /> +MAXSVMO (<i>aram</i>) M.<br /> +NAVTAE. PARISIACI<br /> +PUBLICE POSIERVNT.<br /></p> +<p><i>Tiberius Cæsar, having accepted or taken the name of Augustus, the +navigators (Nautæ) belonging to the city of Paris, publicly consecrated this +altar to Jupiter the most great and most good.</i></p> +<p>In 1711, these monuments were dug up from the choir of the cathedral of +<i>Notre-Dame</i>, out of the foundations of the ancient church of Paris, +constructed by Childebert, on the ruins of a temple, formerly dedicated to +Isis, which he caused to be demolished. Near them we see the great goddess of +the Germans figure under the name of Nehalennia, in honour of whom that people +had erected a great number of monuments, some of which were discovered in the +year 1646, when the sea retired from the island of Walcheren.</p> +<p>Capitals, charged with bas-reliefs, taken from a subterraneous basilic, +built by Pepin, have likewise been collected, and follow those which I have +just mentioned. Next comes the tomb of CLOVIS, which exhibits that prince lying +at length; he is humbling himself before the Almighty, and seems to be asking +him forgiveness for his crimes. We likewise see those of CHILDEBERT and of the +cruel CHILPERIC. The intaglio, relieved by inlaid pieces of Mosaic, of queen +FREDEGOND, has escaped the accidents of twelve centuries. Just Heaven! what +powers have disappeared from the face of the earth since that period! And to +what reflections does not this image, still existing of that impious woman, +give birth in the mind of the philosopher! CHARLEMAGNE, who was buried at +Aix-la-Chapelle, seated on a throne of gold, appears here, in a haughty +attitude, with his sword in his hand, still to be giving laws to the world!</p> +<p>As might naturally be supposed, most of these figures have suffered much by +the rude attacks of Time; but in spite of his indelible impression, the +unpolished hand of the sculptor is still distinguishable, and betrays the +degraded state of the arts during the darkness of the middle ages. Let us pass +into the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.</p> +<p>Here we shall remark arches in the Gothic style, supported by thick pillars, +according to the architecture.of that period. Ornaments, in the form of +<i>culs-de-lampe</i>, terminate the centre of the arches, which are painted in +azure-blue, and charged with stars. When temples were begun to be sheltered or +covered, nations painted the inside of the roof in this manner, in order to +keep in view the image of the celestial canopy to which they directed all their +affections, and to preserve the memory of the ancient custom of offering up +sacrifices to the divinity in the open air.</p> +<p>Here the statue of LEWIS IX, surnamed the Saint, is placed near that of +PHILIP, one of his sons, and of CHARLES, his brother, king of Sicily, branded +in history, by having, through his oppression, driven his subjects into revolt, +and caused the massacre of the French in that island in 1277; a massacre well +known by the name of the <i>Sicilian vespers</i>.</p> +<p>It seems that it was the fashion, in those days, for kings themselves to be +bearers at funerals. We are told by St. Foix, that the body of LEWIS, another +son of the Saint, who died in 1662, aged 26, and whose cenotaph is here, was +first carried to St. Denis, and thence to the abbey of Royaumont, where it was +interred. "The greatest lords of the kingdom," says he, "alternately bore the +coffin on their shoulders, and Henry III; king of England, carried it himself +for a considerable time, as feudatory of the crown."</p> +<p>PHILIP III, too, above-mentioned, having brought to Paris the remains of his +father from Tunis in Africa, carried them barefooted, on his shoulders, to St. +Denis. Wherever he rested by the way, towers were erected in commemoration of +this act of filial piety; but these have been destroyed since the +revolution.</p> +<p>The casements of this hall, in the form of ogives, are ornamented with +stained glass of the first epoch of the invention of that art. We now come to +the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.</p> +<p>This hall shews us the light, yet splendid architecture of the Arabs, +introduced into France in consequence of the Crusades. Here are the statues of +the kings that successively appeared in this age down to king JOHN, who was +taken prisoner by Edward, the black prince, at the battle of Poietiers. They +are clad after the manner of their time, and lying at length on a stylobate, +strewn with flower-de-luces. Twenty-two knights, each mounted on lions, armed +cap-à-pié, represented of the natural size, and coloured, fill ogive niches +ornamented with Mosaic designs, relieved with gold, red, and blue.</p> +<p>The tombs of CHARLES V, surnamed the <i>Wise</i>, and of the worthy +constable, DU GUESCLIN, together with that of SANCERRE, his faithful friend, +rise in the middle of this apartment; which presents to the eye all the +magnificence of a Turkish mosque. After having quitted it, what a striking +contrast do we not remark on entering the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY!</p> +<p>Columns, arabesque ceilings charged with gilding, light pieces of sculpture +applied on blue and violet grounds, imitating cameo, china, or enamel; every +thing excites astonishment, and concurs in calling to mind the first epoch of +the regeneration of the arts in this country.</p> +<p>The ideas of the amateur are enlivened in this brilliant apartment: they +prepare him for the gratification which he is going to experience at the sight +of the beautiful monuments produced by the age, so renowned of Francis I. +There, architecture predominates over sculpture; here, sculpture over +architecture.</p> +<p>The genius of RAPHAEL paved the way to this impulse of regeneration: he had +recently produced the decorations of the Vatican; and the admirable effect of +these master-pieces of art, kindled an enthusiasm in the mind of the artists, +who travelled. On their return to France, they endeavoured to imitate them: in +this attempt, JEAN JUSTE, a sculptor sent to Rome, at the expense of the +Cardinal D'AMBOISE, was the most succcessful.</p> +<p>First, we behold the mausoleum of LOUIS D'ORLÉANS, victim of the faction of +the Duke of Burgundy, and that of his brother CHARLES, the poet. Near them is +that of VALENTINE DE MILAN, the inconsolable wife of the former, who died +through grief the year after she lost her husband. As an emblem of her +affliction, she took for her device a watering-pot stooped, whence drops kept +trickling in the form of tears. Let it not be imagined, however, that it was on +account of his constancy that this affectionate woman thus bewailed him till +she fell a victim to her sorrow.</p> +<p>LOUIS D'ORLÉANS was a great seducer of ladies of the court, and of the +highest rank too, says Brantome. Indeed, historians concur in stating that to a +brilliant understanding, he joined the most captivating person. We accordingly +find that the Dutchess of Burgundy and several others were by no means cruel to +him; and he had been supping tête-à-tête with Queen Isabeau de Bavière, when, +in returning home, he was assassinated on the twenty-third of November 1407. +His amorous intrigues at last proved fatal to the English, as you will learn +from the following story, related by the same author.</p> +<p>One morning, M. d'Orléans having in bed with him a woman of quality, whose +husband came to pay him an early visit, he concealed the lady's head, while he +exhibited the rest of her person to the contemplation of the unsuspecting +intruder, at the same time forbidding him, as he valued his life, to remove the +sheet from her face. Now, the cream of the jest was, that, on the following +night, the good soul of a husband, as he lay beside his dear, boasted to her +that the Duke of Orleans had shewn him the most beautiful woman that he had +ever seen: but that for her face he could not tell what to say of it, as it was +concealed under the sheet. "From this little intrigue," adds Brantome, "sprang +that brave and valiant bastard of Orleans, Count Dunois, the pillar of France, +and the scourge of the English."</p> +<p>Here we see the statues of CHARLES VI, and of JANE of Burgundy. The former +being struck by a <i>coup de soleil</i>, became deranged in his intellects and +imbecile, after having displayed great genius; he is represented with a pack of +cards in his hand to denote that they were first invented for that prince's +diversion. The latter was Dutchess of BEAUFORT, wife to the Duke, who commanded +the English army against Charles VII, and as brother to our Henry IV, was +appointed regent of France, during the minority of his nephew, Henry V.</p> +<p>Next come those of RÉNÉE D'ORLÉANS, grand-daughter of the intrepid Dunois; +and of PHILIPPE DE COMMINES, celebrated by his memoirs of the tyrant, LEWIS XI, +whose statue faces that of CHARLES VII, his father.</p> +<p>The image of JOAN OF ARC, whom that king had the baseness to suffer to +perish, after she had maintained him on the throne, also figures in this hall +with that of ISABEAU DE BAVIÈRE. The shameful death of the Maid of Orleans, +who, as every one knows, was, at the instigation of the English, condemned as a +witch, and burnt alive at Rouen on the 30th of May 1430, must inspire with +indignation every honest Englishman who reflects on this event, which will ever +be a blot in the page of our history. Isabeau affords a striking example of the +influence of a queen's morals on the affections of the people. On her first +arrival in Paris, she was crowned by angels, and received from the burghers the +most magnificent and costly presents. At her death, she was so detested by the +nation, that in order to convey her body privately to St. Denis, it was +embarked in a little skiff at <i>Port-Landri</i>, with directions to the +waterman to deliver it to the abbot.</p> +<p>The superb tomb of LEWIS XII, placed in the middle of this apartment, +displays great magnificence; and his statue, lying at length, which represents +him in a state of death, recalls to mind that moment so grievous to the French +people, who exclaimed, in following his funeral procession to St. Denis, "Our +good king Lewis XII is dead, and we have lost our father."</p> +<p>The historian delights to record a noble trait of that prince's character. +Lewis XII had been taken prisoner at the battle of St. Aubin by Louis de la +Trimouille, who, fearing the resentment of the new king, and wishing to excuse +himself for his conduct, received this magnanimous reply: "It is not for the +king of France to revenge the quarrels of the duke of Orleans."</p> +<p>The statue of PIERRE DE NAVARRE, son of Charles the <i>Bad</i>, seems placed +here to form in the mind of the spectator a contrast between his father and +Lewis XII. The tragical end of Charles is of a nature to fix attention, and +affords an excellent subject for a pencil like that of Fuseli.</p> +<p>Charles the <i>Bad</i>, having fallen into such a state of decay that he +could not make use of his limbs, consulted his physician, who ordered him to be +wrapped up from head to foot, in a linen cloth impregnated with brandy, so that +he might be inclosed in it to the very neck as in a sack. It was night when +this remedy was administered. One of the female attendants of the palace, +charged to sew up the cloth that contained the patient, having come to the +neck, the fixed point where she was to finish her seam, made a knot according +to custom; but as there was still remaining an end of thread, instead of +cutting it as usual with scissars, she had recourse to the candle, which +immediately set fire to the whole cloth. Being terrified, she ran away, and +abandoned the king, who was thus burnt alive in his own palace.</p> +<p>What a picture for the moralist is this assemblage of persons, celebrated +either for their errors, crimes, talents, or virtues!</p> +<h2><a name="let25">LETTER XXV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, November 28, 1801</i>.</p> +<p>Conceiving how interested you (who are not only a connoisseur, but an +F.A.S.) must feel in contemplating the only repository in the world, I believe, +which contains such a chronological history of the art of sculpture, I lose no +time in conducting you to complete our survey of the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS +in the <i>Rue des Petits Augustins</i>.</p> +<p>Having examined those of the fifteenth century, during our former visit, we +are at length arrived at the age of the Fine Arts in France, and now enter +the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.</p> +<p class="bq"> +"But see! each muse in LEO'S golden days,<br /> +Starts from her trance, and trims her wither'd bays;<br /> +Rome's ancient Genius, o'er its ruins spread,<br /> +Shakes off the dust, and rears his reverend head;<br /> +Then Sculpture and her sister arts revive,<br /> +Stones leap'd to form, and rocks began to live."<br /> +</p> +<p>These beautiful lines of Pope immediately occur to the mind, on considering +that, in Italy, the Great LEO, by the encouragement which he gave to men of +talents, had considerably increased the number of master-pieces; when the taste +for the Fine Arts, after their previous revival by the Medici, having spread +throughout that country, began to dawn in France about the end of the fifteenth +century. By progressive steps, the efforts made by the French artists to +emulate their masters, attained, towards the middle of the sixteenth century, a +perfection which has since fixed the attention of Europe.</p> +<p>On entering this hall, which is consecrated to that period, the amateur +finds his genius inflamed. What a deep impression does not the perfection of +the numerous monuments which it has produced make on his imagination! First, he +admires the beautiful tomb erected to the memory of FRANCIS I, the restorer of +literature and the arts; who, by inviting to his court LEONARDO DA VINCI and +PRIMATICCIO, and establishing schools and manufactories, consolidated the great +work of their regeneration.</p> +<p>"Curse the monks!" exclaimed I, on surveying this magnificent monument, +constructed in 1550, from the designs of the celebrated PHILIBERT DE L'ORME. +"Who cannot but regret," continued I to myself, "that so gallant a knight as +Francis I. should fall a victim to that baneful disease which strikes at the +very sources of generation? Who cannot but feel indignant that so generous a +prince, whose first maxim was, that <i>true magnanimity consisted in the +forgiveness of injuries, and pusillanimity in the prosecution of revenge</i>, +should owe his death to the diabolical machinations of a filthy friar?" Yet, so +it was; the circumstances are as follows:</p> +<p>Francis I. was smitten by the charms of the wife of one Lunel, a dealer in +iron. A Spanish chaplain, belonging to the army of the Emperor Charles V, +passing through Paris in order to repair to Flayers, threw himself in this +man's way, and worked on his mind till he had made him a complete fanatic: +"Your king," said the friar, "protects Lutheranism in Germany, and will soon +introduce it into France. Be revenged on him and your wife, by serving +religion. Communicate to him that disease for which no certain remedy is yet +known."—"And how am I to give it to him?" replied Lunel; "neither I nor +my wife have it."—"But I have," rejoined the monk: "I hold up my hand and +swear it. Introduce me only for one half-hour by night, into your place, by the +side of your faithless fair, and I will answer for the rest."</p> +<p>The priest having prevailed on Lunel to consent to his scheme, went to a +place where he was sure to catch the infection, and, by means of Lunel's wife, +he communicated it to the king. Being previously in possession of a secret +remedy, the monk cured himself in a short time; the poor woman died at the +expiration of a month; and Francis I, after having languished for three or four +years, at length, in 1547, sunk under the weight of a disorder then generally +considered as incurable.</p> +<p>The tomb of the VALOIS, erected in honour of that family, by Catherine de +Medicis, soon after the death of Henry II, is one of the masterpieces of +GERMAIN PILON. In the execution of this beautiful monument, that famous artist +has found means to combine the correctness of style of Michael Angelo with the +grace of Primaticcio. To the countenance of HENRY and CATHERINE, who are +represented in a state of death, lying as on a bed, he has imparted an +expression of sensibility truly affecting.</p> +<p>Next comes the tomb of DIANE DE POITIERS, that celebrated beauty, who +displayed equal judgment in the management of State affairs and in the delicacy +of her attachments; who at the age of 40, captivated king Henry II, when only +18; and, who, though near 60 at the death of that prince, had never ceased to +preserve the same empire over his heart. At the age of fourteen, she was +married to Louis de Brézé, grand seneschal of Normandy, and died in April 1506, +aged 66.</p> +<p>Brantome, who saw her not long before her death, when she had just recovered +from the confinement of a broken leg, and had experienced troubles sufficient +to lessen her charms, thus expresses himself: "Six months ago, when I met her, +she was still so beautiful that I know not any heart of adamant which would not +have been moved at the sight of her."—To give you a perfect idea of her +person, take this laconic description, which is not one of fancy, but collected +from the best historians.</p> +<p>Her jet black hair formed a striking contrast to her lily complexion. On her +cheeks faintly blushed the budding rose. Her teeth vied with ivory itself in +whiteness: in a word, her form was as elegant as her deportment was +graceful.</p> +<p>By way of lesson to the belles of the present day, let them be told that +DIANE DE POITIERS was never ill, nor affected indisposition. In the severity of +the winter, she daily washed her face with spring-water, and never had recourse +to cosmetics.----"What pity," says Brantome, "that earth should cover so +beautiful a woman!"</p> +<p>No man, indeed, who sympathizes with the foibles of human nature, can +contemplate the tomb of DIANE DE POITIERS, and reflect on her numerous virtues +and attractions, without adopting the sentiments of Brantome, and feeling his +breast glow with admiration.</p> +<p>This extraordinary woman afforded the most signal protection to literati and +men of genius, and was, in fact, no less distinguished for the qualities of her +heart than for the beauty of her person. "She was extremely good-humoured, +charitable, and humane," continues Brantome "The people of France ought to pray +to God that the female favourite of every chief magistrate of their country may +resemble this amiable frail one."</p> +<p>As a proof of the elevation of her sentiments, I shall conclude by quoting +to you the spirited reply DIANE made to Henry II, who, by dint of royal +authority, wished to legitimate a daughter he had by her: "I am of a birth," +said she, "to have had lawful children by you. I have been your mistress, +because I loved you. I will never suffer a decree to declare me your +concubine."</p> +<p>The beautiful group of the modest Graces, and that representing Diana, +accompanied by her dogs Procion and Syrius, sculptured by Jean Gougeon, to +serve as the decoration of a fountain in the park of DIANE DE POITIERS at Anet, +attracts the attention of the connoisseur.</p> +<p>The tomb of GOUGEON, composed of his own works, and erected to the memory of +that great artist, through gratitude, is, undoubtedly, a homage which he justly +deserved. This French Phidias was a Calvinist, and one of the numerous victims +of St. Bartholomew's day, being shot on his scaffold, as he was at work on the +<i>Louvre</i>, the 24th of August 1572. Here too we behold the statues of +BIRAGUE and of the GONDI, those atrocious wretches who, together with Catherine +de Medicis, plotted that infamous massacre; while CHARLES IX, no less criminal, +here exhibits on his features the stings of a guilty conscience.</p> +<p>The man that has a taste for learning, gladly turns his eye from this horde +of miscreants, to fix it on the statue of CLAUDE-CATHERINE DE +CLERMONT-TONNERRE, who was so conversant in the dead languages as to bear away +the palm from Birague and Chiveray, in a speech which she composed and spoke +in Latin, at twenty-four hours' notice, in answer to the ambassadors who +tendered the crown of Poland to Charles IX.</p> +<p>If the friend of the arts examine the beautiful portico erected by Philibert +de l'Orme, on the banks of the Eure, for Diane de Poitiers, composed of the +three orders of architecture, placed the one above the other, and forming +altogether an elevation of sixty feet, he will be amazed to learn that this +superb monument constructed at Anet, twenty leagues distant from Paris, was +removed thence, and re-established in this Museum, by the indefatigable +conservator, LENOIR.</p> +<p>On leaving the apartment containing the master-pieces brought to light by +Francis I, the next we reach is the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.</p> +<p>What a crowd of celebrated men contained in the temple consecrated to +virtue, courage, and talents!</p> +<p>There, I behold TURENNE, CONDÉ, MONTAUSIER, COLBERT, MOLIÈRE, CORNEILLE, LA +FONTAINE, RACINE, FÉNÉLON, and BOILEAU. The great LEWIS XIV, placed in the +middle of this hall, seems to become still greater near those immortal +geniuses.</p> +<p>Farther on, we see the statue of the implacable RICHELIEU, represented +expiring in the arms of Religion, while Science is weeping at his feet. Ye +Gods! what a prostitution of talent! This is the master-piece of GIRARDON; but, +in point of execution, many connoisseurs prefer the mausoleum of the crafty +MAZARIN, whom COYZEVOX has pourtrayed in a supplicating posture.</p> +<p>LEWIS XIII, surnamed the <i>Just</i>, less great than his illustrious +subject, DE THOU, casts down his eyes in the presence of his ministers.</p> +<p>The mausolea of LE BRUN, LULLI, and JÉROME BIGNON, the honour, the love, and +the example of his age, terminate the series of monuments of that epoch, still +more remarkable for its literati than its artists. We at last come to the</p> +<p class="center">HALL OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</p> +<p>Here we admire the statues of MONTESQUIEU, FONTENELLE, VOLTAIRE, ROUSSEAU, +HELVÉTIUS, CRÉBILLON, PIRON, &c. &c. The tombs of the learned +MAUPERTUIS and CAYLUS, and also that of Marshal D'HARCOURT, give a perfect idea +of the state of degradation into which the art of design had fallen at the +beginning of this century; but the new productions which decorate the extremity +of this spacious hall are sufficient to prove to what degree the absolute will +of a great genius can influence the progress of the arts, as well as of the +sciences. VIEN and DAVID appeared, and the art was regenerated.</p> +<p>Here, too, we find a statue, as large as life, representing Christ leaning +on a pillar, executed by MICHAEL ANGELO STODTZ. I notice this statue merely to +observe, that the original, from which it is taken, is to be seen at Rome, in +the <i>Chiesa della Minerva</i> where it is held in such extraordinary +veneration, that the great toe-nail of the right foot having been entirely worn +away by the repeated kisses of the faithful, one of silver had been +substituted. At length this second nail having been likewise worn away, a third +was placed, of copper, which is already somewhat worn. It was sculptured by +MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTI.</p> +<p>We experience an emotion of regret at the aspect of the handsome monument by +MICHALLON, on learning that it was erected to the memory of young DROUAIS, a +skilful and amiable artist, stopped by death, in 1788, during his brilliant +career, at the early age of 24. He has left behind him three historical +pictures, which are so many master-pieces.</p> +<p>The beautiful statue of the youthful Cyparissus, by CHAUDET, the most +eminent French sculptor, reminds us of the full and elegant form of the fine +Greek Bacchus, which decorates the peristyle of the antichamber or Hall of +Introduction.</p> +<p>Thus the amateur and the student will find, in this Museum, an uninterrupted +chronology of monuments, both antique and modern, beginning by those of ancient +Greece, whose date goes back to two thousand five hundred years before our era, +to examine those of the Romans, of the Lower Empire, of the Gauls, and thence +pass to the first epoch of the French monarchy, and at length follow all the +gradations through which the art has passed from its cradle to its decrepitude. +The whole of this grand establishment is terminated by a spacious garden, which +is converted into an</p> +<p class="center">ELYSIUM.</p> +<p>There, on a verdant lawn, amid firs, cypresses, poplars, and weeping +willows, repose the ashes of the illustrious poets, MOLIÈRE, LA FONTAINE, +BOILEAU, &c.; of the learned DESCARTES, MABILLON, MONTFAUCON, &c., +inclosed in sarcophagi; there, they still receive the homage which mankind owe +to talents and virtue.</p> +<p>But hold! mark the sepulchre of the learned and tender HÉLOÏSE. Her remains, +though formerly conjoined to those of her lover, were subsequently separated, +and after a lapse of three hundred years, they are now reassembled.</p> +<p class="bq"> +Here one kind grave unites their hapless name,<br /> +And grafts her love immortal on his fame.<br /> +</p> +<p>With a smile seated on her lips, HÉLOÏSE seems to be sighing for the object +of her glowing affection: while the unfortunate ABÉLARD, coldly reclined, is +still commenting on the Trinity. The <i>Paraclete</i>, having been sold and +demolished, LENOIR, with all the sensibility of an admirer of genius, withdrew +the bones of ABÉLARD and HÉLOÏSE from that monastery, and placed them here in a +sepulchral chapel, partly constructed from the remains of their ancient +habitation.</p> +<p>Such is the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS. When completed, for some valuable +specimens of the arts slill remain to be added, it will be one of the most +interesting establishments in Paris, and perhaps in Europe, especially if +considered in regard to the improvement of modern sculpture, and, I may add, +architecture. No building can be better adapted than a monastery for an +establishment of this nature. The solemn gloom of cloisters suits the temper of +the mind, when we reflect on the mortality incident to a succession of ages, +and the melancholy which it inspires, is in perfect unison with our feelings, +when we contemplate the sepulchral monuments that recall to our memory the +actions of the illustrious departed.</p> +<p>This Museum is very extensive, the three courts and large garden, which at +present compose the whole of its premises, occupying a space of three thousand +seven hundred and sixty-two toises. LENOIR, however, has recently presented to +the First Consul a plan for enlarging it, without any additional expense of +building, by adding to it the neighbouring <i>Hôtel de Bouillon</i>. He +proposes that there should be a new entrance by the quay, exhibiting a spacious +court, decorated with statues, erected in regular order; and that the +apartments on the ground-floor should be appropriated as follows:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li>To a collection of portraits of all the celebrated men of France.</li> +<li>To a chronological series of armour of all ages.</li> +<li>To a complete collection of French medals.</li> +<li>To a library, solely formed of the books necessary for obtaining a +knowledge of the monuments contained in this Museum.</li> +</ol> +<p>When I consider the mutilated state in which most of these monuments were +found at the first formation of this interesting establishment, and view the +perfection in which they now appear; when I remark the taste and judgment +displayed in the distribution and interior arrangement of the different +apartments of this rich museum; when I learn, from the printed documents on the +subject, the strict economy which has been observed in the acquisition or +restoration of a great number of monuments, the more valuable as they +illustrate the history of the arts; I confess that I find myself at a loss +which most to admire in the Conservator, his courage, zeal, perseverance, or +discrimination. Indeed, nothing but an assemblage of those qualities could have +overcome the difficulties and obstacles which he has surmounted.</p> +<p>I shall add that LENOIR'S obliging disposition and amenity of manners +equally entitle him to the gratitude and esteem of the connoisseur, the +student, or the inquisitive stranger.</p> +<h2><a name="let26">LETTER XXVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 1, 1801</i>.</p> +<p>I was highly gratified the other day on finding myself in company with some +of those men whom (to borrow Lord Thurlow's expression, in speaking of Warren +Hastings,) I have known only as I know Alexander, by the greatness of their +exploits; men whose names will be transmitted to posterity, and shine with +distinguished lustre in the military annals of France.</p> +<p>General A----y had already invited me to dine with him, in order to meet +General B----r; but, on the day fixed, the latter, as minister for the war +department, being under the necessity of entertaining Lord Cornwallis, the +party was postponed till the 8th of Frimaire, (20th of November), when, in +addition to General B----r, General A----y had assembled at his table several +men of note. Among others, were General M----rd, who commanded the right wing +of the army of Naples under Macdonald, in which he distinguished himself as a +brave soldier; and D----ttes, physician in chief to the army of the East. This +officer of health, as medical men are here denominated, is lately returned from +Egypt, where his skill and attention to his professional duties gained him +universal admiration.</p> +<p>In society so agreeable, time passed away rapidly till General B----r +arrived. It was late, that is about seven o'clock, though the invitation +expressed five precisely, as the hour of dinner. But, in Paris, a minister is +always supposed to be detained on official business of a nature paramount to +every other consideraton. On my being introduced to General B----r, he +immediately entered into conversation with me concerning Lord Cornwallis, whom +he had known in the American war, having served in the staff of Rochambeau at +the siege of Yorktown. As far back as that period B----r signalized himself by +his skill in military science. It was impossible to contemplate these +distinguished officers without calling to mind how greatly their country was +indebted to the exertion of their talents on various important occasions. These +recollections led me to admire that wisdom which had placed them in stations +for which they had proved themselves so eminently qualified. In England, places +are generally sought for men; in France, men are sought for places.</p> +<p>At seven, dinner was announced, and an excellent one it was, both in quality +and quantity. <i>Presto</i> was the word, and all the guests seemed habituated +to expedition. The difference between the duration of such a repast at this +day, and what it was before the revolution, shews how constantly men become the +slaves of fashion. Had BONAPARTE resembled Lucullus in being addicted to the +pleasures of the festive board, I make no doubt that it would have been the +height of <i>ton</i> to sit quietly two or three hours after dinner. But the +Chief Consul is said to be temperate, almost to abstemiousness; he rises from +table in less than half an hour; and that mode is now almost universal in +Paris, especially among the great men in office. Two elegant courses and a +desert were presently dispatched; the whole time employed in eating I know not +how many good dishes, and drinking a variety of choice wines, not exceeding +thirty-five minutes. At the end of the repast, coffee was presented to the +company in an adjoining room, after which the opera of <i>Tarare</i> was the +attraction of the evening.</p> +<p>I have already mentioned to you that General A----y had put into my hand +<i>L'Histoire du Canal du Midi</i>, written by himself. +<a name="let26fr1"></a>From a perusal of this interesting work, it appears that +one of his ancestors[<a href="#let26f1">1</a>] was the first who conceived the +idea of that canal, which was not only planned by him, but entirely completed +under his immediate direction. Having communicated his plan to Riquet, the +latter submited it to Colbert, and, on its being approved by Lewis XIV, became +<i>contractor</i> for all the works of that celebrated undertaking, which he +did not live to see finished. Riquet, however, not content with having derived +from the undertaking every advantage of honour and emolument, greedily snatched +from the original projector the meed of fame, so dearly earned by the +unremitting labour of thirty successive years. These facts are set forth in the +clearest light in the above-mentioned work, in which I was carefully examining +General A----y's plans for the improvement of this famous canal, when I was +most agreeably interrupted.</p> +<p>I had expressed to the General a wish to know the nature of the +establishment of which he is the director, at the same time apprizing him that +this wish did not extend to any thing that could not with propriety be made +public. He obligingly promised that I should be gratified, and this morning I +received ftom him a very friendly letter, accompanied by the following account +of the</p> +<p class="center">DÉPÔT DE LA GUERRE.</p> +<p>The general <i>Dépôt</i> or repository of maps and plans of war, &c, +&c, was established by LOUVOIS, in 1688. This was the celebrated period +when France, having attained the highest degree of splendour, secured her glory +by the results of an administration enlightened in all its branches.</p> +<p>At the beginning of its institution, the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i> was no +more than archives, where were collected, and preserved with order, the memoirs +of the generals, their correspondence, the accounts yet imperfect, and the +traces of anterior military operations.</p> +<p>The numerous resources afforded by this collection alone, the assistance and +advantages derived from it on every occasion, when it was necessary to +investigate a military system, or determine an important operation, suggested +the idea of assembling it under a form and classification more methodical. +Greater attention and exactness were exerted in enriching the <i>Dépôt</i> with +every thing that might complete the theoretical works and practical +elucidations of all the branches of the military art,</p> +<p>Marshal DE MAILLEBOIS, who was appointed director of this establishment in +1730, was one of the first authors of the present existing order. The +classification at first consisted only in forming registers of the +correspondence of the generals, according to date, distinguishing it by +<i>different wars</i>. It was divided into two parts, the former containing the +letters of the generals; and the latter, the minutes or originals of the +answers of the king and his ministers. To each volume was added a summary of +the contents, and, in regular succession, the journal of the military +operations of the year. These volumes, to the number of upwards of two thousand +seven hundred, contain documents from the eleventh century to the close of the +last American war; but the series is perfect only from the year 1631. This was +a valuable mine for a historiographer to explore; and, indeed, it is well known +that the <i>Memoirs of Turenne and of Condé</i>, the <i>History of the war of +1741</i>, and part of the fragments of the <i>Essay on the Manners and History +of Nations</i>, by Voltaire, were compiled and digested from the original +letters and memoirs preserved in the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>.</p> +<p>Geographical engineers did not then exist as a corps. Topography was +practised by insulated officers, impelled thereto by the rather superficial +study of the mathematics and a taste for drawing; because it was for them a +mean of obtaining more advantageous employments in the staffs of the armies: +but the want of a central point, the difference of systems and methods, not +admitting of directing the operations to one same principle, as well as to one +same object, topography, little encouraged, was making but a slow progress, +when M. DE CHOISEUIL established, as a particular corps, the officers who had +applied themselves to the practice of that science. The <i>Dépôt</i> was +charged to direct and assemble the labours of the new corps. This authority +doubled the utility of the <i>Dépôt</i>: its results had the most powerful +influence during the war from 1757 to 1763.</p> +<p>Lieutenant-General De VAULT, who had succeeded Marshal De MAILLEBOIS as +director of the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>, conceived, and executed a plan, +destined to render still more familiar and secure the numerous documents +collected in this establishment. He first retrenched from the <i>Military +Correspondences and Memoirs</i> all tedious repetitions and unnecessary +details; he then classed the remainder under the head of a different army or +operation, without subjecting himself to any other order than a simple +chronology; but he caused each volume to be preceded by a very succinct, +historical summary, in order to enable the reader to seize the essence of the +original memoirs and documents, the text of which was faithfully copied in the +body of each volume, In this manner did he arrange all the military events from +the German war in 1677 to the peace of 1763. This analysis forms one hundred +and twenty five volumes.</p> +<p>It is easy to conceive how much more interesting these historical volumes +became by the addition, which took place about the same epoch, of the labours +of the geographical engineers employed in the armies. The military men having +it at the same time in his power to follow the combinations of the generals +with the execution of their plans, imbibes, without difficulty, the principles +followed by great captains, or improves himself from the exact account of the +errors and faults which it is so natural to commit on critical occasions.</p> +<p>When all the establishments of the old <i>régime</i> were tottering, or +threatened by the revolutionary storm, measures were suggested for preserving +the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>, and, towards the end of 1791, it was transferred +from Versailles to Paris. Presently the new system of government, the war +declared against the emperor, and the foreseen conflagration of Europe, +concurred to give a new importance to this establishment. Alone, amidst the +general overthrow, it had preserved a valuable collection of the military and +topographical labours of the monarchy, of manuscripts of the greatest +importance, and a body of information of every kind respecting the resources, +and the country, of the powers already hostile, or on the point of becoming so. +<a name="let26fr2"></a>All the utility which might result from the <i>Dépôt</i> +was then felt, and it was thought necessary to give it a new +organization.[<a href="#let26f2">2</a>]</p> +<p>The <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>, however, would have attained but imperfectly +the object of its institution, had there not been added to its topographical +treasure, the richest, as well as the finest, collection in Europe of every +geographical work held in any estimation. The first epochs of the revolution +greatly facilitated the increase of its riches of that description. The general +impulse, imprinted on the mind of the French nation, prompted every will +towards useful sacrifices. Private cabinets in possession of the scarcest maps, +gave them up to the government, <a name="let26fr3"></a>The suppression of the +monasteries and abbeys caused to flow to the centre the geographical riches +which they preserved in an obscurity hurtful to the progress of that important +science: and thus the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i> obtained one of the richest +collections in Europe.[<a href="#let26f3">3</a>] The government, besides, +completed it by the delivery of the great map of France by CASSINI, begun in +1750, together with all the materials forming the elements of that grand work. +<a name="let26fr4"></a>It is painful to add that not long before that period +(in 1791) the corps of geographical engineers, which alone could give utility +to such valuable materials had been suppressed.[<a href="#let26f4">4</a>]</p> +<p>In the mean time, the sudden changes in the administrative system had +dispersed the learned societies employed in astronomy, or the mathematical +sciences. The <i>National Observatory</i> was disused. The celebrated +astronomers attached to it had no rallying point: they could not devote +themselves to their labours but amidst the greatest difficulties; the salary +allowed to them was not paid; the numerous observations, continued for two +centuries, were on the point of being interrupted.</p> +<p>The <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i> then became the asylum of those estimable men. +This establishment excited and obtained the reverification of the measure of an +arc of the meridian, in order to serve as a basis for the uniformity of the +weights and measures which the government wished to establish.</p> +<p>MÉCHAIN, DELAMBRE, NOUET, TRANCHOT, and PERNY were dispatched to different +places from Barcelona to Dunkirk. After having established at each extremity of +this line a base, measured with the greatest exactness, they were afterwards to +advance their triangles, in order to ascend to the middle point of the line. +This operation, which has served for rectifying a few errors that the want of +perfection in the instruments had occasioned to be introduced into the measure +of the meridian of CASSINI, may be reckoned one of the most celebrated works +which have distinguished the close of the eighteenth century.</p> +<p>The establishment of the system of administration conformably to the +constitution of the year III (1795) separated the various elements which the +<i>Dépôt de la guerre</i> had found means to preserve. The <i>Board of +Longitude</i> was established; the <i>National Institute</i> was formed to +supply the place of the <i>Academy of Sciences</i>, &c. The <i>Dépôt de la +guerre</i> was restored solely to its ancient prerogatives. +<a name="let26fr5"></a>Two years before, it had been under the necessity of +forming new geographical engineers and it succeeded in carrying the number +sufficiently high to suffice for the wants of the fourteen armies which France +had afterwards on foot.[<a href="#let26f5">5</a>] These officers being employed +in the service of the staffs, no important work was undertaken. But, since the +18th of Brumaire, year VIII, (9th of November, 1799) the Consuls of the +Republic have bestowed particular attention on geographical and topographical +operations. The new limits of the French territory require that the map of it +should be continued; and the new political system, resulting from the general +pacification, renders necessary the exact knowledge of the states of the allies +of the Republic.</p> +<p>The <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i> forms various sections of geographers, who are +at present employed in constructing accurate maps of the four united +departments. Piedmont, Savoy, Helvetia, and the part of Italy comprised between +the Adige and the Adda. One section, in conjunction with the Bavarian +engineers, is constructing a topographical map of Bavaria: another section is +carrying into execution the military surveys, and other topographical labours, +ordered by General MOREAU for the purpose of forming a map of Suabia.</p> +<p>The <i>Dépôt</i> has just published an excellent map of the Tyrol, reduced +from that of PAYSAN, and to which have been added the observations made by +Chevaliers DUPAY and LA LUCERNE. It has caused to be resumed the continuation +of the superb map of the environs of Versailles, called <i>La carte des +chasses</i>, a master-piece of topography and execution in all the arts +relating to that science. Since the year V (1795), it has also formed a library +composed of upwards of eight thousand volumes or manuscripts, the most rare, as +well as the most esteemed, respecting every branch of the military art in +general.</p> +<p>Although, in the preceding account, General A----y, with that modesty which +is the characteristic of a superior mind, has been totally silent respecting +his own indefatigable exertions, I have learned from the best authority, that +France is soon likely to derive very considerable advantages from the activity +and talent introduced by him, as director, into every branch of the <i>Dépôt de +la guerre</i>, and of which he has afforded in his own person an illustrious +example.</p> +<p>In giving an impulse to the interior labours of the <i>Dépôt</i>, the sole +object of General A----y is to make this establishment lose its +<i>paralyzing</i> destination of archives, in which, from time to time, +literati might come to collect information concerning some periods of national +or foreign history. He is of opinion that these materials ought to be drawn +from oblivion, and brought into action by those very persons who, having the +experience of war, are better enabled than any others to arrange its elements. +Instruction and method being the foundations of a good administration, of the +application of an art and of a science, as well as of their improvement, he has +conceived the idea of uniting in a classical work the exposition of the +knowledge necessary for the direction of the <i>Dépôt</i>, for geographical +engineers, staff-officers, military men in general, and historians. +<a name="let26fr6"></a>This, then, is the object of the <i>Mémomorial du Dépôt +de la guerre</i>, a periodical work, now in hand, which will become the guide +of every establishment of this nature[<a href="#let26f6">6</a>], by directing +with method the various labours used in the application of mathematical and +physical sciences to topography, and to that art which, of all others, has the +greatest influence on the destiny of empires: I mean the art military. The +improvements of which it is still susceptible will be pointed out in the +<i>Mémorial</i>, and every new idea proposed on the subject will there be +critically investigated.</p> +<p>In transcribing General A----y's sketch of this extremely-interesting +establishment, I cannot but reflect on the striking contrast that it presents, +in point of geographical riches, even half a century ago, to the disgraceful +poverty, in that line, which, about the same period, prevailed in England, and +was severely felt in the planning of our military expeditions.</p> +<p>I remember to have been told by the late Lord Howe, that, when he was +captain of the Magnanime at Plymouth, and was sent for express to London, in +the year 1757, in order to command the naval part of an expedition to the coast +of France, George II, and the whole cabinet council, seemed very much +astonished at his requiring the production of a map of that part of the enemy's +coast against which the expedition was intended. Neither in the apartment where +the council sat, nor in any adjoining one, was any such document; even in the +Admiralty-office no other than an indifferent map of the coast could be found: +as for the adjacent country, it was so little known in England, that, when the +British troops landed, their commander was ignorant of the distance of the +neighbouring villages.</p> +<p>Of late years, indeed, we have ordered these matters better; but, to judge +from circumstances, it should seem that we are still extremely deficient in +geographical and topographical knowledge; though we are not quite so ill +informed as in the time of a certain duke, who, when First Lord of the +Treasury, asked in what part of Germany was the Ohio?</p> +<p>P.S. In order to give you, at one view, a complete idea of the collections +of the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>, and of what they have furnished during the +war for the service of the government and of the armies, I shall end my letter +by stating that, independently of eight thousand chosen volumes, among which is +a valuable collection of atlases, of two thousand seven hundred volumes of old +archives, and of upwards of nine hundred <i>cartons</i> or pasteboard boxes of +modern original documents, the <i>Dépôt</i> possesses one hundred and +thirty-one volumes and seventy-eight <i>cartons</i> of descriptive memoirs, +composed at least of fifty memoirs each, four thousand seven hundred engraved +maps, of each of which there are from two to twenty-five copies, exclusively of +those printed at the <i>Dépôt</i>, and upwards of seven thousand four hundred +valuable manuscript maps, plans, or drawings of marches, battles, sieges, +&c.</p> +<p>By order of the government, it has furnished, in the course of the war, +seven thousand two hundred and seventy-eight engraved maps, two hundred and +seven manuscript maps or plans, sixty-one atlases of various parts of the +globe, and upwards of six hundred descriptive memoirs.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let26f1">Footnote 1</a>: FRANÇOIS ANDREOSSY; who was +the great great grandfather of the present French ambassador at our +court. <a href="#let26fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let26f2">Footnote 2</a>: On the 25th of April, 1792, +was published a regulation, decreed by the king, respecting the general +direction of the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>. The annual expense of the +establishment, at that time amounted to 68,000 francs, but the geographical and +historical departments were not filled. <i>Note of the +Author.</i> <a href="#let26fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let26f3">Footnote 3</a>: An <i>Agence des cartes</i> +was appointed, by the National Assembly, to class these materials, and arrange +them in useful order. <a href="#let26fr3">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let26f4">Footnote 4</a>: At the juncture alluded to +(1793), the want of geographical engineers having been felt as soon as the +armies took the field, three brigades were formed, each consisting of twelve +persons. The composition of the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>, was increased in +proportion to its importance: intelligent officers were placed there; and no +less than thirty-eight persons were employed in the interior labour, that is, +in drawing plans of campaigns, sieges, &c. <i>Note of the +Author</i>. <a href="#let26fr4">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let26f5">Footnote 5</a>: That tempestuous period having +dispersed the then director and his assistants, the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i> +remained, for some time, without officers capable of conducting it in a manner +useful to the country. In the mean while, wants were increasing, and military +operations daily becoming more important, when, in 1793, CARNOT, then a member +of the Committee of Public Welfare, formed a private cabinet of topography, the +elements of which he drew from the <i>Dépôt de la guerre</i>. This was a first +impulse given to these valuable collections. <i>Note of the +Author</i>. <a href="#let26fr5">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let26f6">Footnote 6</a>: Prince Charles is employed at +Vienna in forming a collection of books, maps, and military memoirs for the +purpose of establishing a <i>Dépôt</i> for the instruction of the +staff-officers of the Austrian army. Spain has also begun to organize a system +of military topography in imitation of that of France. Portugal follows the +example. What are we doing in England? <a href="#let26fr6">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let27">LETTER XXVII</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 3, 1801</i>.</p> +<p>In this season, when the blasts of November have entirely stripped the trees +of their few remaining leaves, and Winter has assumed his hoary reign, the +garden of the <i>Tuileries</i>, loses much of the gaiety of its attractions. +Besides, to frequent that walk, at present, is like visiting daily one of our +theatres, you meet the same faces so often, that the scene soon becomes +monotonous. As well for the sake of variety as exercise, I therefore now and +then direct my steps along the</p> +<p class="center">BOULEVARDS.</p> +<p>This is the name given to the promenades with which Paris is, in part, +surrounded for an extent of six thousand and eighty-four toises.</p> +<p>They are distinguished by the names of the <i>Old</i> and the <i>New</i>. +The <i>Old</i>, or <i>North Boulevards</i>, commonly called the <i>Grands +Boulevards</i>, were begun in 1536, and, when faced with ditches, which were to +have been dug, they were intended to serve as fortifications against the +English who were ravaging Picardy, and threatening the capital. Thence, +probably, the etymology of their name; <i>Boulevard</i> signifying, as every +one knows, a bulwark.</p> +<p>However this may be, the extent of these <i>Old</i> Boulevards is two +thousand four hundred toises from the <i>Rue de la Concorde</i> to the <i>Place +de la Liberté</i>, formerly the site of the Bastille. They were first planted +in 1660, and are formed into three alleys by four rows of trees: the middle +alley is appropriated to carriages and persons on horseback, and the two +lateral ones are for foot-passengers.</p> +<p>Here, on each side, is assembled every thing that ingenuity can imagine for +the diversion of the idle stroller, or the recreation of the man of business. +Places of public entertainment, ambulating musicians, exhibitions of different +kinds, temples consecrated to love or pleasure, Vauxhalls, ball-rooms, +magnificent hotels, and other tasteful buildings, &c. Even the +coffee-houses and taverns here have their shady bowers, and an agreeable +orchestra. Thus, you may always dine in Paris with a band of music to entertain +you, without additional expense.</p> +<p>The <i>New</i> Boulevards, situated to the south, were finished in 1761. +They are three thousand six hundred and eighty-three toises in extent from the +<i>Observatoire</i> to the <i>Hôtel des Invalides</i>. Although laid out much +in the same manner as the <i>Old</i>, there is little resemblance between them; +each having a very distinct appearance.</p> +<p>On the <i>New Boulevards</i>, the alleys are both longer and wider, and the +trees are likewise of better growth. There, the prospect is rural; and the air +pure; while cultivated fields, with growing corn, present themselves to the +eye. Towards the town, however, stand several pretty houses; little theatres +even were built, but did not succeed. This was not their latitude. But some +skittle-grounds and tea-gardens, lately opened, and provided with swings, +&c. have attracted much company of a certain class in the summer.</p> +<p>In this quarter, you seldom meet with a carriage, scarcely ever with persons +sprucely dressed, but frequently with honest citizens, accompanied by their +whole family, as plain in their garb as in their manners. Lovers too with their +mistresses, who seek solitude, visit this retired walk; and now and then a poor +poet comes hither, not to sharpen his appetite, but to arrange his numbers.</p> +<p>Before, the revolution, the <i>Old</i> Boulevards, from the <i>Porte St. +Martin</i> to the <i>Théâtre Favart</i>, was the rendezvous of the +<i>élegantes</i>, who, on Sundays and Thursdays, used to parade there slowly, +backward and forward, in their carriages, as our belles do in Hyde Park; with +this difference, that, if their admirers did not accompany them, they generally +followed them to interchange significant glances, or indulge in amorous parley. +I understand that the summer lounge of the modern <i>élegantes</i> has, of late +years, been from the corner of the <i>Rue Grange Batelière</i> to that of the +<i>Rue Mont-Blanc</i>, where the ladies took their seats. This attracting the +<i>muscadins</i> in great numbers, not long since obtained for that part of the +Boulevard the appellation of <i>Petit Coblentz</i>.</p> +<p>Nearly about the middle of the North Boulevard stand two edifices, which owe +their erection to the vanity of Lewis XIV. In the gratification of that passion +did the <i>Grand Monarque</i> console himself for his numerous defeats and +disappointments; and the age in which he lived being fertile in great men, +owing, undoubtedly, to the encouragement he afforded them, his display of it +was well seconded by their superior talents. Previously to his reign, Paris had +several gates, but some of these being taken down, arcs of triumph, in +imitation of those of the Romans, were erected in their stead by <i>Louis le +Grand</i>, in commemoration of his exploits. And this too, at a time when the +allies might, in good earnest, have marched to Paris, had they not, by delay, +given Marshal Villars an opportunity of turning the tide of their victories on +the plain of Denain. Such was the origin of the</p> +<p class="center">PORTE SAINT DENIS.</p> +<p>The magnificence of its architecture classes it among the first public +monuments in Paris. It consists of a triumphal arch, insulated in the manner of +those of the ancients: it is seventy-two feet in diameter as well as in +elevation, and was executed in 1672, by BULLET from the designs of BLONDEL.</p> +<p>On each side of the principal entrance rise two sculptured pyramids, charged +with trophies of arms, both towards the faubourg, and towards the city. +Underneath each of these pyramids is a small collateral passage for persons on +foot. The arch is ornamented with two bas-reliefs: the one facing the city +represents the passage of the Rhine; and the other, the capture of +Maestricht.</p> +<p>On the frieze on both sides LUDOVICO MAGNO was formerly to be read, in large +characters of gilt bronze. This inscription is removed, and to it are +substituted the word <i>Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité</i>.</p> +<p>On arriving from Calais, you enter Paris by the <i>Porte St. Denis</i>. It +was also by the <i>Porte St. Denis</i> that kings and queens made their public +entry. On these occasions, the houses in all the streets through which they +passed, were decorated with silk hangings and tapestry, as far as the cathedral +of <i>Notre-Dame</i>. Scented waters perfumed the air in the form of <i>jets +d'eau</i>; while wine and milk flowed from the different public fountains.</p> +<p>Froissard relates that, on the entrance of Isabeau de Bavière, there was in +the <i>Rue St. Denis</i> a representation of a clouded heaven, thickly sown +with stars, whence descended two angels who gently placed on her head a very +rich crown of gold, set with precious stones, at the same time singing verses +in her praise.</p> +<p>It was on this occasion that Charles VI, anxious for a sight of his intended +bride, took a fancy to mix in the crowd, mounted on horseback behind Savoisi, +his favourite. Pushing forward in order to approach her, he received from the +serjeants posted to keep off the populace several sharp blows on the shoulders, +which occasioned great mirth in the evening, when the circumstance was related +before the queen and her ladies.</p> +<p>Proceeding along the Boulevard towards the east, at a short distance from +the <i>Porte St. Denis</i>, you arrive at the</p> +<p class="center">PORTE SAINT MARTIN.</p> +<p>Although this triumphal arch cannot be compared to the preceding in +magnificence, it was nevertheless executed by the same artists, having been +erected in 1674. It is pierced with three openings, the centre one of which is +eighteen feet wide, and the two others nine. The whole structure, which is +fifty-four feet both in height and breadth, is rusticated, and in the spandles +of the arch are four bas-reliefs; the two towards the city represent the +capture of Besançon, and the rupture of the triple alliance; and those towards +the faubourg, the capture of Lomberg, and the defeat of the Germans under the +emblem of an eagle repulsed by the god of war. These bas-reliefs are crowned by +an entablature of the Doric order, surmounted by an attic. The <i>Porte St. +Martin</i> is the grand entrance into Paris from all parts of Flanders.</p> +<p>At the west extremity of this <i>North</i> Boulevard, facing the <i>Rue de +la Concorde</i>, stands an unfinished church, called <i>La Magdeleine</i>, +whose cemetery received not only the bodies of Lewis XVI, his consort, and his +sister, but of the greater part of the victims that perished by guillotine.</p> +<p>In the space comprised between <i>La Magdeleine</i> and the <i>Vieille Rue +du Temple</i>, I speak within compass when I say that there are sometimes to be +seen fifty ambulating conjurers of both sexes. They all vary the form of their +art. Some have tables, surmounted by flags, bearing mysterious devices; some +have wheels, with compartments adapted to every age and profession—One +has a robe charged with hieroglyphics, and tells you your fortune through a +long tube which conveys the sound to your ear; the other makes you choose in a +parcel, a square piece of white paper, which becomes covered with characters at +the moment when it is thrown into a jug that appears empty. The secret of this +is as follows:</p> +<p>The jug contains a little sulphuret of potash, and the words are written +with acetite of lead. The action of the exterior air, on, the sulphuret of +potash, disengages from it sulphurated hydrogen gas, which, acting on the oxyd +of lead, brings to view the characters that before were invislble.</p> +<p>Here, the philosophic Parisians stop before the movable stall of an +astrologer, who has surmounted it with an owl, as an emblem of his magic +wisdom. Many of them take this animal for a curiosity imported from foreign +countries; for they are seldom able to distinguish a bat from a swallow.</p> +<p>"Does that bird come from China, my dear?" says a lusty dame to her elderly +husband, a shopkeeper of the <i>Rue St. Denis</i>.—"I don't know, my +love," replies the other.—"What eyes it has got," continues she; "it must +see a great deal better than we." "No;" cries a countryman standing by; "though +its eyes are so big, it can't, in broad day, tell a cow from a calf."</p> +<p>The lady continues her survey of the scientific repository; and the +conjurer, with an air of importance, proposes to her to draw, for two +<i>sous</i>, a motto from Merlin's wheel. "Take one, my dear," says the +husband; "I wish to know whether you love me." The wife blushes and hesitates; +the husband insists; she refuses, and is desirous of continuing her walk, +saying that it is all foolishness.—"What if it is?" rejoins the husband, +"I've paid, so take a motto to please me." For this once, the lady is quite at +a nonplus; she at last consents, and, with a trembling hand, draws a card from +the magic wheel: the husband unrolls it with eagerness and confidence, and +reads these words: "<i>My young lover is and will be constant</i>."—"What +the devil does this mean?" exclaims the old husband; quite disconcerted. +—"'Tis a mistake," says the conjurer; "the lady put her hand into the +wrong box; she drew the motto from the wheel for <i>young girls</i>, instead of +that for <i>married women</i>. Let <i>Madame</i> draw again, she shall pay +nothing more."—"No, Mr. Conjurer," replies the shopkeeper, "that's +enough. I've no faith in such nonsense; but another time, madam, take care that +you don't put your hand into the wrong box." The fat lady, with her face as red +as fire, follows her husband, who walks off grumbling, and it is easy to see, +by their gestures, that the fatal motto has sown discord in the family, and +confirmed the shopkeeper's suspicions.</p> +<p>Independently of these divers into futurity, the corners of streets and +walls of public squares, are covered with hand-bills announcing books +containing secrets, sympathetic calculations of numbers in the lottery, the +explanation of dreams in regard to those numbers, together with the different +manners of telling fortunes, and interpreting prognostics.</p> +<p>At all times, the marvellous has prevailed over simple truth, and the Cumæan +Sibyl attracted the inquisitive in greater crowds than Socrates, Plato, or any +philosopher, had pupils in the whole course of their existence.</p> +<p>In Paris, the sciences are really making a rapid progress, notwithstanding +the fooleries of the pseudo-philosophers, who parade the streets, and here, on +the <i>Boulevards</i>, as well as in other parts of the town, exhibit lessons +of physics.</p> +<p>One has an electrifying machine, and phials filled with phosphorus: for two +<i>sous</i>, he gives you a slight shock, and makes you a present of a small +phial.</p> +<p>Farther on, you meet with a <i>camera obscura</i>, whose effect surprises +the spectators the more, as the objects represented within it have the motion +which they do not find in common optics.</p> +<p>There, you see a double refracting telescope: for two <i>sous</i>, you enjoy +its effect. At either end, you place any object whatever, and though a hat, a +board, or a child be introduced between the two glasses, the object placed +appears not, on that account, the less clear and distinct to the eye of the +person looking through the opposite glass. <i>Pierre</i> has seen, and cannot +believe his eyes: <i>Jacques</i> wishes to see, and, on seeing, is in ecstacy: +next comes <i>Fanchon</i>, who remains stupified. Enthusiasm becomes general, +and the witnesses of their delirium are ready to go mad at not having two +<i>sous</i> in their pocket.</p> +<p>Another fellow, in short, has a microscope, of which he extols the beauty, +and, above all, the effects: he will not describe the causes which produce +them, because he is unacquainted with them; but, provided he adapts his lessons +to the understanding of those who listen to him, this is all he wants. +Sometimes he may be heard to say to the people about him: "Gentlemen, give me a +creeping insect, and for one <i>sou</i>, I will shew it to you as big as my +fist." Sometimes too, unfortunately for him, the insect which he requires is +more easily found among part of his auditors, than the money.</p> +<p>P.S. For the preceding account of the Parisian conjurers I am indebted to M. +Pujoulx.</p> +<h2><a name="let28">LETTER XXVIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 4, 1802</i>.</p> +<p>In one of your former letters you questioned me on a subject, which, though +it had not escaped my notice, I was desirous to avoid, till I should be able to +obtain on it some precise information. This I have done; and I hasten to +present you with the following sketch, which will afford you a +tolerably-correct idea of the</p> +<p class="center">FRENCH FUNDS, AND NATIONAL DEBT.</p> +<p>The booked or consolidated debt is called</p> +<p class="center">TIERS CONSOLIDÉ,</p> +<p>from its being the consolidated third of the national debt, of which the +remaining two-thirds were reimbursed in <i>Bons de deux Tiers</i> in 1797 and +98. It bears interest at five per Cent. payable half yearly at the <i>Banque de +France</i>. The payment of the interest is at present six months in arrear. But +the intention of the government is, by paying off in specie the interest of one +whole year, to pay in future as soon as due.</p> +<p>The days of payment are the 1st of Germinal (23d of March) and the 1st of +Vendémiaire (23d of September).</p> +<p>This stock purchased at the present price of from 55 to 60 would produce +from eight to nine per cent. The general opinion is, that it will rise to 80; +and as it is the chief stock, and the standard of the national credit, it is +the interest, and must be the constant object of the government to keep up its +price.</p> +<p>There is a <i>Caisse d'amortissement</i> or Sinking Fund, for the special +purpose of paying off this stock, the effect of which, though not exactly +known, must shortly be very considerable. The <i>Tiers Consolidé</i> is +saleable and transferable at a moment's warning, and at a trifling expense. It +is not subject to taxation, nor open to attachments, either on the principal or +interest.</p> +<p>For purchasing, no sort of formality is required; but for receiving +interest, or selling, it is necessary to produce a power of attorney. An +established rule is, that the seller always retains his right to half a year's +interest at the succeeding stated period of payment, so that he who purchases +in the interval between March and September, is entitled to the interest +commencing from the 23d of the latter month only; and he who buys between +September and March, receives not his first dividend till the 23d of the +following September.</p> +<p class="center">TIERS PROVISOIRE.</p> +<p>This is the debt, yet unbooked, which is composed of the provisional claims +of the creditors of the emigrants, the contractors, and various other holders +of claims on the government.</p> +<p>The <i>Tiers Provisoire</i> is to be booked before the 1st of Vendémiaire, +year XII of the Republic (23d of September, 1803), and will from that day bear +interest of five per cent; so that, setting aside the danger of any retrospect +in the interval, and that of any other change, it is at the present price, of +from 15 to 50, cheaper than the <i>Tiers Consolidé</i> to which, in about +eighteen months, it will, in every respect, be assimilated.</p> +<p class="center">BONS DE DEUX TIERS,</p> +<p>Is paper issued for the purpose of reimbursing the reduced two-thirds of the +National Debt, and in the origin rendered applicable to the purchase of +national houses and estates in the French Colonies, since ordered to be funded +at five per cent; so that the price of this species of paper is entirely +subordinate to that of the <i>Tiers Consolidé</i> and supposing that to be 60 +francs per cent, the <i>Bon de deux Tiers</i> would be worth 3 francs. There +are no hopes, however distant, that the government will ever restore the +<i>Bons de deux Tiers</i> to their original value.</p> +<p class="center">BONS DE TROIS QUARTS,</p> +<p>So called from having been issued for the purpose of reimbursing the +three-fourths of the interest of the fifth and sixth years of the Republic +(1797 to 1798). They are, in all respects, assimilated to the preceding +stock.</p> +<p class="center">COUPONS D'EMPRUNT FORCÉ.</p> +<p>These are the receipts given by the government to the persons who +contributed to the various forced loans. This paper is likewise assimilated to +the two last-mentioned species, with this difference, that it is generally +considered as a less sacred claim, and is therefore liquidated with greater +difficulty. The holders of these three claims are hastening the liquidation and +consolidation of them, and they are evidently right in so doing.</p> +<p class="center">QUARTS AU NOM ET QUART NUMÉRAIRE.</p> +<p>This paper is thus denominated from its having been issued for the purpose +of reimbursing the fourth of the dividend of the fifth and sixth years of the +Republic (1797 to 1798). It is generally thought that this very sacred claim on +the government will be funded <i>in toto</i>.</p> +<p class="center">RACHATS DE RENTE,</p> +<p>Is the name given to the redemption of perpetual annuities due by +individuals to the government, on a privileged mortgage on landed estates; the +said annuities having been issued by the government in times of great distress, +for the purpose of supplying immediate and urgent events.</p> +<p>This paper is not only a mere government security, but is also specially +mortgaged on the estates of the person who owes the annuity to the government, +and who is, at any time, at liberty to redeem it at from twenty to twenty-five +years purchase. Claims of this description, mortgaged on most desirable estates +near the metropolis, might be obtained for less than 60 per cent; which, at the +interest of five per cent, and with the additional advantage, in some +instances, of the arrears of one or two years, would produce between eight and +nine per cent.</p> +<p>Next to the <i>Tiers Consolidé</i>, <i>Rachats de Rente</i> are particularly +worthy of attention; indeed, this debt is of so secure and sacred a nature, +that the government has appropriated a considerable part of it to the special +purpose and service of the hospitals and schools; two species of institutions +which ought ever to be sheltered from all vicissitudes, and which, whatever may +be the form or character of the government, must be supported and +respected.</p> +<p class="center">ACTIONS DE LA BANQUE DE FRANCE.</p> +<p>These are shares in the National Bank of France, which are limited to the +number of thirty thousand, and were originally worth one thousand francs each; +they therefore form a capital of 30,000,000 francs, or £1,250,000 sterling, and +afford as follows:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li>A dividend which at present, and since the foundation, has averaged from +eight to ten per cent, arising from the profits on discount.</li> +<li>A profit of from four to five per cent more on the discount of paper, which +every holder of an <i>action</i> or share effects at the Bank, at the rate of +one-half per cent per month, or six per cent for the whole year.</li> +</ol> +<p>The present price of an <i>action</i> is about twelve hundred francs, which +may be considered as producing:</p> +<table summary="paris" > +<tr><td align="right">80 francs;</td><td>dividend paid by the Bank on each +share.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">30 francs;</td><td>certain profits according to the +present discount of bills.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">110 francs;</td><td> per share 10-10/11 per +cent.</td></tr> +</table> +<p><i>Actions de la Banque de France</i>, though subject, in common with all +stocks, to the influence of the government, are, however, far more independent +of it than any other, and are the more secure, as the National Bank is not only +composed of all the first bankers, but also supported by the principal +merchants in the country. This investment is at present very beneficial, and +certainly promises great eventual advantages. The dividends are paid in two +half-yearly instalments.</p> +<p class="center">ACTIONS DE LA CAISSE DE COMMERCE,<br /> +ET ACTIONS DU COMPTOIR COMMERCIAL.</p> +<p>The <i>Caisse de Commerce</i> and the <i>Comptoir Commercial</i> are two +establishments on the same plan, and affording, as nearly as possible, the same +advantages as the <i>Banque de France</i>: the +only difference is as follows:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li>These last two are, as far as any commercial establishment can be, +independent of the government, and are more so than the <i>Banque de +France</i>, as the <i>actions</i> or shares are not considered as being a +public fund.</li> +<li>The <i>Actions de la Caisse de Commerce</i> limited in number to two +thousand four hundred, originally cost 5000 francs, and are now worth 6000. The +holder of each <i>action</i> moreover, signs circulating notes to the amount of +five thousand francs, which form the paper currency of the Bank, and for the +payment of which the said holder would be responsible, were the Bank to stop +payment.</li> +<li>The <i>Actions du Comptoir Commercial</i> are still issued by the +administrators of the establishment. The number of <i>actions</i> is not as yet +limited: the price of each <i>action</i> is fifteen hundred francs +(<i>circa</i> £60 sterling), and the plan and advantages are almost entirely +similar to those of the two last-mentioned institutions.</li> +</ol> +<p>The <i>Banque de France</i> the <i>Caisse de Commerce</i>, and the +<i>Comptoir Commercial</i>, discount three times a week. The first, the paper +of the banking-houses and the principal commercial houses holding bank-stock; +the second, the paper of the wholesale merchants of every class; and the third, +the paper of retailers of all descriptions; and in a circulation which amounts +to 100 millions of francs (<i>circa</i> 4 millions sterling) per month, there +have not, it is said, been seen, in the course of the last month, protests to +the amount of 20,000 francs.</p> +<p class="center">BONS DE L'AN VII ET DE L'AN VIII.</p> +<p>Is a denomination applied to paper, issued for the purpose of paying the +dividend of the debt during the seventh and eighth years of the Republic.</p> +<p>These <i>Bons</i> are no further deserving of notice than as they still form +a part of the floating debt, and are an article of the supposed liquidation at +the conclusion of the present summary. It is therefore unnecessary to say more +of them.</p> +<p class="center">ARRÉRAGES DES ANNÉES V ET VI.</p> +<p>These are the arrears due to such holders of stock as, during the fifth and +sixth years of the Republic, had not their dividend paid in <i>Bons de trois +Quarts</i> and <i>Quart Numéraire</i>, mentioned in Art. IV and VI of this +sketch. I also notice them as forming an essential part of the above-mentioned +supposed liquidation, at the end of the sketch, and shall only add that it is +the general opinion that they will be funded.</p> +<p>To the preceding principal investments and claims on the government, might +be added the following:</p> +<p class="bq"> +<i>Coupes de Bois.<br /> +Cédules Hypothécaires.<br /> +Rescriptions de Domaines Nationaux.<br /> +Actions de la Caisse des Rentiers.<br /> +Actions des Indes.<br /> +Bons de Moines et Réligieuses.<br /> +Obligations de Reçeveur.</i><br /> +</p> +<p>However, they are almost entirely unworthy of attention, and afford but +occasionally openings for speculation. Of the last, <i>(Obligations de +Reçeveur)</i> it may be necessary to observe that they are monthy acceptances +issued by the Receivers-General of all the departments, which the government +has given to the five bankers, charged with supplying money for the current +service, as security for their advances, and which are commonly discounted at +from 7/8 to one per cent per month.</p> +<p>I shall terminate this concise, though accurate sketch of the French funds +by a general statement of the National Debt, and by an account of an annuity +supposed to be held by a foreigner before the revolution, and which, to become +<i>Tiers Consolidé</i>, must undergo the regular process of reduction and +liquidation.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><i>National Debt</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td width="80%"> </td><td align="center"><i>Francs.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>Consolidated Stock <i>(Tiers Consolidé)</i></td> +<td align="right">38,750,000</td></tr> +<tr><td>Floating Debt, to be consolidated, about</td> +<td align="right">23,000,000</td></tr> +<tr><td>Life Annuities</td> <td align="right">20,000,000</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ecclesiastical, Military, and other Pensions</td> +<td align="right">19,000,000</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td><hr></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right">100,750,000</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>The value of a <i>franc</i> is something more than 10<i>d</i>. English +money: according to which calculation, the National Debt of France is in round +numbers no more than</td><td align="right">£4,000,000</td></tr> +</table> +<p>Supposed liquidation of an annuity of £100. sterling, or 2,400 <i>livres +tournois</i> held by a foreigner before the war and yet unliquidated.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="80%"> </td><td align="center"><i>Francs.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>Original Annuity</td><td align="right">2,400</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Tiers Consolidé<br />Bons de deux Tiers</i></td> +<td align="right">2,400</td></tr> +</table> +<p>The actual value of the whole, including the arreared dividends up to the +present day is as follows:</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="80%"> </td><td align="center"><i>Francs.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Tiers Consolidé</i> as above,<br />800 francs sold at 60 +francs</td><td align="right">9,600</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Bons de deux Tiers</i>, ditto<br />1600 francs sold at 3 +francs</td><td align="right">48</td></tr> +</table> +<p>Arrears from the first year of the Republic to the fifth ditto (23d of +September, 1792 to the 23d of September, 1797) are to be paid in Assignats, and +are of no value.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td width="80%">Arrears of the fifth and sixth years supposed to be +liquidated so as to afford 25 per cent of their nominal value, about</td> +<td align="right">600</td></tr> +<tr><td>Arrears in <i>Bons</i> for the year VII, valued at 50 per cent +loss</td> <td align="right">400</td></tr> +<tr><td>Arrears of the year VIII, due in <i>Bons</i>, valued at 25 per cent +loss</td> <td align="right">600</td></tr> +<tr><td>Arrears of the year IX, due in specie</td> +<td align="right">600</td></tr> +<tr><td>Arrears of the year X, of which three months are nearly elapsed</td> +<td align="right">200</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td><hr></td></tr> +<tr><td>Total of the principal and interest of an original annuity of 2,400 +livres, reduced (according to law) to 800</td> +<td align="right">12,248</td></tr> +<tr><td>Or in sterling, <i>circa</i></td> <td align="right">£500</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td><hr></td></tr> +</table> +<p>I had almost forgot that you have asked me more than once for an explanation +of the exact value of a modern franc. The following you may depend on as +correct.</p> +<p>The <i>unité monétaire</i> is a piece of silver of the weight of five +<i>grammes</i>, containing a tenth of alloy and nine tenths of pure silver. It +is called <i>Franc</i>, and is subdivided into <i>Décimes</i>, and +<i>Centimes</i>: its value is to that of the old <i>livre tournois</i> in the +proportion of 81 to 80.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><td> </td><td colspan="3"><i>Value in livres tournois.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td> <td align="center">liv.</td> <td align="center">sous.</td> +<td align="center">deniers.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Franc</td><td align="center">1</td> <td align="center">0</td> +<td align="center">3 </td></tr> +<tr><td>Décime</td> <td> </td> <td align="center">2</td> +<td align="center">0.3 </td></tr> +<tr><td>Centime</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> +<td align="center">2.43</td></tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="let29">LETTER XXIX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 7, 1801</i>.</p> +<p>At the grand monthly parade of the 15th of last Brumaire, I had seen the +First Consul chiefly on horseback: on which account, I determined to avail +myself of that of the 15th of the present month of Frimaire, in order to obtain +a nearer view of his person. On these occasions, none but officers in complete +uniform are admitted into the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>, unless provided +with tickets, which are distributed to a certain number at the discretion of +the governor. General A----y sent me tickets by ten o'clock this morning, and +about half after eleven, I repaired to the palace.</p> +<p>On reaching the vestibule from the garden of the <i>Tuileries</i>, you +ascend the grand stair-case to the left, which conducts you to the guard-room +above it in the centre pavilion. Hence you enter the apartments of the Chief +Consul.</p> +<p>On the days of the grand parade, the first room is destined for officers as +low as the rank of captain, and persons admitted with tickets; the second, for +field-officers; the third, for generals; and the fourth, for councellors of +state, and the diplomatic corps. To the east, the windows of these apartments +command the court-yard where the troops are assembled; while to the west, they +afford a fine view of the garden of the <i>Tuileries</i> and the avenue leading +to the <i>Barrière de Chaillot</i>. In the first-room, those windows which +overlook the parade were occupied by persons standing five or six in depth, +some of whom, as I was informed, had been patient enough to retain their places +for the space of two or three hours, and among them were a few ladies. Here, a +sort of lane was formed from door to door by some grenadiers of the consular +guard. I found both sides of this lane so much crowded, that I readily accepted +the invitation of a <i>chef de brigade</i> of my acquaintance to accompany him +into the second room; this, he observed, was no more than a privilege to which +I was entitled. This room was also crowded; but it exhibited a most brilliant +<i>coup d'œil</i> from the great variety and richness of the uniforms of +the field-officers here assembled, by which mine was entirely eclipsed. The +lace or embroidery is not merely confined to the coats, jackets, and +pantaloons, but extends to the sword belts, and even to the boots, which are +universally worn by the military. Indeed, all the foreign ambassadors admit +that none of the levees of the European courts can vie in splendour with those +of the Chief Consul.</p> +<p>My first care on entering this room, was to place myself in a situation +which might afford me an uninterrupted view of BONAPARTE. About twenty-five +minutes past twelve, his sortie was announced by a <i>huissier</i>. Immediately +after, he came out of the inner apartment, attended by several officers of +rank, and, traversing all the other rooms with a quick step, proceeded, +uncovered, to the parade, the order of which I have described to you in a +former letter. On the present occasion, however, it lasted longer on account of +the distribution of arms of honour, which the First Consul presents with his +own hand to those heroes who have signalized themselves in fighting their +country's battles.</p> +<p>This part of the ceremony, which was all that I saw of the parade yesterday, +naturally revived in my mind the following question, so often agitated: "Are +the military successes of the French the consequences of a new system of +operations and new tactics, or merely the effect of the blind courage of a mass +of men, led on by chiefs whose resolutions were decided by presence of mind +alone and circumstances?"</p> +<p>The latter method of explaining their victories has been frequently adopted, +and the French generals have been reproached with lavishing the lives of +thousands for the sake of gaining unimportant advantages, or repairing +inconsiderable faults.</p> +<p>Sometimes, indeed, it should seem that a murderous obstinacy has obtained +them successes to which prudence had not paved the way; but, certainly, the +French can boast, too, of memorable days when talent had traced the road to +courage, when vast plans combined with judgment, have been followed with +perseverance, when resources have been found in those awful moments in which +Victory, hovering over a field of carnage, leaves the issue of the conflict +doubtful, till a sudden thought, a ray of genius, inclines her in favour of the +general, thus inspired, and then art may be said to triumph over art, and +valour over valour.</p> +<p>And whence came most of these generals who have shewn this inspiration, if I +may so term it? Some, as is well known, emerged from the schools of +jurisprudence; some, from the studies of the arts; and others, from the +counting-houses of commerce, as well as from the lowest ranks of the army. +Previously to the revolution it was not admitted, in this country at least, +that such sources could furnish men fit to be one day the arbiters of battles +and of the fate of empires. Till that period, all those Frenchmen who had +distinguished themselves in the field, had devoted themselves from their +infancy to the profession of arms, were born near the throne of which they +constituted the lustre, or in that cast who arrogated to themselves the +exclusive right of defending their country. The glory of the soldier was not +considered; and a private must have been more than a hero to be as much +remarked as a second lieutenant.</p> +<p>Men of reflection, seeing the old tactics fail against successful essays, +against enthusiasm whose effects are incalculable, studied whether new ideas +did not direct some new means; for it would have been no less absurd to grant +all to valour than to attribute all to art. But to return to the main subject +of my letter.</p> +<p>In about three quarters of an hour, BONAPARTE came back from the parade, +with the same suite as before, that is, preceded by his aides-de-camp, and +followed by the generals and field-officers of the consular guard, the governor +of the palace, the general commanding the first military division, and him at +the head of the garrison of Paris. For my part, I scarcely saw any one but +himself; BONAPARTE alone absorbed my whole attention.</p> +<p>A circumstance occurred which gave me an opportunity of observing the Chief +Consul with critical minuteness. I had left the second room, and taken my +station in front of the row of gazers, close to the folding-doors which opened +into the first room, in order to see him receive petitions and memorials. There +was no occasion for BONAPARTE to cast his eyes from side to side, like the +<i>Grand Monarque</i> coming from mass, by way of inviting petitioners to +approach him. They presented themselves in such numbers that, after he put his +hat under his arm, both his hands were full in a moment. To enable him to +receive other petitions, he was under the necessity of delivering the first two +handfuls to his aides-de-camp. I should like to learn what becomes of all these +papers, and whether he locks them up in a little desk of which he alone has the +key, as was the practice of Lewis XIV.</p> +<p>When BONAPARTE approached the door of the second room, he was effectually +impeded in his progress by a lady, dressed in white, who, throwing herself at +his feet, gracefully presented to him a memorial, which he received with much +apparent courtesy; but still seemed, by his manner, desirous to pass forward. +However, the crowd was so considerable and so intent on viewing this scene, +that the grenadiers, posted near the spot where it took place, were obliged to +use some degree of violence before they could succeed in clearing a +passage.</p> +<p>Of all the portraits which you and I have seen of BONAPARTE in England, that +painted by Masquerier, and exhibited in Piccadilly, presents the greatest +resemblance. But for his side-face, you may, for twelve <i>sous</i>, here +procure a perfect likeness of it at almost every stall in the street. In short, +his features are such as may, in my opinion, be easily copied by any artist of +moderate abilities. However incompetent I may be to the task, I shall, as you +desire it, attempt to <i>sketch</i> his person; though I doubt not that any +French <i>commis</i>, in the habit of describing people by words, might do it +greater justice.</p> +<p>BONAPARTE is rather below the middle size, somewhat inclined to stoop, and +thin in person; but, though of a slight make, he appears to be muscular, and +capable of fatigue; his forehead is broad, and shaded by dark brown hair, which +is cut short behind; his eyes, of the same colour, are full, quick, and +prominent; his nose is aquiline; his chin, protuberant and pointed; his +complexion, of a yellow hue; and his cheeks, hollow. His countenance, which is +of a melancholy cast, expresses much sagacity and reflection: his manner is +grave and deliberate, but at the same time open. On the whole, his aspect +announces him to be of a temperate and phlegmatic disposition; but warm and +tenacious in the pursuit of his object, and impatient of contradiction. Such, +at least, is the judgment which I should form of BONAPARTE from his external +appearance.</p> +<p>While I was surveying this man of universal talent, my fancy was not idle. +First, I beheld him, flushed with ardour, directing the assault of the +<i>téte-de-pont</i> at <i>Lodi</i>; next dictating a proclamation to the Beys +at <i>Cairo</i>, and styling himself the friend of the faithful; then combating +the ebullition of his rage on being foiled in the storming of <i>Acre</i> I +afterwards imagined I saw him like another CROMWELL, expelling the Council of +Five Hundred at <i>St. Cloud</i>, and seizing on the reins of government: when +established in power, I viewed him, like HANNIBAL, crossing the <i>Alps</i>, +and forcing victory to yield to him the hard-contested palm at <i>Marengo</i>; +lastly, he appeared to my imagination in the act of giving the fraternal +embrace to Caprara, the Pope's legate, and at the same time holding out to the +see of Rome the re-establishment of catholicism in France.</p> +<p>Voltaire says that "no man ever was a hero in the eyes of his +<i>valet-de-chambre</i>." I am curious to know whether the valet of the First +Consul be an exception to this maxim. As to BONAPARTE'S public character, +numerous, indeed, are the constructions put on it by the voice of rumour: some +ascribe to him one great man of antiquity as a model; some, another; but many +compare him, in certain respects, to JULIUS CÆSAR, as imitators generally +succeed better in copying the failings than the good qualities of their +archetypes, let us hope, supposing this comparison to be a just one, that the +Chief Consul will, in one particular, never lose sight of the generous clemency +of that illustrious Roman—who, if any spoke bitterly against him, deemed +it sufficient to complain of the circumstance publicly, in order to prevent +them from persevering in the use of such language. "<i>Acerbè loquentibus satis +habuit pro concione denunciare, ne perseverarent.</i>"</p> +<p><a name="let29fr1"></a>"The character of a great man," says a French +political writer, who denies the justness of this comparison, "like the +celebrated picture of Zeuxis, can be formed only of a multitude of imitations, +and it is as little possible for the observer to find for him a single model in +history, as it was for the painter of Heraclea to discover in nature that of +the ideal beauty he was desirous of +representing[<a href="#let29f1">1</a>]."—<a name="let29fr2"></a>"The +French revolution," observes the same author, a little farther on, "has, +perhaps, produced more than one CÆSAR, or one CROMWELL; but they have +disappeared before they have had it in their power to give full scope to their +ambition[<a href="#let29f2">2</a>]." Time will decide on the truth and +impartiality of these observations of M. HAUTERIVE.</p> +<p>As at the last monthly parade, BONAPARTE was habited in the consular dress, +that is, a coat of scarlet velvet, embroidered with gold: he wore jockey boots, +carelessly drawn over white cotton pantaloons, and held in his hand a cocked +hat, with the national cockade only. I say only, because all the generals wear +hats trimmed with a splendid lace, and decorated with a large, branching, +tricoloured feather.</p> +<p>After the parade, the following, I understand, is the <i>étiquette</i> +usually observed in the palace. The Chief Consul first gives audience to the +general-officers, next to the field-officers, to those belonging to the +garrison, and to a few petitioners. He then returns to the fourth apartment, +where the counsellors of state assemble. Being arrived there, notice is sent to +the diplomatic corps, who meet in a room on the ground-floor of the palace, +called <i>La Salle des Ambassadeurs</i>. They immediately repair to the +levee-room, and, after paying their personal respects to the First Consul, +they each introduce to him such persons, belonging to their respective +nations, as they may think proper. Several were this day presented by the +Imperial, Russian, and Danish ambassadors: the British minister, Mr. Jackson, +has not yet presented any of his countrymen nor will he, in all probability, +as he is merely a <i>locum tenens</i>. After the levee, the Chief Consul +generally gives a dinner of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred covers, +to which all those who have received arms of honour, are invited.</p> +<p>Before I left the palace, I observed the lady above-mentioned, who had +presented the memorial, seated in one corner of the room, all in tears, and +betraying every mark of anxious grief: she was pale, and with her hair +dishevelled; but, though by no means handsome, her distressed situation excited +a lively interest in her favour. On inquiry, I was informed that it was Madame +Bourmont, the wife of a Vendean chief, condemned to perpetual imprisonment for +a breach of the convention into which he had jointly entered with the agents of +the French government.</p> +<p>Having now accomplished my object, when the crowd was somewhat dispersed, I +retired to enjoy the fine weather by a walk in the</p> +<p class="center">CHAMPS ELYSÉES.</p> +<p>After traversing the garden of the <i>Tuileries</i> and the <i>Place de la +Concorde</i>, from east to west, you arrive at this fashionable summer +promenade. It is planted with trees in quincunx; and although, in particular +points of view, this gives it a symmetrical air; yet, in others, the hand of +art is sufficiently concealed to deceive the eye by a representation of the +irregular beauties of nature. The French, in general, admire the plan of the +garden of the <i>Tuileries</i>, and think the distribution tasteful; but, when +the trees are in leaf, all prefer the <i>Champs Elysées</i>, as being more +rural and more inviting. This spot, which is very extensive, as you may see by +the Plan of Paris, has frequently been chosen for the scene of national fêtes, +for which it is, in many respects, better calculated than the <i>Champ de +Mars</i>. However, from its proximity to the great road, the foliage is +imbrowned by the dust, and an idea of aridity intrudes itself on the +imagination from the total absence of water. The sight of that refreshing +element recreates the mind, and communicates a powerful attraction even to a +wilderness.</p> +<p>In fact, at this season of the year, the <i>Champs Elysées</i> resemble a +desert; but, in summer, they present one of the most agreeable scenes that can +be imagined. In temporary buildings, of a tasteful construction, you then find +here <i>restaurateurs</i>, &c, where all sorts of refreshments may be +procured, and rooms where "the merry dance" is kept up with no common spirit. +Swings and roundabouts are also erected, as well as different machines for +exercising the address of those who are fond of running at a ring, and other +sports. Between the road leading to <i>l'Étoile</i>, the <i>Bois de +Boulogne</i>, &c, and that which skirts the Seine, formerly called the +<i>Cours de la Reine</i>, is a large piece of turf, where, in fine weather, and +especially on Sundays, the Parisian youths amuse themselves at foot-ball, +prison-bars, and long tennis. Here, too, boys and girls assemble, and improve +their growth and vigour by dancing, and a variety of healthful diversions; +while their relations and friends, seated on the grass, enjoy this interesting +sight, and form around each group a circle which is presently increased by +numbers of admiring spectators.</p> +<p>Under the shade of the trees, on the right hand, as you face the west, an +immense concourse of both sexes and all ages is at the same time collected. +Those who prefer sitting to walking occupy three long rows of chairs, set out +for hire, three deep on each side, and forming a lane through which the great +body of walkers parade. This promenade may then be said to deserve the +appellation of <i>Elysian Fields</i>, from the number of handsome women who +resort hither. The variety of their dresses and figures, the satisfaction which +they express in seeing and being seen, their anxious desire to please, which +constitutes their happiness and that of our sex, the triumph which animates the +countenance of those who eclipse their rivals; all this forms a diversified and +amusing picture, which fixes attention, and gives birth to a thousand ideas +respecting the art and coquetry of women, as well as what beauty loses or gains +by adopting the ever-varying caprices of fashion. Here, on a fine summer's +evening, are now to be seen, I am told, females displaying almost as much +luxury of dress as used to be exhibited in the days of the monarchy. The +essential difference is that the road in the centre is not now, as in those +times, covered with brilliant equipages; though every day seems to produce an +augmentation of the number of private carriages. At the entrance of the +<i>Champs Elysées</i> are placed the famous groups of Numidian horses, held in +by their vigorous and masterly conductors, two <i>chefs d'œuvre</i> of +modern art, copied from the group of <i>Monte-Cavallo</i> at Rome. By order of +the Directory, these statues were brought from <i>Marly</i>, where they +ornamented the terrace. They are each of them cut out of a block of the most +faultless Carrara marble. On the pedestal on which they stood at that +once-royal residence, was engraved the name of COSTOU, 1745, without any +Christian name: but, as there were two brothers of that name, Nicolas and +Guillaume, natives of Lyons, and both excellent sculptors, it is become a +matter of doubt by which of them these master-pieces were executed; though +the one died in 1733, and the other in 1746. It is conjectured, however, +that fraternal friendship induced them to share the fame arising from these +capital productions, and that they worked at them in common till death left +the survivor the task of finishing their joint labour.</p> +<p>To whichever of the two the merit of the execution may be due, it is certain +that the fiery, ungovernable spirit of the horses, as well as the exertion of +vigour, and the triumph of strength in their conductors, is very happily +expressed. The subject has frequently afforded a comparison to politicians. +"These statues," say some observers, "appear to be the emblem of the French +people, over whom it is necessary to keep a tight hand."—"It is to be +apprehended," add others, "that the reins, which the conductors hold with so +powerful an arm, are too weak to check these ungovernable animals."</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let29f1">Footnote 1</a>: <i>De l'Etat de la France, à +la fin de l'an VIII.</i> page 270. <a href="#let29fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let29f2">Footnote 2</a>: Ibid. page +274. <a href="#let29fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let30">LETTER XXX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, Dccemler 8, 1801</i>.</p> +<p>You desire that I will favour you with a particular account of the means +employed to transfer from pannel to canvas those celebrated pictures which I +mentioned in my letter of the 13th ult°. Like many other, things that +appear simple on being known, so is this process; but it is not, on that +account, the less ingenious and difficult in execution.</p> +<p>Such is the great disadvantage of the art of painting that, while other +productions of genius may survive the revolution of ages, the creations of the +pencil are intrusted to perishable wood or canvas. From the effect of heat, +humidity, various exhalations to which they may be carelessly exposed, and even +an unperceived neglect in the priming of the pannel or cloth, master-pieces are +in danger of disappearing for ever. Happy, then, is it for the arts that this +invaluable discovery has been lately brought to so great a degree of +perfection, and that the restoration of several capital pictures having been +confided to men no less skilful than enlightened, they have thus succeeded in +rescuing them from approaching and inevitable destruction.</p> +<p>Of all the fruits of the French conquests, not a painting was brought from +Lombardy, Rome, Florence, or Venice, that was not covered with an accumulation +of filth, occasioned by the smoke of the wax-tapers and incense used in the +ceremonies of the catholic religion. It was therefore necessary to clean and +repair them; for to bring them to France, without rendering them fit to be +exhibited, would have answered no better purpose than to have left them in +Italy. One of those which particularly fixed the attention of the +Administration of the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, was the famous picture by +RAPHAEL, taken from the <i>Chiesa delle Contesse</i> at Foligno, and thence +distinguished by the appellation of</p> +<p class="center">MADONNA DI FOLIGNO.</p> +<p>This <i>chef d'œuvre</i> was in such a lamentable state of decay, that +the French commissioners who selected it, wereunder the necessity of pasting +paper over it in order to prevent the scales, which curled up on many parts of +its surface, from falling off during its conveyance to to Paris. In short, had +not the saving hand of art interposed, this, and other monuments of the +transcendent powers of the Italian school, marked by the corroding tooth of +Time, would soon have entirely perished.</p> +<p>As this picture could not be exhibited in its injured state, the +Administration of the Museum determined that it should be repaired. They +accordingly requested the Minister of the Interior to cause this important +operation to be attended by Commissioners chosen from the National Institute. +The Class of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of that learned Society +appointed to this task, GUYTON and BERTHOLLET, chymists, and the Class of +Literature and Fine Arts named VINCENT and TAUNAY, painters.</p> +<p>These Commissioners, in concert with the Administration, having ascertained +the state of the picture, it was unanimously agreed that the only mean of +saving it would be to remove it from the worm-eaten pannel on which it was +painted. It was, besides, necessary to ascertain the safety of the process, in +order that, without, exciting the apprehensions of the lovers of the arts, it +might be applied to other pictures which required it.</p> +<p>The Report of the four Commissioners before named, respecting the +restoration of the <i>Madonna di Foligno</i>, has been adopted by the Classes +to which they respectively belong, and is to be made to the National Institute +at their next public sitting on the 15th of Nivose (5th of January, 1802).</p> +<p>In order to make you perfectly acquainted with the whole of the process, I +shall transcribe, for your satisfaction, that part of the Report immediately +connected with the art of restoring damaged or decayed paintings. This labour, +and the success by which it was attended, are really a memorial of what the +genius and industry of the French can achieve. To all those who, like you, +possess valuable collections, such information cannot but be particularly +interesting.</p> +<p>"The desire of repairing the outrages of time has unfortunately accelerated +the decay of several pictures by coarse repainting and bad varnish, by which +much of the original work has been covered. Other motives, too, have conspired +against the purity of the most beautiful compositions: a prelate has been seen +to cause a discordant head of hair to conceal the charms of a Magdalen."</p> +<p>"Nevertheless, efficacious means of restoration have been discovered: a +painting, the convass of which is decayed, or the pannel worm-eaten, is +transferred to a fresh cloth; the profane touches of a foreign pencil are made +to disappear; the effaced strokes are reinserted with scrupulous nicety; and +life is restored to a picture which was disfigured, or drawing near to its end. +<a name="let30fr1"></a>This art has made great progress, especially in Paris, +and experienced recent improvement under the superintendance of the +Administration of the Museum; but it is only with a religious respect that any +one can venture on an operation which may always give rise to a fear of some +change in the drawing or colouring, above all when the question is to restore a +picture by RAPHAEL."[<a href="#let30f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>"The restoration may be divided into two parts; the one, which is composed +of mechanical operations, whose object is to detach the painting from the +ground on which it is fixed, in order to transfer it to a fresh one; the other, +which consists in cleaning the surface of the painting from every thing that +can tarnish it, in restoring the true colour of the picture, and in repairing +the parts destroyed, by tints skilfully blended with the primitive touches. +Thence the distinctive division of the mechanical operations, and of the art of +painting, which will be the object of the two parts of this Report. The former +particularly engaged the attention of the Commissioners of the <i>Class of +Sciences</i>; and the latter, which required the habit of handling a scientific +pencil, fell to the share of the Commissioners of the <i>Class of Fine +Arts</i>"</p> +<p class="center">FIRST PART.</p> +<p>"Although the mechanical labour is subdivided into several operations, it +was wholly intrusted to Citizen HACQUINS, on whose intelligence, address, and +skill, it is our duty to bestow every commendation."</p> +<p>"The picture represents the Virgin Mary, the infant Jesus, St. John, and +several other figures of different sizes. It was painted on a pannel of 1-1/2 +inches in thickness: a crack extended from its circumference to the left foot +of the infant Jesus: it was 4-1/2 lines wide at its upper part, and diminished +progressively to the under: from this crack to the right hand border, the +surface formed a curve whose greatest bend was 2 inches 5-1/2 lines, and from +the crack to the other border, another curve bending 2 inches. The picture was +scaling off in several places, and a great number of scales had already +detached themselves; the painting was, besides, worm-eaten in many parts."</p> +<p>"It was first necessary to render the surface even: to effect this, a gauze +was pasted on the painting, and the picture was turned on its face. After that, +Citizen HACQUINS made, in the thickness of the wood, several grooves at some +distance from each other, and extending from the upper extremity of the bend to +the place where the pannel presented a more level surface. Into these grooves +he introduced little wooden wedges; he then covered the whole surface with wet +cloths, which he took care to remoisten. The action of the wedges, which +swelled by the moisture against the softened pannel, compelled the latter to +resume its primitive form: both edges of the crack before-mentioned being +brought together, the artist had recourse to glue, in order to unite the two +separated parts. During the desiccation, he laid oak bars across the picture, +for the purpose of keeping the pannel in the form which he wished it to +assume."</p> +<p>"The desiccation being effected slowly, the artist applied a second gauze on +the first, then successively two thicknesses of grey blotting paper."</p> +<p>"This preparation (which the French artists call <i>cartonnage</i>) being +dry, he laid the picture with its face downward on a table, to which he +carefully confined it; he next proceeded to the separation of the wood on which +the painting was fixed."</p> +<p>"The first operation was executed by means of two saws, one of which acted +perpendicularly; and the other, horizontally: the work of the two saws being +terminated, the pannel was found to be reduced to the thickness of 4-1/2 lines. +The artist then made use of a plane of a convex form on its breadth: with this +instrument he planed the pannel in an oblique direction, in order to take off +very short shavings, and to avoid the grain of the wood: by these means he +reduced the pannel to 2/3 of a line in thickness. He then took a flat plane +with a toothed iron, whose effect is much like that of a rasp which reduces +wood into dust: in this manner he contrived to leave the pannel no thicker than +a sheet of paper."</p> +<p>"In that state, the wood was successively moistened with clear water, in +small compartments, which disposed it to detach itself: then the artist +separated it with the rounded point of a knife-blade."</p> +<p>"The picture, thus deprived of all the wood, presented to the eye every +symptom of the injury which it had sustained. It had formerly been repaired; +and, in order to fasten again the parts which threatened to fall off, recourse +had been had to oils and varnishes. But those ingredients passing through the +intervals left by such parts of the picture as were reduced to curling scales, +had been extended in the impression to the paste, on which the painting rested, +and had rendered the real restoration more difficult, without producing the +advantageous effect which had thence been expected."</p> +<p>"The same process would not serve for separating the parts of the impression +which had been indurated by varnishes, and those where the paste had remained +unmixed: it was necessary to moisten the former for some time in small +compartments: when they were become sufficiently softened, the artist separated +them with the blade of his knife: the others were more easily separated by +moistening them with a flannel, and rubbing them slightly. It required all the +address and patience of Citizen HACQUINS to leave nothing foreign to the work +of the original painter: at length the outline of RAPHAEL was wholly exposed to +view, and left by itself."</p> +<p>"In order to restore a little suppleness to the painting, which was too much +dried, it was rubbed all over with carded cotton imbibed with oil, and wiped +with old muslin: then white lead, ground with oil, was substituted in the room +of the impression made by paste, and fixed by means of a soft brush."</p> +<p>"After being left to dry for three months, a gauze was glued on the +impression made by oil; and on the latter, a fine canvas."</p> +<p>"When this canvas was dry, the picture was detached from the table, and +turned, in order to remove the <i>cartonnage</i> from it with water; this +operation being effected, the next proceeding was to get rid of the appearance +of the inequalities of the surface arising from the curling up of its parts: +for that purpose, the artist successively applied on the inequalities, +flour-paste diluted. Then having put a greasy paper on the moistened part, he +laid a hot iron on the parts curled up, which became level: but it was not till +after he had employed the most unequivocal signs to ascertan the suitable +degree of heat, that he ventured to come near the painting with the iron."</p> +<p>"It has been seen that the painting, disengaged from its impression made by +paste and from every foreign substance, had been fixed on an impression made by +oil, and that a level form had been given to the uneven parts of its surface. +This master-piece was still to be solidly applied on a new ground: for that, it +was necessary to paste paper over it again, detach it from the temporary gauze +which had been put on the impression, add a new coat of oxyde of lead and oil, +apply to it a gauze rendered very supple, and on the latter, in like manner +done over with a preparation of lead, a raw cloth, woven all in one piece, and +impregnated, on its exterior surface, with a resinous substance, which was to +confine it to a similar canvass fixed on the stretching-frame. This last +operation required that the body of the picture, disengaged from its +<i>cartonnage</i>, or paper facing, and furnished with a new ground, should be +exactly applied to the cloth done over with resinous substances, at the same +time avoiding every thing that might hurt it by a too strong or unequal +extension, and yet compelling every part of its vast extent to adhere to the +cloth strained on the stretching-frame. It is by all these proceedings that the +picture has been incorporated with a ground more durable than the original one, +and guarded against the accidents which had produced the injuries. It was then +subjected to restoration, which is the object of the second part of this +Report."</p> +<p>"We have been obliged to confine ourselves to pointing out the successive +operations, the numerous details of which we have attended; we have endeavoured +to give an idea of this interesting art, by which the productions of the pencil +may be indefinitely perpetuated, in order only to state the grounds of the +confidence that it has appeared to us to merit."</p> +<p class="center">SECOND PART.</p> +<p>"After having given an account of the mechanical operations, employed with +so much success in the first part of the restoration of the picture by RAPHAEL, +it remains for us to speak of the second, the restoration of the painting, +termed by the French artists <i>restauration pittoresque</i>. This part is no +less interesting than the former. We are indebted to it for the reparation of +the ravages of time and of the ignorance of men, who, from their unskilfulness, +had still added to the injury which this master-piece had already suffered.</p> +<p>"This essential part of the restoration of works of painting, requires, in +those who are charged with it, a very delicate eye, in order to know how to +accord the new tints with the old, a profound knowledge of the proceedings +employed by masters, and a long experience, in order to foresee, in the choice +and use of colours, what changes time may effect in the new tints, and +consequently prevent the discordance which would be the result of those +changes.</p> +<p>"The art of restoring paintings likewise requires the most scrupulous nicety +to cover no other than the damaged parts, and an extraordinary address to match +the work of the restoration with that of the master, and, as it were, replace +the first priming in all its integrity, concealing the work to such a degree +that even unexperienced eye cannot distinguish what comes from the hand of the +artist from what belongs to that of the master.</p> +<p>"It is, above all, in a work of the importance of that of which we are +speaking, that the friends of the arts have a right to require, in its +restoration, all the care of prudence and the exertion of the first talents. We +feel a real satisfaction in acquainting you with the happy result of the +discriminating wisdom of the Administration of the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS; +who, after having directed and superintended the first part of the restoration, +employed in the second, that of the painting (which we call <i>pittoresque</i>) +Citizen ROESER, whose abilities in this line were long known to them, and whose +repeated success had justified their confidence."</p> +<p>After having assured the Institute that they consider the <i>pittoresque</i> +part of the restoration of the <i>Madonna di Foligno</i> as pure as it was +possible to be desired, the Commissioners proceed to call their attention to +some discordance in the original design and colouring of this <i>chef +d'œuvre</i>, and to make on it some critical observations. This they do +in order to prevent any doubts which might arise in the mind of observers, and +lead them to imagine that the restoration had, in any manner, impaired the work +of RAPHAEL.</p> +<p>They next congratulate themselves on having at length seen this masterpiece +of the immortal RAPHAEL restored to life, shining in all its lustre, and +through such means, that there ought no longer to remain any fear respecting +the recurrence of those accidents whose ravages threatened to snatch it for +ever from general admiration.</p> +<p>They afterwards terminate their Report in the following words:</p> +<p>"The Administration of the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, who have, by their +knowledge, improved the art of restoration, will, no doubt, neglect nothing to +preserve that art in all its integrity; and, notwithstanding repeated success, +they will not permit the application of it but to pictures so injured, that +there are more advantages in subjecting them to a few risks inseparable from +delicate and numerous operations, than in abandoning them to the destruction by +which they are threatened. The invitation which the Administration of the +Museum gave to the National Institute to attend the restoration of the +<i>Madonna di Foligno</i> by RAPHAEL, is to us a sure pledge that the +enlightened men of whom it is composed felt that they owed an account of their +vigilance to all the connoisseurs in Europe."</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let30f1">Footnote 1</a>: It may not be amiss to observe +that RAPHAEL employed the <i>impasto</i> colour but in few of his pictures, of +which the <i>Transfiguration</i> is one wherein it is the most conspicuous: his +other productions are painted with great transparency, the colours being laid +on a white ground; which rendered still more difficult the operation +above-mentioned. <i>Note of the +Author.</i> <a href="#let30fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let31">LETTER XXXI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 10, 1801.</i></p> +<p>"Of all the bridges that were ever built," says Sterne, "the whole world, +who have passed over it, must own that the noblest—the grandest—the +lightest—the longest—the broadest that ever conjoined land and land +together upon the face of the terraqueous globe, is the</p> +<p class="center">PONT NEUF."</p> +<p><a name="let31fr1"></a>The <i>Pont Neuf</i> is certainly the largest, and, +on account of its situation[<a href="#let31f1">1</a>], the most conspicuous, +and most frequented of any of the bridges in Paris; but, in the environs of the +capital, is one which surpasses them all. This is the <i>Pont de +Neuilly.</i></p> +<p>The first stone of the <i>Pont Neuf</i> was laid by Henry III in 1578, and +the foundation of the piles was begun to be formed on the opposite side; when +the troubles of the League forced DU CERCEAU, the architect, to withdraw to +foreign countries. The work was not resumed till the reign of Henry IV, who +ordered it to be continued under the direction of MARCHAND; but, owing to +various causes, the <i>Pont Neuf</i> was not finished till 1674.</p> +<p>The length of this bridge is one thousand and twenty feet, and its breadth +seventy-two; which is sufficient to admit of five carriages passing abreast. It +is formed of twelve arches, seven of which are on the side of the +<i>Louvre</i>, and five on the side of the <i>Quai des Augustins</i>, extending +over the two channels of the river, which is wider in this place, from their +junction.</p> +<p>In 1775, the parapets were repaired, and the foot-way lowered and narrowed. +SOUFFLOT, the architect of the Pantheon, availed himself of this opportunity to +build, on the twenty half-moons which stand immediately above each pile, as +many rotundas, in stone, to serve as shops. On the outside, above the arches, +is a double cornice, which attracts the eye of the connoisseur in architecture, +notwithstanding its mouldering state, on account of the <i>fleurons</i> in the +antique style, and the heads of Sylvans, Dryads, and Satyrs, which serve as +supports to it, at the distance of two feet from each other.</p> +<p>As the mole that forms a projection on this bridge between the fifth and +seventh arch, stands facing the <i>Place Dauphine</i>, which was built by Henry +IV, it was the spot chosen for erecting to him a statue. This was the first +public monument of the kind that had been raised in honour of French kings. +Under the first, second, and third race, till the reign of Lewis XIII, if the +statue of a king was made, it was only for the purpose, of being placed on his +tomb, or else at the portal of some church, or royal residence which he had +either built or repaired.</p> +<p>Parisians and strangers used to admire this equestrian statue of Henry IV, +and before the revolution, all agreed in taking him for the model of goodness. +In proof of his popularity, we are told, in the <i>Tableau de Paris</i>, that a +beggar was one day following a passenger along, the foot-way, of the <i>Pont +Neuf</i>: it was a festival. "In the name of St. Peter," said the mendicant, +"in the name of St. Joseph, in the name of the Virgin Mary, in the name of her +divine Son, in the name of God?" Being arrived before the statue of the +conqueror of the League, "In the name of <i>Henri quatre</i>" exclaimed he, "in +the name of <i>Henri quatre?</i>"—"Here!" said the passenger, and he gave +him a louis d'or.</p> +<p>Unquestionably, no monarch that ever sat on the throne of France was so +popular as <i>Henri quatre</i>; and his popularity was never eclipsed by any of +his successors. Even amidst the rage of the revolutionary storm, the military +still held his memory in veneration. On opening the sepultures at St. Denis in +1793, the coffin of Henry IV was the first that was taken out of the vault of +the Bourbons. Though he died in 1610, his body was found in such preservation +that the features of his face were not altered. A soldier, who was present at +the opening of the coffin, moved by a martial enthusiasm, threw himself on the +body of this warlike prince, and, after a considerable pause of admiration, he +drew his sabre, and cut off a long lock of Henry's beard, which was still +fresh, at the same time exclaiming, in very energetic and truly-military terms: +"And I too am a French soldier! In future I will have no other whiskers." Then +placing this valuable lock on his upper lip, he withdrew, adding emphatically: +"Now I am sure to conquer the enemies of France, and I march to victory."</p> +<p>In Paris, all the statues of kings had fallen, while that of Henry IV still +remained erect. It was for some time a matter of doubt whether it should be +pulled down. "The poem of the <i>Henriade</i> pleaded in its favour;" but, says +Mercier, "he was an ancestor of the perjured king," Then, and not till then, +this venerated statue underwent the same fate.</p> +<p>It has been generally believed that the deed of Ravaillac was dictated by +fanaticism, or that he was the instrument employed by the Marchioness of +Verneuil and the Duke of Epernon for assassinating that monarch. However, it +stands recorded, I am told, in a manuscript found in the National Library, that +Ravaillac killed Henry IV because he had seduced his sister, and abandoned her +when pregnant. Thus time, that affords a clue to most mysteries, has also +solved this historical enigma.</p> +<p>This statue of Henry IV was erected on the 23d of August, 1624. To have +insulted it, would, not long since, have been considered as a sacrilege; but, +after having been mutilated and trodden under foot, this once-revered image +found its way to the mint or the cannon-foundry. On its site now stands an +elegant coffeehouse, whence you may enjoy a fine view of the stately buildings +which adorn the quays that skirt the river.</p> +<p>While admiring the magnificence of this <i>coup d'œil</i>, an +Englishman cannot avoid being struck by the multitude of washerwomen, striving +to expel the dirt from linen, by means of <i>battoirs</i>, or wooden +battledores. On each side of the Seine are to be seen some hundreds hard at +work, ranged in succession, along the sides of low barks, equal in length to +our west-country barges. Such is the vigour of their arm that, for the +circumference of half-a-mile, the air resounds with the noise of their +incessant blows. After beating the linen for some time in this merciless +manner, they scrub it with a hard brush, in lieu of soaping it, so that a shirt +which has passed through their hands five or six times is fit only for making +lint. No wonder then that Frenchmen, in general, wear coarse linen: a hop-sack +could not long resist so severe a process. However, it must be confessed, that +some good arises from this evil. These washerwomen insensibly contribute to the +diffusion of knowledge; for, as they are continually reducing linen into rags, +they cannot but considerably increase the supply, of that article for the +manufacture of paper.</p> +<p>Compared to the Thames, even above bridge, the Seine is far from exhibiting +a busy scene; a few rafts of wood for fuel, and some barges occasionally in +motion, now and then relieve the monotony of its rarely-ruffled surface. At +this moment, its navigation is impeded from its stream being swollen by the +late heavy rains. Hence much mischief is apprehended to the country lying +contiguous to its banks. Many parts of Paris are overflowed: in some streets +where carriages must pass, horses are up to their belly in water; while +pedestrians are under the necessity of availing themselves of the temporary +bridges, formed with tressels and planks, by the industrious Savoyards. The ill +consequences of this inundation are already felt, I assure you; being engaged +to dinner yesterday in the <i>Rue St. Florentin</i>, I was obliged to step into +a punt in order to reach the bottom of the stair-case; and what was infinitely +more mortifying to the master of the house, was that, the cellar being rendered +inaccessible,—he was deprived of the satisfaction of regaling his guests +with his best claret.</p> +<p>On the right hand side of the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, in crossing that bridge from +the <i>Quai de l'École</i> to the <i>Quai de Conti</i>, is a building, three +stories high, erected on piles, with its front standing between the first and +second arches. It is called</p> +<p class="center">LA SAMARITAINE.</p> +<p>Over the dial is a gilt group, representing Jesus Christ and the Samaritan +woman near Jacob's well, pourtrayed by a basin into which falls a sheet of +water issuing from a shell above. Under the basin is the following +inscription:</p> +<p class="bq"> + +<i>Fons Hortorum<br /> +Puteus aquarum viventium.</i><br /> +</p> +<p>These words of the Gospel are here not unaptly applied to the destination of +this building, which is to furnish water to the garden of the <i>Tuileries</i>, +whose basins were not, on that account, the less dry half the year. The water +is raised by means of a pump, and afterwards distributed, by several conduits, +to the <i>Louvre</i> and the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, as well as to the +<i>Tuileries</i>.</p> +<p>In the middle, and above the arch, is a superstructure of timber-work faced +with gilt lead, where are the bells of the clock and those of chimes, which +ought to play every half-hour.</p> +<p>This tasteless edifice interrupts the view in every direction and as it is +far from being an ornament to the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, no one could now regret its +entire removal. Under the old <i>régime</i>, however, it was nothing less than +a government.</p> +<p>Among the functions of the governor, were included the care of the clock, +which scarcely ever told the hour, and that of the chimes, which were generally +out of order. When these chimes used to delight Henry IV, it is to be presumed +that they were kept in better tune. It was customary to make them play during +all public ceremonies, and especially when the king passed.</p> +<p>"The <i>Pont Neuf</i>, is in the city of Paris what the heart is in the +human body, the centre of motion and circulation: the flux and reflux of +inhabitants and strangers crowd this passage in such a manner, that, in order +to meet persons one is looking for, it is sufficient to walk here for an hour +every day. Here, the <i>mouchards</i>, or spies of the police, take their +station; and, when at the expiration of a few days, they see not their man, +they positively affirm that he is not in Paris."</p> +<p>Such was the animated picture of the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, as drawn by Mercier +in 1788, and such it really was before the revolution. At present, though this +bridge is sometimes thronged with passengers, it presents not, according to my +observation, that almost continual crowd and bustle for which it was formerly +distinguished. No stoppage now from the press of carriages of any description, +no difficulty in advancing quickly through the concourse of pedestrians. +Fruit-women, hucksters, hawkers, pedlars, indeed, together with ambulating +venders of lottery-tickets, and of <i>tisane</i>, crying "<i>à la fraiche! +Qui veut boire?</i>" here take their stand as they used, though not in such +numbers.</p> +<p>But the most sensible diminution is among the shoe-blacks, who stand in the +carriage-way, and, with all their implements before them, range themselves +along the edge of the very elevated <i>trottoir</i> or foot-pavement. The +<i>décrotteurs</i> of the <i>Pont Neuf</i> were once reputed masters of the +art: their foresight was equal to their dexterity and expedition. For the very +moderate sum of two <i>liards</i>, they enabled an abbé or a poet to present +himself in the gilded apartments of a dutchess. If it rained, or the rays of +the sun were uncommonly ardent, they put into his hand an umbrella to protect +the economy of his head-dress during the operation. Their great patrons have +disappeared, and, in lieu of a constant succession of customers, the few +<i>décrotteurs</i> who remain at their old-established station, are idle half +the day for want of employment.</p> +<p>These Savoyards generally practise more than one trade, as is indicated by +the <i>enseigne</i> which is affixed, on a short pole, above their +tool-box.</p> +<p class="bq"> +LA FRANCE tond les<br /> +chiens coupe les chats<br /> +proprement et sa femme<br /> +vat en ville et en campagne<br /> +</p> +<p>Change the name only, and such is, line for line, letter for letter, the +most ordinary style of their <i>annonce</i>. It is, however, to be presumed, +that the republican belles have adopted other favourites instead of dogs and +cats; for no longer is seen, as in the days of royalty, the aspiring or +favoured lover carrying his mistress's lap-dog in the public promenades. In +fact, the business of dog-shearing, &c. seems full as dead in this part of +Paris as that of shoe-cleaning. The <i>artists</i> of the <i>Pont Neuf</i> are, +consequently, chop-fallen; and hilarity which formerly shone on their +countenance, is now succeeded by gloomy sadness.</p> +<p>At the foot of the <i>Pont Neuf</i> on the <i>Quai de la Féraille</i> +recruiting-officers used to unfurl their inviting banners, and neglect nothing +that art and cunning could devise to insnare the ignorant, the idle, and the +unwary. The means which they sometimes employed were no less whimsical than +various: the lover of wine was invited to a public-house, where he might +intoxicate himself; the glutton was tempted by the sight of ready-dressed +turkies, fowls, sausages &c. suspended to a long pole; and the youth, +inclined to libertinism, was seduced by the meretricious allurements of a +well-tutored doxy. To second these manœuvres, the recruiter followed the +object of his prey with a bag of money, which he chinked occasionally, crying +out "<i>Qui en veut?</i>" and, in this manner, an army of heroes was completed. +It is almost superfluous to add, that the necessity of such stratagems is +obviated, by the present mode of raising soldiers by conscription.</p> +<p>Before we quit the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, I must relate to you an adventure +which, in the year 1786, happened to our friend P-----, who is now abroad, in a +situation of considerable trust and emolument. He was, at that time, a half-pay +subaltern in the British army, and visited Paris, as well from motives of +economy as from a desire of acquiring the French language. Being a tall, +fresh-coloured young man, as he was one day crossing the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, he +caught the eye of a recruiting-officer, who followed him from the <i>Quai de la +Féraille</i> to a coffee-house, in the <i>Rue St. Honoré</i>, which our +Englishman frequented for the sake of reading the London newspapers. The +recruiter, with all the art of a crimp combined with all the politeness of a +courtier, made up to him under pretence of having relations in England, and +endeavoured, by every means in his power, to insinuate himself into the good +graces of his new acquaintance. P----, by way of sport, encouraged the +eagerness of the recruiter, who lavished on him every sort of civility; peaches +in brandy, together with the choicest refreshments that a Parisian coffee-house +could afford, were offered to him and accepted: but not the smallest hint was +dropped of the motive of all this more than friendly attention. At length, the +recruiter, thinking that he might venture to break the ice, depicted, in the +most glowing colours, the pleasures and advantages of a military life, and +declared ingenuously that nothing would make him so happy as to have our +countryman P---- for his comrade. Without absolutely accepting or rejecting his +offer, P---- begged a little delay in order to consider of the matter, at the +same time hinting that there was; at that moment, a small obstacle to his +inclination. The recruiter, like a pioneer, promised to remove it, grasped his +hand with joy and exultation, and departed, singing a song of the same import +as that of Serjeant Kite:</p> +<p class="bq"> +"Come brave boys, 'tis one to ten,<br /> +But we return all gentlemen."<br /> +</p> +<p>In a few days, the recruiter again met Mr. P---- at his accustomed +rendezvous; when, after treating him with coffee, liqueur, &c. he came +directly to the point, but neglected not to introduce into his discourse every +persuasive allurement. P----, finding himself pushed home, reminded the +recruiter of the obstacle to which he had before alluded, and, to convince him +of its existence, put into his hand His Britannic Majesty's commission. The +astonishment and confusion of the French recruiter were so great that he was +unable to make any reply; but instantly retired, venting a tremendous +ejaculation.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let31f1">Footnote 1</a>: By the Plan of Paris, it will +be seen that the <i>Pont Neuf</i> lies at the west point of the Island called +<i>L'Ile du Palais</i>, and is, as it were, in the very centre of the +capital. <a href="#let31fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let32">LETTER XXXII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 13, 1801.</i></p> +<p>In this gay capital, balls succeed to balls in an almost incredible variety. +There are actually an immense number every evening; so that persons fond of the +amusement of dancing have full scope for the exercise of their talents in +Paris. It is no longer a matter of surprise to me that the French women dance +so well, since I find that they take frequent lessons from their master, and, +almost every night, they are at a dance of one kind or another. Added to this, +the same set of dances lasts the whole season, and go where you will, you have +a repetition of the same. However, this detracts not in the smallest degree; +from the merit of those Parisian belles who shine as first-rate dancers. The +mechanical part of the business, as Mr. C----g would call it, they may thus, +acquire by constant practice; but the decorative part, if I may so term the +fascinating grace which, they display in all their movements, is that the +result of study, or do they hold it from the bounteous hand of Nature?</p> +<p>While I am speaking of balls, I must inform you that, since the private ball +of which I gave you so circumstantial an account, I have been at several +others, also private, but of a different complexion; inasmuch as pleasure, not +profit, was the motive for which they were given, and the company was more +select; but, in point of general arrangement, I found them so like the former, +that I did not think it worth while to make any one of them the subject of a +distinct letter. In this line Madame Recamier takes the lead, but though her +balls are more splendid, those of Madame Soubiran are more agreeable. On the +21st of Frimaire, which was yesterday, I was at a public ball of the most +brilliant kind now known in Paris. It was the first of the subscription given +this season, and, from the name of the apartment where it is held, it is styled +the</p> +<p class="center">BAL DU SALON DES ÉTRANGERS.</p> +<p>Midnight is the general hour for the commencement of such diversions; but, +owing to the long train of carriages setting down company at this ball, it was +near two o'clock before I could arrive at the scene of action, in the <i>Rue +Grange Batelière</i>, near the Boulevards.</p> +<p>After I alighted and presented my ticket, some time elapsed before I could +squeeze into the room where the dancing was going forward. The spectators were +here so intermixed with the dancers, that they formed around them a border as +complete as a frame to a picture. It is astonishing that, under such +circumstances, a Parisian Terpsichore, far from being embarrassed, lays fresh +claim to your applause. With mathematical precision, she measures with her eye +the space to which she is restricted by the curiosity of the by-standers. Rapid +as lightning, she springs forward till the measure recalling her to the place +she left, she traces her orbit, like a planet, at the same time revolving on +her axis. Sometimes her "light, fantastic toe" will approach within half an +inch of your foot; nay, you shall almost feel her breath on your cheek, and +still she will not touch you, except, perhaps, with the skirt of her floating +tunic.</p> +<p>Among the female part of the company, I observed several lovely women; some, +who might have been taken for Asiatic sultanas, irradiating the space around +them by the dazzling brilliancy of their ornaments; others, without jewels, but +calling in every other aid of dress for the embellishment of their person; and +a few, rich in their native charms alone, verifying the expression of the poet. +Truth compels me to acknowledge that six or eight English ladies here were +totally eclipsed. For the honour of my country, I could have wished for a +better specimen of our excellence in female beauty. No women in the world, or +at least none that ever I have met with in the different quarters I have +visited, are handsomer than the English, in point of complexion and features. +This is a fact which Frenchmen themselves admit; but for grace, say they, our +countrywomen stand unrivalled, I am rather inclined to subscribe to this +opinion. In a well-educated French woman, there is an ease, an affability, a +desire to please and be pleased, which not only render her manners peculiarly +engaging, but also influence her gait, her gestures, her whole deportment in +short, and captivate admiration. Her natural cheerfulness and vivacity spread +over her features an animation seldom to be found in our English fair, whose +general characteristics are reserve and coldness. Hence that striking +expression which exhibits the grace of the French belles to superior +advantage.</p> +<p>Although my memory frequently disappoints me when I wish to retain names, I +have contrived to recollect those of three of the most remarkable women in the +ball-room. I shall therefore commit them to paper before I forget them. Madame +la Princesse de Santa-Croce displayed more diamonds than any of her +competitors; Mademoiselle Lescot was the best dancer among several ladies +renowned for dancing; and Madame Tallien was, on the whole, the handsomest +female that I saw in the room. There might possibly be women more beautiful +than she at this ball, but they did not come under my observation.</p> +<p>I had previously seen Madame Tallien at the <i>Opera Buffa</i>, and was +struck by her appearance before, I knew who she was. On seeing her again at the +<i>Salon des Étrangers</i>, I inquired of a French lady of my acquaintance, +whose understanding and discernment are pre-eminent, if Madame T------ had +nothing to recommend her but her personal attractions? The lady's answer is too +remarkable for me not to repeat it, which I will do <i>verbatim</i>. "In Madame +T------," said she, "beauty, wit, goodness of heart, grace, talents, all are +united. In a gay world, where malice subsists in all its force, her +inconsistencies alone have been talked of, without any mention being made of +the numerous acts of beneficence which have balanced, if they have not effaced, +her weakness. Would you believe," continued she, "that, in Paris, the grand +theatre of misconduct, where moral obligations are so much disregarded, where +we daily commit actions which we condemn in others; would you believe, that +Madame T------ experiences again and again the mortification of being deprived +of the society of this, or that woman who has nothing to boast of but her +depravity, and cannot plead one act of kindness, or even indulgence? This +picture is very dark," added she, "but the colouring is true."—"What you +tell me," observed I, "proves that, notwithstanding the irruption of +immorality, attributed to the revolution, it is still necessary for a woman to +preserve appearances at least, in order to be received here in what is termed +the best company."—"Yes, indeed," replied she; "if a woman neglects that +main point in Paris, she will soon find herself lowered in the opinion of the +fashionable world, and be at last excluded from even the secondary circles. In +London, your people of fashion are not quite so rigid."—"If a husband +chooses to wink at his wife's incontinence," rejoined I, "the world on our side +of the water is sufficiently complaisant to follow his example. Now with you, +character is made to depend more on the observance of etiquette; and, +certainly, hypocrisy, when detected, is of more prejudice to society than +barefaced profligacy."—The lady then resumed thus concerning the subject +of my inquiry. "Were some people to hear me," said she, "they might think that +I had drawn you a flattering portrait of Madame +T------ and say, by way of contrast, when the devil became old, he turned +hermit; but I should answer that, for some years, no twenty-four hours have +elapsed without persons, whom I could name on occasion, having begun their +daily career by going to see her, who saved their life, when, to accomplish +that object, she hazarded her own."</p> +<p>Here then is an additional instance of the noble energy manifested by women +during the most calamitous periods of the revolution. Unappalled by the terrors +of captivity or of death, their sensibility impelled them to brave the ferocity +of sanguinary tyrants, in order to administer hope or comfort to a parent, a +husband, a relation, or a friend. Some of these heroines, though in the bloom +of youth, not content with sympathizing in the misfortunes of others, gave +themselves up as a voluntary sacrifice, rather than survive those whose +preservation they valued more than their own existence. Rome may vaunt her +Porcia, or her Cornelia; but the page of her history can produce no such +exaltation of the female character as has been exhibited within the last ten +years by French women. Examples, like these, of generosity, fortitude, and +greatness of soul, deserve to be recorded to the end of time, as they do honour +to the sex, and to human nature.</p> +<p>If, according to the scale of Parisian enjoyment, a ball or rout is dull and +insipid, <i>à moins qu'on ne manque d'y être étouffé</i>, how supreme must have +been the satisfaction of the company at the <i>Salon des Étrangers!</i> The +number present, estimated at seven or eight hundred, occasioned so great a +crowd that it was by no means an easy enterprise to pass from one room to +another. Of course, there was no opportunity of viewing the apartments to +advantage; however, I saw enough of them to remark that they formed a suite +elegantly decorated. Some persons amused themselves with cards, though the +great majority neither played nor danced, but were occupied in conversing with +their acquaintance, There was no regular supper, but substantial refreshments +of every kind were to be procured on paying; and other smaller ones, +<i>gratis</i>.</p> +<p>From the tickets not being transferable, and the bearer's name being +inserted in each of them, the company was far more select than it could have +been without such a restriction. Most of the foreign ambassadors, envoys, +&c. were present, and many of the most distinguished persons of both sexes +in Paris. More regard was paid to the etiquette of dress at this ball than, I +have ever witnessed here on similar occasions, The ladies, as I have before +said, were all <i>en grande toilette</i>; and the men with cocked hats, and in +shoes and stockings, which is a novelty here, I assure you, as they mostly +appear in boots. But what surprised me not a little, was to observe several +inconsiderate French youths wear black cockades. Should they persist in such an +absurdity, I shall be still more surprised, if they escape admonition from the +police. This fashion seemed to be the <i>ignis fatuus</i> of the moment; it was +never before exhibited in public, and probably will be but of ephemeral +duration.</p> +<p>I cannot take leave of this ball without communicating to you a circumstance +which occurred there, and which, from the extravagant credulity it exhibits in +regard to the effects of sympathy, may possibly amuse you for a moment.</p> +<p>A widow, about twenty years of age, more to be admired for the symmetry of +her person, than for the beauty of her features, had, according to the +prevailing custom, intrusted her pocket-handkerchief to the care of a male +friend, a gentlemanlike young Frenchman of my acquaintance. After dancing, the +lady finding herself rather warm, applied for her handkerchief, with which she +wiped her forehead, and returned it to the gentleman, who again put it into his +pocket. He then danced, but not with her; and, being also heated, he, by +mistake, took out the lady's handkerchief, which, when applied to his face, +produced, as he fancied, such an effect on him, that, though he had previously +regarded her with a sort of indifference, from that moment she engaged all his +attention, and he was unable to direct his eyes, or even his thoughts, to any +other object.</p> +<p>Some philosophers, as is well known, have maintained that from all bodies +there is an emanation of corpuscles, which, coming into contact with our +organs, make on the brain an impression, either more or less sympathetic, or of +a directly-opposite nature. They tell you, for instance, that of two women whom +you behold for the first time, the one the least handsome will sometimes please +you most, because there exists a greater <i>sympathy</i> between you and her, +than between you and the more beautiful woman. Without attempting to refute +this absurd doctrine of corpuscles, I shall only observe that this young +Frenchman is completely smitten, and declares that no woman in the world can be +compared to the widow.</p> +<p>This circumstance reminds me of a still more remarkable effect, ascribed to +a similar cause, experienced by Henry III of France. The marriage of the king +of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV, with Marguerite de Valois, and that of the +Prince de Condé with Marie de Cleves, was celebrated at the Louvre on the 10th +of August, 1572. Marie de Cleves, then a most lovely creature only sixteen, +after dancing much, finding herself incommoded by the heat of the ball-room, +retired to a private apartment, where one of the waiting-women of the +queen-dowager, seeing her in a profuse perspiration, persuaded her to make an +entire change of dress. She had scarcely left the room when the Duke of Anjou, +afterwards Henry III, who had also danced a great deal, entered it to adjust +his hair, and, being overheated, wiped his face with the first thing that he +found, which happened to be the shift she had just taken off. Returning to the +ball, he fixed his eyes on her, and contemplated her with as much surprise as +if he had never before beheld her. His emotion, his transports, and the +attention which he began to pay her, were the more extraordinary, as during the +preceding week, which she had passed at court, he appeared indifferent to those +very charms which now made on his heart an impression so warm and so lasting. +In short, he became insensible to every thing that did not relate to his +passion.</p> +<p>His election to the crown of Poland, say historians, far from flattering +him, appeared to him an exile, and when he was in that kingdom, absence, far +from diminishing his love, seemed to increase it. Whenever he addressed the +princess, he pricked his finger, and never wrote to her but with his blood. No +sooner was he informed of the death of Charles IX, than he dispatched a courier +to assure her that she should soon be queen of France; and, on his return, his +thoughts were solely bent on dissolving her marriage with the Prince de Condé, +which, on account of the latter being a protestant, he expected to accomplish. +But this determination proved fatal to the princess; for, shortly after, she +was attacked by a violent illness, attributed to poison, which carried her off +in the flower of her age.</p> +<p>No words can paint Henry's despair at this event: he passed several days in +tears and groans; and when he was at length obliged to shew himself in public, +he appeared in deep mourning, and entirely covered with emblems of death, even +to his very shoe-strings.</p> +<p>The Princess de Condé had been dead upwards of four months, and buried in +the abbey-church of <i>St. Germain-des-Prés</i>, when Henry, on entering the +abbey, whither he was invited to a grand entertainment given there by Cardinal +de Bourbon, felt such violent tremblings at his heart, that not being able to +endure their continuance, he was going away; but they ceased all at once, on +the body of the princess being removed from its tomb, and conveyed elsewhere +for that evening.</p> +<p>His mother, Catherine de Medicis, by prevailing on him to marry Louise de +Vaudemont, one of the most beautiful women in Europe, hoped that she would make +him forget her whom death had snatched from him, and he himself perhaps +indulged a similar hope, but the memoirs of those times concur in asserting +that the image of the Princess de Condé was never effaced from his heart, and +that, to the day of his assassination, which did not happen till seventeen +years after, whatever efforts he made to subdue his passion, were wholly +unavailing.</p> +<p>Sympathy is a sentiment to which few persons attach the same ideas. It may +be classed in three distinct species. The first seems to have an immediate +connexion with the senses; the second, with the heart; and the third, with the +mind. Although it cannot be denied that the preference we bestow on this or +that woman is the result of the one or the other of these, or even of all three +together; yet the analysis of our attachments is, in some cases, so difficult +as to defy the investigation of reason. For, as the old song says, some +lovers</p> +<p class="bq"> +Will "whimper and whine<br /> +For lilies and roses,<br /> +For eyes, lips, and noses,<br /> +Or a <i>tip of an ear</i>."<br /> +</p> +<p>To cut the matter short, I think it fully proved, by the example of some of +the wisest men, that the affections are often captivated by something +indefinable, or, in the words of Corneille,</p> +<p class="center"><i>"Par un je ne sais quoi—qu'on ne peut +exprimer."</i></p> +<h2><a name="let32">LETTER XXXIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 14, 1801.</i></p> +<p>I have already spoken to you of the <i>Pont Neuf</i>. To the east of it, as +you will see by the Plan of Paris, the small islands in the middle of the Seine +are connected to its banks by several bridges; while to the west, there are two +only, though a third is projected, and, previously to the late rise of the +river, workmen were employed in driving piles for the foundation. I shall now +describe to you these two bridges, beginning with the</p> +<p class="center">PONT NATIONAL.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, this bridge bore the appellation of <i>Pont +Royal</i>, from its having been built by Lewis XIV, and the expenses defrayed +but of his privy purse, to supply the place of one of wood, situated opposite +to the <i>Louvre</i>, which was carried away by the ice in 1684. It is reckoned +one of the most solid bridges in Paris, and, till the existence of the <i>Pont +de la Concorde</i>, was the only one built across the river, without taking +advantage of the islands above-mentioned. It stands on four piles, forming with +the two abutments five elliptical arches of a handsome sweep. The span of the +centre arch is seventy-two feet, that of the two adjoining sixty-six, and that +of the two outer ones sixty. On each side is a raised pavement for +foot-passengers, in the middle of which I should imagine that there is breadth +sufficient to admit of four carriages passing abreast.</p> +<p>GABRIEL had undertaken this bridge from the designs of MANSARD. The work was +already in a state of forwardness, when, at a pile on the side of the +<i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>, the former could not succeed in excluding the +water. A Jacobin, not a clubist, but a Jacobin friar, one FRANÇOIS ROMAIN, who +had just finished the bridge of Strasburg, was sent for by the king to the +assistance of the French architects, and had the honour of completing the rest +of the work.</p> +<p>In the time of Henry IV, there was no bridge over this part of the river, +which he used frequently to cross in the first boat that presented itself. +Returning one day from the chace, in a plain hunting dress, and having with him +only two or three gentlemen, he stepped into a skiff to be carried over from +the <i>Faubourg St. Germain</i> to the <i>Tuileries</i>. Perceiving that he was +not known by the waterman, he asked him what people said of the peace, meaning +the peace of Vervins, which was just concluded. "Faith! I don't understand this +sort of peace," answered the waterman; "there are taxes on every thing, and +even, on this miserable boat, with which I have a hard matter to earn my +bread."—"And does not the king," continued Henry, "intend to lighten +these taxes?"—"The king is a good kind of man enough," replied the +waterman; "but he has a lady who must needs have so many fine gowns and +gewgaws; and 'tis we who pay for all that. One would not think so much of it +either, if she kept to him only; but, they say, she suffers herself to be +kissed by many others."</p> +<p>Henry IV was so amused by this conversation, that, the next morning, he sent +for the waterman, and made him repeat, word for word, before the Dutchess of +Beaufort, all that he had said the preceding evening. The Dutchess, much +irritated, was for having him hanged. "You are a foolish woman," said Henry; +"this is a poor devil whom poverty has put out of humour. In future, he shall +pay no tax for his boat, and I am convinced that he will then sing every day, +<i>Vive Henri! Vive Gabrielle!</i>"</p> +<p>The north end of the <i>Pont National</i> faces the wing of the palace of +the <i>Tuileries</i> distinguished by the name of the <i>Pavillon de Flore</i>. +From the middle of this bridge, you see the city in a striking point of view. +Here, the celebrated Marshal de Catinat used frequently to make it part of his +morning's amusement to take his stand, and, while he enjoyed the beauty of the +prospect, he opened his purse to the indigent as they passed. That philosophic +warrior often declared that he never beheld any thing equal to the <i>coup +d'œil</i> from this station. In fact, on the one side, you discover the +superb gallery of the <i>Louvre</i>, extending from that palace to the +<i>Tuileries</i>; and, on the other, the <i>Palais du Corps Législatif</i>, and +a long range of other magnificent buildings, skirting the quays on each bank of +the river.</p> +<p>These quays, nearly to the number of thirty, are faced with stone, and +crowned with parapets breast high, which, in eighteen or twenty different +spots, open to form watering-places. The Seine, being thus confined within its +bed, the eye is never displeased here by the sight of muddy banks like those of +the Thames, or the nose offended by the smell arising from the filth which the +common sewers convey to the river.</p> +<p>The galiot of <i>St. Cloud</i> regularly takes its departure from the +<i>Pont National</i>. Formerly, on Sundays and holidays, it used to be a very +entertaining sight to contemplate the Paris cocknies crowding into this vessel. +Those who arrived too late, jumped into the first empty boat, which frequently +overset, either through the unskilfulness of the waterman, or from being +overloaded. In consequence of such accidents, the boats of the Seine are +prohibited from taking more than sixteen passengers.</p> +<p>Not many years ago, an excursion to <i>St. Cloud</i> by water, was an +important voyage to some of the Parisians, as you may see by referring to the +picture which has been drawn of it, under the title of "<i>Voyage de Paris à +Saint Cloud par mer, et le retour de Saint Cloud à Paris par terre</i>."</p> +<p>Following the banks of the Seine, towards the west, we next come to the</p> +<p class="center">PONT DE LA CONCORDE.</p> +<p>This bridge, which had long been wished for and projected, was begun in +1787, and finished in 1790. Its southern extremity stands opposite to the +<i>Palais du Corps Législatif</i>; while that of the north faces the <i>Place +de la Concorde</i>, whence it not only derives its present appellation, but has +always experienced every change of name to which the former has been +subject.</p> +<p>The lightness of its apearance is less striking to those who have seen the +<i>Pont de Neuilly</i>, in which PERRONET, Engineer of bridges and highways, +has, by the construction of arches nearly flat, so eminently distinguished +himself. He is likewise the architect of this bridge, which is four hundred and +sixty-two feet in length by forty-eight in breadth. Like the <i>Pont +National</i>, it consists of five elliptical arches. The span of the centre +arch is ninety-six feet; that of the collateral ones, eighty-seven; and that of +the two others near the abutments, sixty-eight. Under one of the latter is a +tracking-path for the facility of navigation.</p> +<p>The piles, which are each nine feet in thickness, have, on their starlings, +a species of pillars that support a cornice five feet and a half high. +Perpendicularly to these pillars are to rise as many pyramids, which are to be +crowned by a parapet with a balustrade: in all these, it is intended to display +no less elegance of workmanship than the arches present boldness of design and +correctness of execution.</p> +<p>On crossing these bridges, it has often occurred to me, how much the +Parisians must envy us the situation of our metropolis. If the Seine, like the +Thames, presented the advantage of braving the moderate winds, and of +conveying, by regular tides, the productions of the four quarters of the globe +to the quays which skirt its banks, what an acquisition would it not be to +their puny commerce! What a gratification to their pride to see ships +discharging their rich cargoes at the foot of the <i>Pont de la Concorde!</i> +The project of the canal of Languedoc must, at first, have apparently presented +greater obstacles; yet, by talents and perseverance, these were overcome at a +time when the science of machinery of every description was far less understood +than it is at the present moment.</p> +<p>It appears from the account of Abbon, a monk of the abbey of St. +Germain-des-Prés, that, in the year 885, the Swedes, Danes, and Normans, to the +number of forty-five thousand men, came to lay siege to Paris, with seven +hundred sail of ships, exclusively of the smaller craft, so that, according to +this historian, who was an eye-witness of the fact, the river Seine was covered +with their vessels for the space of two leagues.</p> +<p>Julius Cæsar tells us, in the third book of his Commentaries, that, at the +time of his conquest of the Gauls, in the course of one winter, he constructed +six hundred vessels of the wood which then grew in the environs of Paris; and +that, in the following spring, he embarked his army, horse and foot, provisions +and baggage, in these vessels, descended the Seine, reached Dieppe, and thence +crossed over to England, of which, he says, he made a conquest.</p> +<p>About forty years ago, the scheme engaged much attention. In 1759, the +Academy of Sciences, Belles-Lettres, and Arts of Rouen, proposed the following +as a prize-question: "Was not the Seine formerly navigable for vessels of +greater burden than those which are now employed on it; and are there not means +to restore to it, or to procure it, that advantage?" In 1760, the prize was +adjourned; the memoirs presented not being to the satisfaction of the Academy. +In 1761, the new candidates having no better success, the subject was +changed.</p> +<p>However, notwithstanding this discouragement, we find that, on the 1st of +August, 1766, Captain Berthelot actually reached the <i>Pont Royal</i> in a +vessel of one hundred and sixty tons burden. When, on the 22d of the same +month, he departed thence, loaded with merchandise, the depth of the water in +the Seine was twenty-five feet, and it was nearly the same when he ascended the +river. This vessel was seven days on her passage from Rouen to Paris: but a +year or two ago, four days only were employed in performing the same voyage by +another vessel, named the <i>Saumon</i>.</p> +<p>Engineers have ever judged the scheme practicable, and the estimate of the +necessary works, signed by several skilful surveyors, was submitted to the +ministry of that day. The amount was forty-six millions of livres (circa +£1,916,600 sterling).</p> +<p>But what can compensate for the absence of the tide? This is an advantage, +which, in a commercial point of view, must ever insure to London a decided +superiority over Paris. Were the Seine to-morrow rendered navigable for vessels +of large burden, they must, for a considerable distance, be tracked against the +stream, or wait till a succession of favourable winds had enabled them to stem +it through its various windings; whereas nothing can be more favourable to +navigation than the position of London. It has every advantage of a sea-port +without its dangers. Had it been placed lower down, that is, nearer to the +mouth of the Thames, it would have been more exposed to the insults of a +foreign enemy, and also to the insalubrious exhalations of the swampy marshes. +Had it been situated higher up the river, it would have been inaccessible to +ships of large burden.</p> +<p>Thus, by no effort of human invention or industry can Paris rival London in +commerce, even on the supposition that France could produce as many men +possessed of the capital and spirit of enterprise, for which our British +merchants are at present unrivalled.</p> +<p>Yet, may not this pre-eminence in commercial prosperity lead to our +destruction, as the gigantic conquests of France may also pave the way to her +ruin? Alas! the experience of ages proves this melancholy truth, which has also +been repeated by Raynal: "Commerce," says that celebrated writer, "in the end +finds its ruin in the riches which it accumulates, as every powerful state lays +the foundation of its own destruction in extending its conquests."</p> +<h2><a name="let34">LETTER XXXIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 16, 1801.</i></p> +<p>No part of the engagement into which I have entered with you, so fully +convinces me of my want of reflection, and shews that my zeal, at the time, got +the better of my judgment, as my promising you some ideas on</p> +<p class="center">FRENCH LITERATURE.</p> +<p>It would, I now perceive, be necessary to have inhabited France for several +years past, with the determined intention of observing this great empire solely +in that single point of view, to be able to keep my word in a manner worthy of +you and of the subject. It would be necessary to write a large volume of +rational things; and, in a letter, I ought to relate them with conciseness and +truth; draw sketches with rapidity, but clearness; in short, express positive +results, without deviating from abstractions and generalities, since you +require from me, on this subject, no more than a letter, and not a book.</p> +<p>I come to the point. I shall consider literature in a double sense. First, +the thing in itself; then, its connexions with the sciences, and the men who +govern. In England, it has been thought, or at least insinuated in some of the +papers and periodical publications, that literature had been totally +annihilated in France within the last twelve years. This is a mistake: its +aberrations have been taken for eclipses. It has followed the revolution +through all its phases.</p> +<p>Under the Constituent Assembly, the literary genius of the French was turned +towards politics and eloquence. There remain valuable monuments of the fleeting +existence of that assembly. MIRABEAU, BARNAVE, CAZALÈS, MAURY, and thirty other +capital writers, attest this truth. Nothing fell from their lips or their pen +that did not hear at the same time the stamp of philosophy and literature.</p> +<p>Under the Legislative Assembly and the Convention, the establishments of the +empire of letters were little respected. Literati themselves became victims of +the political collisions of their country; but literature was constantly +cultivated under several forms. Those who shewed themselves its oppressors, +were obliged to assume the refined language which it alone can supply, and +that, at the very time when they declared war against it.</p> +<p>Under the Directorial government, France, overwhelmed by the weight of her +long misfortunes, first cast her eye on the construction of a new edifice, +dedicated to human knowledge in general, under the name of <i>National +Institute</i>. Literature there collected its remains, and those who cultivate +it, as members of this establishment, are not unworthy of their office. Such as +are not admitted into this society, notwithstanding all the claims the most +generally acknowledged, owe this omission to moral or political causes only, on +which I could not touch, without occupying myself about persons rather than the +thing itself.</p> +<p>The French revolution, which has levelled so many gigantic fortunes, is said +(by its advocates) to have really spread a degree of comfort among the inferior +classes. Indeed, if there are in France, as may be supposed, much fewer persons +rolling in riches, there are, I am informed, much fewer pining in indigence. +This observation, admitting it to be strictly true, may, with great propriety, +be applied to French literature. France no longer has a VOLTAIRE or a ROUSSEAU, +to wield the sceptre of the literary world; but she has a number of literary +degrees of public interest or simple amusement, which are perfectly well +filled. Few literati are without employ, and still fewer are beneath their +functions. The place of member of the Institute is a real public function +remunerated by the State. It is to this cause, and to a few others, which will +occur to you beforehand, that we must attribute the character of gravity which +literature begins to assume in this country. The prudery of the school of DORAT +would here be hissed. Here, people will not quarrel with the Graces; but they +will no longer make any sacrifice to them at the expense of common sense.</p> +<p>In this literary republic still exist, as you may well conceive, the same +passions, the same littleness, the same intrigues as formerly for arriving at +celebrity, and keeping in that envied sphere; but all this makes much less +noise at the present juncture. It is this which has induced the belief that +literature had diminished its intensity, both in form and object: that is +another mistake. The French literati are mostly a noisy class, who love to make +themselves conspicuous, even by the clashing of their pretensions; but, to the +great regret of several among them, people in this country now attach a +rational importance only to their quarrels, which formerly attracted universal +attention. The revolution has been so great an event; it has overthrown such +great interests; that no one here can any longer flatter himself with exciting +a personal interest, except by performing the greatest actions.</p> +<p>I must also make a decisive confession on this matter, and acknowledge that +literature, which formerly held the first degree in the scale of the moral +riches of this nation, is likely to decline in priority and influence. The +sciences have claimed and obtained in the public mind a superiority resulting +from the very nature of their object; I mean utility. The title of +<i>savant</i> is not more brilliant than formerly; but it is more imposing; it +leads to consequence, to superior employments, and, above all, to riches. The +sciences have done so much for this people during their revolution, that, +whether through instinct, or premeditated gratitude, they have declared their +partiality towards the <i>savans</i>, or men of science, to the detriment of +the mere literati. The sciences are nearly allied both to pride and national +interest; while literature concerns only the vanity and interest of a few +individuals. This difference must have been felt, and of itself alone have +fixed the esteem of the public, and graduated their suffrages according to the +merit of the objects. Regard being had to their specific importance, I foresee +that this natural classification will be attended with happy consequences, both +for sciences and literature.</p> +<p>I have been enabled to observe that very few men of science are unacquainted +with the literature of their country, whether for seeking in it pleasing +relaxation, or for borrowing from it a magic style, a fluent elocution, a +harmony, a pomp of expression, with which the most abstract meditations can no +longer dispense to be received favourably by philosophers and men of taste. +Very few literati, on the other hand, are unacquainted with philosophy and the +sciences, and, above all, with natural knowledge; whether not to be too much in +arrear with the age in which they live, and which evidently inclines to the +study of Nature, or to give more colour and consistence to their thoughts, by +multiplying their degrees of comparison with the eternal type of all that is +great and fertile.</p> +<p>It has been so often repeated that HOMER, OSSIAN, and MILTON, knew every +thing known in their times; that they were at once the greatest natural +philosophers and the best moralists of their age, that this truth has made an +impression on most of the adepts in literature; and as the impulse is given, +and the education of the present day by the retrenchment of several unnecessary +pursuits, has left, in the mind of the rising generation, vacancies fit to be +filled by a great variety of useful acquirements, it appears to me +demonstrated, on following analogy, and the gradations of human improvement, +that the sciences, philosophy, and literature will some day have in France but +one common domain, as they there have at present, with the arts, only one +central point of junction.</p> +<p>The French government has flattered the literati and artists, by calling +them in great numbers round it and its ministers, either to give their advice +in matters of taste, or to serve as a decoration to its power, and an +additional lustre to the crown of glory with which it is endeavouring to +encircle itself; but, in general, the palpable, substantial, and solid +distinctions have been reserved for men of science, chymists, naturalists, and +mathematicians: they have seats in the Senate, in the Tribunate, in the Council +of State, and in all the Administrations; while LAHARPE, the veteran of French +literature, is not even a member of the Institute, and is reduced to give +lessons, which are, undoubtedly, not only very interesting to the public, but +also very profitable to himself, and produce him as much money, at least, as +his knowledge has acquired him reputation.</p> +<p>It results from what I have said, that French literature has not experienced +any apparent injury from the revolutionary storm: it has only changed its +direction and means: it has still remaining talents which have served their +time, talents in their maturity, and talents in a state of probation, and of +much promise.</p> +<p>Persons of reflection entertain great hopes from the violent shock given to +men's minds by the revolution; from that silent inquietude still working in +their hearts; from that sap, full of life, circulating with rapidity through +this body politic. "The factions are muzzled," say they; "but the factious +spirit still ferments under the curb of power; if means can be found to force +it to evaporate on objects which belong to the domain of illusion and +sensibility, the result will prove a great blessing to France, by carrying back +to the arts and to literature, and even to commerce, that exuberance of heat +and activity which can no longer be employed without danger on political +subjects."</p> +<p>The same men, whom I have just pointed out, affirm that England herself will +feel, in her literary and scientific system, a salutary concussion from the +direction given here to the public mind. They expect with impatience that the +British government will engage in some great measure of public utility, in +order that the rivalship subsisting between the two nations on political and +military points, which have no longer any object, may soon become, in France, +the most active and most powerful vehicle for different parts of her interior +improvement.</p> +<p>Of all kinds of literature, <i>Epic Poetry</i> is the only one in which +France has not obtained such success as to place her on a level with TASSO and +MILTON. To make amends, her poets have followed with advantage the steps of +ARIOSTO, without being able to surpass him. From this school have issued two +modern epic poems: <i>La guerre des dieux payens contre les dieux +chretiens</i>, by PARNY and <i>La conquête de Naples</i>, by GUDIN. The former +is distinguished by an easy versification, and an imagination jocose and +fertile, though, certainly, far too licentious. Educated in the school of +DORAT, he possesses his redundance and grace, without his fatuity. His elegies +are worthy of TIBULLUS; and his fugitive pieces are at once dictated by wit and +sentiment: thus it was that CHAULIEU wrote, but with more negligence. The +latter has thought to compensate for the energy and grace that should give life +to his subject (which he considers only in a playful and satirical light), by a +truly tiresome multitude of incidents. Conceive three huge volumes in octavo, +for a poem which required but one of a moderate size, and, in them, a +versification frequently negligent. These are two serious faults, which the +French will not readily overlook. No where are critics more severe, on the one +hand, against redundance that is steril, and on the other, respecting the +essential composition of verse, which ought always to flow with grace, even +when under restraint. Catholicism, however, has no more reason to be pleased +with the loose scenes presented in this work, than christianity, in general, +has with the licentious pictures of PARNY; but GUDIN is far less dangerous to +Rome, because he will be less read.</p> +<p>Several authors have devoted their labours to <i>Tragedy</i>, during the +course of the revolution. CHÉNIER has produced a whole theatre, which will +remain to posterity, notwithstanding his faults, as he has contrived to cover +them with beauties. ARNAULT and MERCIER of Compiegne are two young authors that +seem to have been educated in the school of DUCIS, who is at this day the +father of all the present tragic writers. The pieces which they have produced +have met with some success, and are of considerable promise.</p> +<p><i>Comedy</i> lost a vigorous supporter under the tyranny of ROBESPIERRE. +This was FABRE D'EGLANTINE. That poet seldom failed of success, drew none but +bold characters, and placed himself, by his own merit, between MOLIÈRE and +DESTOUCHES. COLIN D'HARLEVILLE and LEGOUVÉ produce agreeable pieces which +succeed. They paint, with an easy and graceful pencil, the absurdities and +humours of society; but their pieces are deficient in plot and action. FABRÉ +D'EGLANTINE pourtrayed, in striking colours, those frightful vices which are +beyond the reach of the law. His pieces are strongly woven and easily +unravelled. PICARD seems to have taken GOLDONI, the celebrated Venetian comic +writer, for his model. Like him, an excellent painter, a writer by impulse, he +produces, with wonderful fecundity, a number of interesting comedies, which +make the audience laugh till they shed tears, and how and then give great +lessons. PALISSOT, CAILHAVA, and MERCIER are still living; but no longer +produce any thing striking.</p> +<p>I shall say little of French eloquence. Under the new form of government, +orators have less opportunity and less scope for displaying transscendant +talents than during the first years of the revolution. Two members of the +government, CAMBACÉRÈS and LEBRUN, have distinguished themselves in this career +by close, logical argument, bright conceptions, and discriminating genius. +BENJAMIN CONSTANT and GUINGUÉNÉ, members of the Tribunate, shewed themselves to +advantage last year, as I understand, in some productions full of energy and +wisdom. DEMEUNIER and BOISSI D'ANGLAS are already, in the Tribunate, veterans +of eloquence; but the man who unites, in this respect, all the approbation of +that body, and even of France, is DAUNOU. In exterior means he is deficient; +but his thoughts proceed at once from a warm heart and an open mind, guided by +a superior genius; and his expressions manifest the source from which they +flow.</p> +<p>Several capital works of the historic kind have made their appearance in +France within the last ten years; but, with the exception of those of +celebrated voyagers or travellers, such as LA PÉROUSE, BAUDIN, SONNINI, +LABILLARDIÈRE, OLIVIER, ANDRÉ MICHAUD, &c. those whose object has been to +treat of the arts, sciences, and manners of Greece, such as the travels of +Anacharsis, of Pythagoras, or of Antenor; those whose subject has not been +confined to France, such as the <i>Précis de l'histoire générale</i>, by +ANQUETIL; people ought to be on their guard against the merit even of +productions written mediately or immediately on the revolution, its causes, and +consequences. The passions are not yet sufficiently calmed for us not to +suspect the spirit of party to interpose itself between men and truth. The most +splendid talents are frequently in this line only the most faithless guide. It +is affirmed, however, that there are a few works which recommend themselves, by +the most philosophic impartiality; but none of these have as yet fallen under +my observation. A striking production is expected from the pen of the +celebrated VOLNEY. This is a <i>Tableau Physique des États Unis</i>; but it is +with regret I hear that its appearance is delayed by the author's +indisposition.</p> +<p><i>Novels</i> are born and die here, as among us, with astonishing +abundance. The rage for evocations and magic spectres begins to diminish. The +French assert that they have borrowed it from us, and from the school of MRS. +RADCLIFF, &c. &c. They also assert, that the policy of the +royalist-party was not unconnected with this propagation of cavernous, +cadaverous adventures, ideas, and illusions, intended, they say, by the +impression of a new moral terror to infatuate their countrymen again with the +dull and soporific prestiges of popery. They see with joy that the taste for +pleasure has assumed the ascendency, at least in Paris, and that novels in the +English style no longer make any one tremble, at night by the fireside, but the +old beldams of the provincial departments.</p> +<p>The less important kinds of literature, such as the <i>Apologue</i> or +<i>Moral Fable</i>, which is not at this day much in fashion; the +<i>Eclogue</i> or <i>Idyl</i>, whose culture particularly belongs to agrestical +and picturesque regions; <i>Political Satire</i>, which is never more refined +than under the influence of arbitrary power; these kinds, to which I might add +the <i>Madrigal</i> and <i>Epigram</i>, without being altogether abandoned, are +not generally enough cultivated here to obtain special mention. I shall make an +exception only in favour of the pastoral poems of LECLERC (of Marne and Loire) +of which I have heard a very favourable account.</p> +<p>At the end of a revolution which has had periods so ensanguined, +<i>Romance</i>, (romantic poetry) must have been cultivated and held in +request. It has been so, especially by sentimental minds, and not a little too +through the spirit of party; this was likely to be the case, since its most +affecting characteristic is to mourn over tombs.</p> +<p><i>Lyric poetry</i> has been carried by LEBRUN, CHÉNIER, &c. to a height +worthy of JEAN BAPTISTE ROUSSEAU. The former, above all, will stand his ground, +by his weight, to the latest posterity; while hitherto the lyric productions of +CHÉNIER have not been able to dispense with the charm of musical harmony. +FONTANES, CUBIÈRES, PONS DE VERDUN, BAOUR-LORNIAN, and DESPAZE are secondary +geniuses, who do not make us forget that DELISLE and the Chevalier BERTIN are +still living; but whose fugitive pieces sometimes display many charms.</p> +<p>When you shall be made acquainted that Paris, of all the cities in the +world, is that where the rage for dancing is the most <i>nationalized</i>, +where, from the gilded apartments of the most fashionable quarters to the smoky +chambers of the most obscure suburbs, there are executed more capers in +cadence, than in any other place on earth, you will not be surprised if I +reserve a special article for one of the kinds of literature that bears the +most affinity to this distinctive diversion of the Parisian belles, which has +led MERCIER to say, that their city was the <i>guingette</i> of Europe; I mean +<i>Song</i>. Perhaps, a subject new and curious to treat on, would be the +influence of vocal music on the French revolution. Every one knows that this +people marched to battle singing; but, independently of the subject being above +my abilities, it would carry me too far beyond the limited plan which I have +prescribed to myself.</p> +<p>Let it suffice for you to know, that there has existed in Paris a sort of +lyric manufactory, which, under the name of "<i>Diners du vaudeville</i>" +scrupulously performed, for several years, an engagement to furnish, every +month, a collection of songs very agreeable and very captivating. These +productions are pretty often full of allusions, more or less veiled, to the +political events of the moment; seldom, however, have they been handled as very +offensive weapons against persons or institutions. The friends of mirth and +wine are seldom dark and dangerous politicians. This country possesses a great +number of them, who combine the talents required by the gravest magistracy with +all the levity of the most witty and most cheerful <i>bon vivant</i>. I shall +quote at random FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHÂTEAU, the two SÉGURS, PIIS, &c. &c. +Others, such as BARRÉ, DESFONTAINES, and RADET, confine themselves to their +exclusive functions of professed song-makers, and write only for the little +musical theatres, or for the leisure of their countrymen and their +evening-amusements.</p> +<p>It is impossible to terminate a sketch of the literature of France, without +saying a word of such of the <i>Journals</i> as I have yet perused, which are +specially devoted to it. The <i>Mercure de France</i> is one of those held in +most esteem; and habit, as well as the spirit of party, concurs in making the +fortune of this journal. There exists another, conducted by a member of the +Institute, named POUGENS, under the title of <i>Bibliothèque Française</i>, +which is spoken of very favourably. But that which appears every ten days, +under the name of <i>Décade Philosophique</i>, is the best production of the +sort. A society of literary men, prudent, well-informed, and warmly attached to +their country, are its authors, and deposit in it a well-digested analysis of +every thing new that appears in the arts, sciences, or literature. +Nevertheless, a labour so carefully performed, is perfectly disinterested. This +is the only enterprise of the kind that does not afford a livelihood to its +associates, and is supported by a zeal altogether gratuitous.</p> +<p>Without seeking to blame or approve the title of this last-mentioned +journal, I shall only remark that the word <i>Décade</i>, coupled with the word +<i>Philosophique</i>, becomes in the eyes of many persons a double cause of +reprobation; and that, at this day, more than ever, those two words are, in the +opinion the most in fashion, marked by a proscription that is reflected on +every thing which belongs to the science of philosophy.</p> +<p>This would be the moment to inquire into the secret or ostensible causes +which have led to the retrograde course that is to be remarked in France in the +ideas which have been hitherto reckoned as conducive to the advancement of +reason. This would be the moment to observe the new government of France +endeavouring to balance, the one by the other, the opinions sprung from the +Republic, and those daily conjured up from the Monarchy; holding in +<i>equilibrio</i> two colours of doctrines so diametrically opposite, and +consequently two parties equally dissatisfied at not being able to crush each +other, <i>neutralizing</i> them, in short, by its immense influence in the +employment of their strength, when they bewilder or exhaust themselves +uselessly for its interests; but I could not touch on these matters, without +travelling out of the domain of literature, which is the only one that is at +present familiar to me, in order to enter into yours, where you have not +leisure to direct me; and you may conceive with what an ill grace I should +appear, in making before you, in politics, excursions, which, probably, would +have for me the inconvenience of commanding great efforts, without leaving me +the hope of adding any thing to your stock of information.</p> +<h2><a name="let35">LETTER XXXV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 18, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Divided as Paris is by the Seine, it seldom happens that one has not +occasion to cross it more than once in the course of the day. I shall therefore +make you acquainted with the bridges which connect to its banks the islands +situated in that part of the river I have not yet described. Being out of my +general track, I might otherwise forget to make any further mention of them, +which would be a manifest omission, now you have before you the Plan of +Paris.</p> +<p>We will also embrace the opportunity of visiting the <i>Palais de +Justice</i> and the Cathedral of <i>Notre-Dame</i>. East of the +<i>Pont-Neuf</i>, we first arrive at the</p> +<p class="center">PONT AU CHANGE.</p> +<p>This bridge, which leads from the north bank of the Seine to the <i>Ile du +Palais</i>, is one of the most ancient in Paris. Though, like all those of +which I have now to speak, it crosses but one channel of the river, it was +called the <i>Grand Pont</i>, till the year 1141, when it acquired its present +name on Lewis VII establishing here all the money-changers of Paris.</p> +<p>It was also called <i>Pont aux Oiseaux</i>, because bird-sellers were +permitted to carry on their business here, on condition of letting loose two +hundred dozen of birds, at the moment when kings and queens passed, in their +way to the cathedral, on the day of their public entry. By this custom, it was +intended to signify that, if the people had been oppressed in the preceding +reign, their rights, privileges, and liberties would be fully re-established +under the new monarch.</p> +<p>On the public entry of Isabeau de Bavière, wife of Charles VI, a Genoese +stretched a rope from the top of the towers of <i>Notre-Dame</i> to one of the +houses on this bridge: he thence descended, dancing on this rope, with a +lighted torch in each hand. Habited as an angel, he placed a crown on the head +of the new queen, and reascending his rope, he appeared again in the air. The +chronicle adds that, as it was already dark, he was seen by all Paris and the +environs.</p> +<p>This bridge was then of wood, and covered with houses also of wood. Two +fires, one of which happened in 1621, and the other in 1639, occasioned it to +be rebuilt of stone in 1647.</p> +<p>The <i>Pont au Change</i> consists of seven arches. Previously to the +demolition of the houses, which, till 1786, stood on each side of this bridge, +the passage was sufficiently wide for three carriages.</p> +<p>Traversing the <i>Ile du Palais</i> from north to south, in order to proceed +from the <i>Pont au Change</i> to the <i>Pont St. Michel</i>, we pass in front +of the</p> +<p class="center">PALAIS DE JUSTICE.</p> +<p>Towards the end of the ninth century, this palace was begun by Eudes. It was +successively enlarged by Robert, son of Hugh Capet, by St. Lewis, and by Philip +the Fair. Under Charles V, who abandoned it to occupy the <i>Hôtel St. +Paul</i>, which he had built, it was nothing more than an assemblage of large +towers, communicating with each other by galleries. In 1383, Charles VI made it +his residence. In 1431, Charles VII relinquished it to the Parliament of Paris. +However, Francis I. took up his abode here for some time.</p> +<p>It was in the great hall of this palace that the kings of France formerly +received ambassadors, and gave public entertainments.</p> +<p>On Whitsunday, 1313, Philip the Fair here knighted his three sons, with all +the ceremonies of ancient chivalry. The king of England, our unfortunate Edward +II, and his abominable queen Isabella, who were invited, crossed the sea on +purpose, and were present at this entertainment, together with a great number +of English barons. It lasted eight days, and is spoken of, by historians, as a +most sumptuous banquet.</p> +<p>This magnificent hall, as well as great part of the palace, being reduced to +ashes in 1618, it was rebuilt, in its present state, under the direction of +that skilful architect, JACQUES DE BROSSES. It is both spacious and majestic, +and is the only hall of the kind in France: the arches and arcades which +support it are of hewn stone.</p> +<p>Another fire, which happened in 1776, consumed all the part extending from +the gallery of prisoners to the <i>Sainte Chapelle</i>, founded by St. Lewis, +and where, before the revolution, were shewn a number of costly relics. The +ravages occasioned by this fire, were repaired in 1787, and the space in front +laid open by the erection of uniform buildings in the form of a crescent. To +two gloomy gothic gates has been substituted an iron railing, of one hundred +and twenty feet in extent, through which is seen a spacious court formed by two +wings of new edifices, and a majestic façade that affords an entrance to the +interior of the palace.</p> +<p>In this court Madame La Motte, who, in 1786, made so conspicuous a figure in +the noted affair of the diamond necklace, was publicly whipped. I was in Paris +at the time, though not present at the execution of the sentence.</p> +<p>In the railing, are three gates, the centre one of which is charged with +garlands and other gilt ornaments. At the two ends are pavilions decorated with +four Doric pillars. Towards the <i>Pont St. Michel</i> is a continuation of the +building ornamented with a bas-relief, at present denominated <i>Le serment +civique</i>.</p> +<p>At the top of a flight of steps, is an avant-corps, with four Doric columns, +a balustrade above the entablature, four statues standing on a level with the +base of the pillars, and behind, a square dome.</p> +<p>These steps lead you to the <i>Mercière</i> gallery, having on the one side, +the <i>Sainte Chapelle</i>, and on the other, the great hall, called the +<i>Salle des Procureurs</i>. In this extensive hall are shops, for the sale of +eatables and pamphlets, which, since the suppression of the Parliament, seem to +have little custom, as well as those of the milliners, &c. in the other +galleries.</p> +<p>In what was formerly called the <i>grande chambre</i>, where the Parliament +of Paris used to sit, the ill-fated Lewis XVI, in 1788, held the famous bed of +justice, in which D'ESPRESMENIL, one of the members of that body, struck the +first blow at royalty; a blow that was revenged by a <i>lettre de cachet</i>, +which exiled him to the <i>Ile de St. Marguerite</i>, famous for being the +place of confinement of the great personage who was always compelled to wear an +<i>iron mask</i>. The courage of this counsellor, who was a noble and deputy of +the <i>noblesse</i>, may be considered as the <i>primum mobile</i> of the +revolution. Under the despotism of the court, he braved all its vengeance; but, +in the sequel, he afforded a singular proof of the instability of the human +mind. After haying stirred up all the parliaments against the royal authority, +he again became the humble servant of the crown.</p> +<p>After the revolution, the <i>Palais de Justice</i> became the seat of the +Revolutionary Tribunal, where the satellites of Robespierre, not content with +sending to the scaffold sixty victims at a time, complained of the +insufficiency of their means for bringing to trial all the enemies of liberty. +Dumas, at one time president of this sanguinary tribunal, proposed to his +colleagues to join to the hall, where the tribunal sat, part of the great hall +of the palace, in order to assemble there five or six hundred victims at a +time; and on its being observed to him that such a sight might in the end +disgust the people; "Well," said he, "there's but one method of accomplishing +our object, without any obstacle, that is to erect a guillotine in the +court-yard of every prison, and cause the prisoners to be executed there during +the night." Had not Robespierre's downfall involved that of all his +blood-thirsty dependents, there seems no doubt that this plan would have been +carried into speedy execution.</p> +<p>Nothing can paint the vicissitude of human events in colours more striking +than the transitions of this critical period. Dumas who made this proposal, and +had partially satisfied his merciless disposition by signing, a few hours +before, the death-warrant of sixty victims, was the very next day brought +before the same tribunal, composed of his accomplices, or rather his creatures, +and by them condemned to die. Thus did experience confirm the general +observation, that the multiplicity and enormity of punishments announces an +approaching revolution. The torrents of blood which tyrants shed, are, in the +end, swelled by their own.</p> +<p>In lieu of a tribunal of blood, the <i>Palais de Justice</i> is now +appropriated to the sittings of the three tribunals, designated by the +following titles: <i>Tribunal de cassation</i>, <i>Tribunal d'appel</i>, and +<i>Tribunal de première instance</i>. The first of these, the <i>Tribunal de +cassation</i>, occupies the audience-chambers of the late parliament; while the +<i>grande chambre</i> is appointed for the meetings of its united Sections. The +decoration of this spacious apartment is entirely changed: it is embellished in +the antique style; and a person in contemplating it might fancy himself at +Athens.</p> +<p>Adjoining to the <i>Palais de Justice</i>, is the famous prison, so dreaded +in the early periods of the revolution, called</p> +<p class="center">LA CONCIERGERIE.</p> +<p>From this fatal abode, neither talent, virtue, nor patriotism could, at one +time, secure those who possessed such enviable qualities. Lavoisier, +Malsherbes, Condorcet, &c. were here successively immured, previously to +being sent to the guillotine. Here too the unfortunate Marie-Antoinette lived +in a comfortless manner, from the 2nd of July, 1793, to the 13th of October +following, the period of her condemnation.</p> +<p>On being reconducted to the prison, at four o'clock in the morning, after +hearing her sentence read, the hapless queen displayed a fortitude worthy of +the daughter of the high-minded Maria Theresa. She requested a few hours' +respite, to compose her mind, and entreated to be left to herself in the room +which she had till then occupied. The moment she was alone, she first cut off +her hair, and then laying aside her widow's weeds, which she had always worn +since the death of the king, put on a white dress, and threw herself on her +bed, where she slept till eleven o'clock the same morning, when she was +awakened, in order to be taken to the scaffold.</p> +<p>Continuing to cross the <i>Ile du Palais</i> in a direction towards the +south, we presently reach the</p> +<p class="center">PONT ST. MICHEL.</p> +<p>This bridge stands in a direct line with the <i>Pont au Change</i>, and is +situated on the south channel of the river. It was formerly of wood: but having +been frequently destroyed, it was rebuilt with stone in 1618, and covered on +both sides with houses. From the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, the back of these buildings +has a most disagreeable and filthy appearance. It is said that they are to be +taken down, as those have been which stood on the other bridges.</p> +<p>In severe winters, when there is much ice in the river, it is curious, on +the breaking up of the frost, to behold families deserting their habitations, +like so many rats, and carrying with them their valuables, from the +apprehension that these crazy tenements might fall into the river. This wise +precaution is suggested by the knowledge of these bridges, when built of wood, +having been often swept away by ice or great inundations.</p> +<p>The <i>Pont St. Michel</i> consists of four arches. Its length is two +hundred and sixty-eight feet, by sixty in breadth, including the houses, +between which is a passage for three carriages.</p> +<p>If, to avoid being entangled in narrow, dirty streets, we return, by the +same route, to the north bank of the Seine, and proceed to the westward, along +the <i>Quai de Gévres</i>, which is partly built on piles, driven into the bed +of the river, we shall come to the</p> +<p class="center">PONT NOTRE-DAME.</p> +<p>A wooden bridge, which previously existed here, having been frequently +carried away by inundations, Lewis XII ordered the construction of the present +one of stone, which was begun in 1499, and completed in 1507. It was built from +the plan of one JOCONDE, a Cordelier, and native of Verona, and is generally +admired for the solidity, as well as beauty of its architecture. It consists of +six arches, and is two hundred and seventy-six feet in length. Formerly it was +bordered by houses, which were taken down in 1786: this has rendered the +quarter more airy, and consequently more salubrious.</p> +<p>It was on this bridge that the Pope's Legate reviewed the ecclesiastical +infantry of the League, on the the 3d of June, 1590. Capuchins, Minimes, +Cordeliers, Jacobins or Dominicans, Feuillans, &c. all with their robe +tucked up, their cowl thrown behind, a helmet on their head, a coat of mail on +their body, a sword by their side, and a musquet on their shoulder, marched +four by four, headed by the reverend bishop of Senlis, bearing a spontoon. But +some of this holy soldiery, forgetting that their pieces were loaded with ball, +wished to salute the Legate, and killed by his side one of his chaplains. His +Eminence finding that it began to grow hot at this review, hastened to give his +benediction, and vanished.</p> +<p /><p /><p /><p class="right"><i>December 18, in continuation</i>.</p> +<p>Traversing once more two-thirds of the <i>Ile du Palais</i> in a direction +from north to south, and then striking off to the east, up the <i>Rue de +Callandre</i>, we reach the</p> +<p class="center">CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE-DAME.</p> +<p>This church, the first ever built in Paris, was begun about the year 375, +under the reign of the emperor Valentinian I. It was then called <i>St. +Etienne</i> or <i>St. Stephen's</i>, and there was as yet no other within the +walls of this city in 1522, when Childebert, son of Clovis, repaired and +enlarged it, adding to it a new basilic, which was dedicated to <i>Notre +Dame</i> or Our Lady.</p> +<p>More anciently, under Tiberius, there had been, on the same spot, an altar +in the open air, dedicated to Jupiter and other pagan gods, part of which is +still in being at the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS, in the <i>Rue des Petits +Augustins</i>.</p> +<p>These two churches existed till about the year 1160, under the reign of +Lewis the Young, when the construction of the present cathedral was begun +partly on their foundations. It was not finished till 1185, during the reign of +Philip Augustus.</p> +<p>This Gothic Church is one of the handsomest and most spacious in France. It +has a majestic and venerable appearance, and is supported by one hundred and +twenty clustered columns. Its length is three hundred and ninety feet by one +hundred and forty-four in breadth, and one hundred and two in height.</p> +<p>We must not expect to find standing here the twenty-six kings, benefactors +of this church, from Childeric I to Philip Augustus, fourteen feet high, who +figured on the same line, above the three doors of the principal façade. They +have all fallen under the blows of the iconoclasts, and are now piled up behind +the church. There lie round-bellied Charlemagne, with his pipe in his mouth, +and Pepin the Short, with his sword in his hand, and a lion, the emblem of +courage, under his feet. The latter, like Tydeus, mentioned in the Iliad, +though small in stature, was stout in heart, as appears from the following +anecdote related of him by the monk of St. Gal.</p> +<p>In former times, as is well known, kings took a delight in setting wild +beasts and ferocious animals to fight against each other. At one of thege +fights, between a lion and a bull, in the abbey of Ferrières, Pepin the Short, +who knew that some noblemen were daily exercising their pleasantry on his small +stature, addressed to them this question: "Which of you feels himself bold +enough to kill or separate those terrible animals?" Seeing that not one of them +stepped forward, and that the proposal alone made them shudder: "Well," added +he, "'tis I then who will perform the feat." He accordingly descended from his +place, drew his sword, killed the lion, at another stroke cut off the head of +the bull, and then looking fiercely at the railers: "Know," said he to them, +"that stature adds nothing to courage, and that I shall find means to bring to +the ground the proud persons who shall dare to despise me, as little David laid +low the great giant Goliah." Hence the attribute given to the statue of king +Pepin, which not long since adorned the façade of <i>Notre-Dame</i>.</p> +<p>The groups of angels, saints, and patriarchs, which, no doubt, owe their +present existence only to their great number, still present to the eye of the +observer that burlesque mixture of the profane and religious, so common in the +symbolical representations of the twelfth century. These figures adorn the +triple row of indented borders of the arches of the three doors.</p> +<p>Two enormous square towers, each two hundred and two feet in height, and +terminated by a platform, decorate each end of the cathedral. The ascent to +them is by a winding staircase of three hundred and eighty-nine steps, and +their communication is by a gallery which has no support but Gothic pillars of +a lightness that excites admiration.</p> +<p>Independently of the six bells, which have disappeared with the little +belfry that contained them, in the two towers were ten, one of which weighed +forty-four thousand pounds.</p> +<p>At the foot of the north tower is the rural calendar or zodiac, which has +been described by M. Le Gentil, member of the Academy of Sciences. The Goths +had borrowed from the Indians this custom of thus representing rustic labours +at the entrance of their temples.</p> +<p>Another Gothic bas-relief, which is seen on the left, in entering by the +great door, undoubtedly represents that condemned soul who, tradition says, +rose from his bier, during divine service, in order to pronounce his own +damnation.</p> +<p>None of the forty-five chapels have preserved the smallest vestige of their +ornaments. Those which escaped the destructive rage of the modern Vandals, have +been transported to the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS. The most remarkable are the +statue of Pierre de Gondi, archbishop of Paris, the mausoleum of the Conte +d'Harcourt, designed by his widow, the modern Artemisia, and executed by +Pigalle, together with the group representing the vow of St. Lewis, by Costou +the elder. Six angels in bronze, which were seen at the further end of the +choir, have also been removed thither.</p> +<p>The stalls present, in square and oval compartments, bas-reliefs very +delicately sculptured, representing subjects taken from the life of the Holy +Virgin and from the New Testament. Of the two episcopal pulpits, which are at +the further end, the one, that of the archbishop, represents the martyrdom of +St. Denis; the other, opposite, the cure of king Childebert, by the +intercession of St. Germain.</p> +<p>Some old tapestry, hung scantily round the choir, makes one regret the +handsome iron railing, so richly wrought, by which it was inclosed, and some +valuable pictures, which now figure in the grand Gallery of the CENTRAL MUSEUM +OF THE ARTS.</p> +<p>The nave, quite as naked as the choir and the sanctuary, had been enriched, +as far as the space would admit, with pictures, twelve feet high, given for a +long time, on every first of May, by the Goldsmiths' company and the fraternity +of St. Anne and St. Marcel.</p> +<p>On the last pillar of the nave, on the right, was the equestrian statue of +Philip of Valois. That king was here represented on horseback, with his vizor +down, sword in hand, and armed cap-à-pié, in the very manner in which he rode +into the cathedral of <i>Notre-Dame</i>, in 1328, after the battle of Cassel. +At the foot of the altar he left his horse, together with his armour, which he +had worn in the battle, as an offering to the Holy Virgin, after having +returned thanks to God and to her, say historians, for the victory he had +obtained through her intercession.</p> +<p>Above the lateral alleys, as well of the choir as of the nave, are large +galleries, separated by little pillars of a single piece, and bordered by iron +balustrades. Here spectators place themselves to see grand ceremonies. From +their balconies were formerly suspended the colours taken from the enemy: these +are now displayed in the <i>Temple of Mars</i> at the HÔTEL DES INVALIDES.</p> +<p>The organ, which appears to have suffered no injury, is reckoned one of the +loudest and most complete in France. It is related that Daquin, an incomparable +organist, who died in 1781, once imitated the nightingale on it so perfectly, +that the beadle was sent on the roof of the church, to endeavour to discover +the musical bird.</p> +<p>Some of the stained glass is beautiful. Two roses, restored to their +original state, the one on the side of the archipiscopal palace in 1726, and +the other above the organ, in 1780, prove by their lustre, that the moderns are +not so inferior to the ancients, in the art of painting on glass, as is +commonly imagined.</p> +<p>Should your curiosity lead you to contemplate the house of Fulbert, the +canon, the supposed uncle to the tender Héloïse, where that celebrated woman +passed her youthful days, you must enter, by the cloister of <i>Notre-Dame</i>, +into the street that leads to the <i>Pont Rouge</i>, since removed. It is the +last house on the right under the arcade, and is easily distinguished by two +medallions in stone, preserved on the façade, though it has been several times +rebuilt during the space of six hundred years. All the authors who have written +on the antiquities of Paris, speak of these medallions as being real portraits +of Abélard and Héloïse. It is presumable that they were so originally; but, +without being a connoisseur, any one may discover that the dresses of these +figures are far more modern than those peculiar to the twelfth century; whence +it may be concluded that the original portraits having been destroyed by time, +or by the alterations which the house has undergone, these busts have been +executed by some more modern sculptor of no great talents.</p> +<p>Leaving the cathedral, by the <i>Rue Notre-Dame</i>, and turning to the +left, on reaching the <i>Marché Palu</i>, we come to the</p> +<p class="center">PETIT PONT.</p> +<p>Like the <i>Pont St. Michel</i>, this bridge is situated on the south +channel of the river, and stands in a direct line with the <i>Pont +Notre-Dame</i>. It originally owed its construction to the following +circumstance.</p> +<p>Four Jews, accused of having killed one of their converted brethren, were +condemned to be publicly whipped through all the streets of the city, on four +successive Sundays. After having suffered the half of their sentence, to redeem +themselves from the other half, they paid 18,000 francs of gold. This sum was +appropriated to the erection of the <i>Petit Pont</i>, the first stone of which +was laid by Charles VI, in 1395.</p> +<p>In 1718, two barges, loaded with hay, caught fire, and being cut loose, +drifted under the arches of this bridge, which, in the space of four hours, was +consumed, together with the houses standing on it. The following year it was +rebuilt, but without houses.</p> +<p>Proceeding to the east, along the quays of the <i>Ile du Palais</i>, you +will find the</p> +<p class="center">PONT AU DOUBLE.</p> +<p>This little bridge, situated behind the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i>, of which I shall +speak hereafter, is destined for foot-passengers only, as was the <i>Pont +Rouge</i>. <a name="let33fr1"></a>The latter was the point of communication +between the <i>Cité</i> and the <i>Ile St. Louis</i>; but the frequent +reparations which it required, occasioned it to be removed in 1791, though, by +the Plan of Paris, it still appears to be in existence. However, it is in +contemplation to replace it by another of stone.[<a href="#let33f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>Supposing that you have regained the north bank of the Seine, by means of +the <i>Pont Notre-Dame</i>, you follow the quays, which skirt that shore, till +you reach the</p> +<p class="center">PONT MARIE.</p> +<p>This bridge forms a communication between the <i>Port St. Paul</i> and the +<i>Ile St. Louis</i>. The <i>Pont Marie</i> was named after the engineer who +engaged with Henry IV to build it; but that prince having been assassinated; +the young king, Lewis XIII, and the queen dowager, laid the first stone in +1614: it was finished, and bordered with houses, in 1635. It consists of five +arches. Its length is three hundred feet by sixty-two in breadth. An inundation +having carried away two of the arches, in 1658, they were repaired without the +addition of houses, and in 1789, the others were removed.</p> +<p>Passing through the <i>Rue des Deux Ponts</i>, which lies in a direct line +with the <i>Pont Marie</i>, we arrive at the</p> +<p class="center">PONT DE LA TOURNELLE.</p> +<p>This bridge takes its name from the <i>Château de la Tournelle</i>, +contiguous to the <i>Porte St. Bernard</i>, where the galley-slaves used +formerly to be lodged, till they were sent off to the different public works. +It consists of six arches of solid construction, and is bordered on each side +by a foot-pavement.</p> +<p>You are now acquainted with all the bridges in Paris; but should you prefer +crossing the Seine in a boat, there are several ferries between the bridges, +and at other convenient places. Here, you may always meet with a waterman, who, +for the sum of one <i>sou</i>, will carry you over, whether master or lackey. +Like the old ferryman Charon, he makes no distinction of persons.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let33f1">Footnote 1</a>: Workmen are, at this moment, +employed in the construction of three new bridges. The first, already +mentioned, will form a communication between the <i>ci-devant Collège des +Quatre Nations</i> and the <i>Louvre</i>; the second, between the <i>Ile du +Palais</i> and the <i>Ile St. Louis</i>; and the third, between the <i>Jardin +des Plantes</i> and the Arsenal. <a href="#let33fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let34">LETTER XXXVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 20, 1801.</i></p> +<p>What a charming abode is Paris, for a man who can afford to live at the rate +of a thousand or fifteen hundred pounds a year! Pleasures wait not for him to +go in quest of them; they come to him of their own accord; they spring up, in a +manner, under his very feet, and form around him an officious retinue. Every +moment of the day can present a new gratification to him who knows how to enjoy +it; and, with prudent management, the longest life even would not easily +exhaust so ample a stock.</p> +<p>Paris has long been termed an epitome of the world. But, perhaps, never +could this denomination be applied to it with so much propriety as at the +present moment. The chances of war have not only rendered it the centre of the +fine arts, the museum of the most celebrated masterpieces in existence, the +emporium where the luxury of Europe comes to procure its superfluities; but the +taste for pleasure has also found means to assemble here all the enjoyments +which Nature seemed to have exclusively appropriated to other climates.</p> +<p>Every country has its charms and advantages. Paris alone appears to combine +them all. Every region, every corner of the globe seems to vie in hastening to +forward hither the tribute of its productions. Are you an epicure? No delicacy +of the table but may be eaten in Paris.—Are you a toper? No delicious +wine but may be drunk, in Paris.—Are you fond of frequenting places of +public entertainment? No sort of spectacle but may be seen in Paris.—Are +you desirous of improving your mind? No kind of instruction but may be acquired +in Paris.—Are you an admirer of the fair sex? No description of female +beauty but may be obtained in Paris.—Are you partial to the society of +men of extraordinary talents? No great genius but comes to display his +knowledge in Paris.—Are you inclined to discuss military topics? No hero +but brings his laurels to Paris.—In a word, every person, favoured by +Nature or Fortune, flies to enjoy the gifts of either in Paris. Even every +place celebrated in the annals of voluptuousness, is, as it were, reproduced in +Paris, which, in some shape or another, presents its name or image.</p> +<p>Without going out of this capital, you may, in the season when Nature puts +on her verdant livery, visit <i>Idalium</i>, present your incense to the +Graces, and adore, in her temple, the queen of love; while at <i>Tivoli</i>, +you may, perhaps, find as many beauties and charms as were formerly admired at +the enchanting spot on the banks of the Anio, which, under its ancient name of +<i>Tibur</i>, was so extolled by the Latin poets; and close to the Boulevard, +at <i>Frascati</i>, you may, in that gay season, eat ices as good as those with +which Cardinal de Bernis used to regale his visiters, at his charming villa in +the <i>Campagna di Roma</i>. Who therefore need travel farther than Paris to +enjoy every gratification?</p> +<p>If then, towards the close of a war, the most frightful and destructive that +ever was waged, the useful and agreeable seem to have proceeded here hand in +hand in improvement, what may not be expected in the tranquillity of a few +years' peace? Who knows but the emperor Julian's "<i>dear Lutetia</i>" may one +day vie in splendour with Thebes and its hundred gates, or ancient Rome +covering its seven mountains?</p> +<p>However, if <i>Tivoli</i> and <i>Frascati</i> throw open their delightful +recesses to the votaries of pleasure only in spring and summer, even now, +during the fogs of December, you may repair to</p> +<p class="center">PAPHOS.</p> +<p>It might almost be said that you enter this place of amusement gratis, for, +though a slight tribute of seventy-five <i>centimes</i> (<i>circa</i> +seven-pence halfpenny sterling) is required for the admission of every person, +yet you may take refreshment to the amount of that sum, without again putting +your hand into your pocket; because the counter mark, given at the door, is +received at the bar as ready-money.</p> +<p>This speculation, the first of the kind in France, and one of the most +specious, is, by all accounts, also one of the most productive. It would be too +rigorous, no doubt, to compare the frequenters of the modern PAPHOS to the +inhabitants of the ancient. Here, indeed, you must neither look for +<i>élégantes</i>, nor <i>muscadins</i>; but you may view belles, less gifted by +Fortune, indulging in innocent recreation; and for a while dispelling their +cares, by dancing to the exhilarating music of an orchestra not ill composed. +Here, the grisette banishes the <i>ennui</i> of six days' application to the +labours of her industry, by footing it away on Sunday. Hither, in short, the +less refined sons and daughters of mirth repair to see and be seen, and to +partake of the general diversion.</p> +<p>PAPHOS is situated on that part of the Boulevard, called the <i>Boulevard du +Temple</i>, whither I was led the other evening by that sort of curiosity, +which can be satisfied only when the objects that afford it aliment are +exhausted. I had just come out of another place of public amusement, at no +great distance, called</p> +<p class="center">LA PHANTASMAGORIE.</p> +<p>This is an exhibition in the <i>Cour des Capucines</i>, adjoining to the +Boulevard, where ROBERTSON, a skilful professor of physics, amuses or terrifies +his audience by the appearance of spectres, phantoms, &c. In the piece +which I saw, called <i>Le Tombeau de Robespierre</i>, he carries illusion to an +extraordinary degree of refinement. His cabinet of physics is rich, and his +effects of optics are managed in the true style of French gallantry. His +experiments of galvanism excite admiration. He repeats the difficult ones of M. +VOLTA, and clearly demonstrates the electrical phenomena presented by the +metallic pile. A hundred disks of silver and a hundred pieces of zinc are +sufficient for him to produce attractions, sparks, the divergency of the +electrometer, and electric hail. He charges a hundred Leyden bottles by the +simple contact of the metallic pile. ROBERTSON, I understand, is the first who +has made these experiments in Paris, and has succeeded in discharging VOLTA's +pistol by the galvanic spark.</p> +<p>FITZJAMES, a famous ventriloquist, entertains and astonishes the company by +a display of his powers, which are truly surprising.</p> +<p>You may, perhaps, be desirous to procure your family circle the satisfaction +of enjoying the <i>Phantasmagoria</i>, though not on the grand scale on which +it is exhibited by ROBERTSON. By the communication of a friend, I am happy in +being enabled to make you master of the secret, as nothing can be more useful +in the education of children than to banish from their mind the deceitful +illusion of ghosts and hobgoblins, which they are so apt to imbibe from their +nurses. But to the point—"You have," says my author, "only to call in the +first itinerant foreigner, who perambulates the streets with a +<i>galantee-show</i> (as it is commonly termed in London), and by imparting to +him your wish, if he is not deficient in intelligence and skill, he will soon +be able to give you a rehearsal of the apparition of phantoms: for, by +approaching or withdrawing the stand of his show, and finding the focus of his +glasses, you will see the objects diminish or enlarge either on the white wall, +or the sheet that is extended.</p> +<p>"The illusion which leads us to imagine that an object which increases in +all its parts, is advancing towards us, is the basis of the +<i>Phantasmagoria</i>, and, in order to produce it with the +<i>galantee-show</i>, you have only to withdraw slowly the lantern from the +place on which the image is represented, by approaching the outer lens to that +on which the object is traced: this is easily done, that glass being fixed in a +moveable tube like that of an opera-glass. As for approaching the lantern +gradually, it may be effected with the same facility, by placing it on a little +table with castors, and, by means of a very simple mechanism, it is evident +that both these movements may be executed together in suitable progression.</p> +<p>"The deception recurred to by phantasmagorists is further increased by the +mystery that conceals, from the eyes of the public, their operations and +optical instruments: but it is easy for the showman to snatch from them this +superiority, and to strengthen the illusion for the children whom you choose to +amuse with this sight. For that purpose, he has only to change the arrangement +of the sheet, by requiring it to be suspended from the ceiling, between him and +the spectators, much in the same manner as the curtain of a playhouse, which +separates the stage from the public. The transparency of the cloth shews +through it the coloured rays, and, provided it be not of too thick and too +close a texture, the image presents itself as clear on the one side as on the +other.</p> +<p>"If to these easy means you could unite those employed by ROBERTSON, such as +the black hangings, which absorb the coloured rays, the little musical +preparations, and others, you might transform all the <i>galantee-shows</i> +into as many <i>phantasmagorias</i>, in spite of the priority of invention, +which belongs, conscientiously, to Father KIRCHER, a German Jesuit, who first +found means to apply his knowledge respecting light to the construction of the +magic lantern.</p> +<p>"The coloured figures, exhibited by the phatasmagorists, have no relation to +these effects of light: they are effigies covered with gold-beater's skin, or +any other transparent substance, in which is placed a dark lantern. The light +of this lantern is extinguished or concealed by pulling a string, or touching a +spring, at the moment when any one wishes to seize on the figure, which, by +this contrivance, seems to disappear.</p> +<p>"The proprietors of the grand exhibitions of <i>phantasmagoria</i> join to +these simple means a combination of different effects, which they partly derive +from the phenomena, presented by the <i>camera obscura</i>. Some faint idea of +that part of physics, called optics, which NEWTON illuminated, by his genius +and experience, are sufficient for conceiving the manner in which these +appearances are produced, though they require instruments and particular care +to give them proper effect."</p> +<p>Such is the elucidation given of the <i>phantasmagoria</i> by an intelligent +observer, whose friend favoured me with this communication.</p> +<h2><a name="let37">LETTER XXXVII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 21, 1801.</i></p> +<p>If Paris affords a thousand enjoyments to the man of fortune, it may truly +be said that, without money, Paris is the most melancholy abode in the world. +Privations are then the more painful, because desires and even wants are +rendered more poignant by the ostentatious display of every object which might +satisfy them. What more cruel for an unfortunate fellow, with an empty purse, +than to pass by the kitchen of a <i>restaurateur</i>, when, pinched by hunger, +he has not the means of procuring himself a dinner? His olfactory nerves being +still more readily affected when his stomach is empty, far from affording him a +pleasing sensation, then serve only to sharpen the torment which he suffers. It +is worse than the punishment of Tantalus, who, dying with thirst, could not +drink, though up to his chin in water.</p> +<p>Really, my dear friend, I would advise every rich epicure to fix his +residence in this city. Without being plagued by the details of housekeeping, +or even at the trouble of looking at a bill of fare, he might feast his eye, +and his appetite too, on the inviting plumpness of a turkey, stuffed with +truffles. A boar's head set before him, with a Seville orange between its +tusks, might make him fancy that he was discussing the greatest interests of +mankind at the table of an Austrian Prime Minister, or British Secretary of +State; while <i>pâtés</i> of <i>Chartres</i> or of <i>Périgord</i> hold out to +his discriminating palate all the refinements of French seasoning. These, and +an endless variety of other dainties, no less tempting, might he contemplate +here, in walking past a <i>magazin de comestibles</i> or +provision-warehouse.</p> +<p>Among the changes introduced here, within these few years, I had heard much +of the improvements in the culinary art, or rather in the manner of serving up +its productions; but, on my first arrival in Paris, I was so constantly engaged +in a succession of dinner-parties, that some time elapsed before I could avail +myself of an opportunity of dining at the house of any of the fashionable</p> +<p class="center">RESTAURATEURS.</p> +<p>This is a title of no very ancient date in Paris. <i>Traiteurs</i> have long +existed here: independently of furnishing repasts at home, these +<i>traiteurs</i>, like Birch in Cornhill, or any other famous London cook, sent +out dinners and suppers. But, in 1765, one BOULANGER conceived the idea of +<i>restoring</i> the exhausted animal functions of the debilitated Parisians by +rich soups of various denominations. Not being a <i>traiteur</i>, it appears +that he was not authorized to serve ragouts; he therefore, in addition to his +<i>restorative</i> soups, set before his customers new-laid eggs and boiled +fowl with strong gravy sauce: those articles were served up without a cloth, on +little marble tables. Over his door he placed the following inscription, +borrowed from Scripture: "<i>Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis, et ego +restaurabo vos.</i>"</p> +<p>Such was the origin of the word and profession of <i>restaurateur</i>.</p> +<p>Other cooks, in imitation of BOULANGER, set up as <i>restorers</i>, on a +similar plan, in all the places of public entertainment where such +establishments were admissible. Novelty, fashion, and, above all, dearness, +brought them into vogue. Many a person who would have been ashamed to be seen +going into a <i>traiteur's</i>, made no hesitation of entering a +<i>restaurateur's</i>, where he paid nearly double the price for a dinner of +the same description. However, as, in all trades, it is the great number of +customers that enrich the trader, rather than the select few, the +<i>restaurateurs</i>, in order to make their business answer, were soon under +the necessity of constituting themselves <i>traiteurs</i>; so that, in lieu of +one title, they now possess two; and this is the grand result of the primitive +establishment.</p> +<p>At the head of the most noted <i>restaurateurs</i> in Paris, previously to +the revolution, was LA BARRIÈRE in the <i>ci-devant Palais Royal</i>; but, +though his larder was always provided with choice food, his cellar furnished +with good wines, his bill of fare long, and the number of his customers +considerable, yet his profits, he said, were not sufficiently great to allow +him to cover his tables with linen. This omission was supplied by green wax +cloth; a piece of economy which, he declared, produced him a saving of near +10,000 livres (<i>circa</i> 400£ sterling) per annum in the single article of +washing. Hence you may form an idea of the extent of such an undertaking. I +have often dined at LA BARRIÈRE'S was always well served, at a moderate charge, +and with remarkable expedition. Much about that time, BEAUVILLIERS, who had +opened, within the same precincts, a similar establishment, but on a more +refined plan, proved a most formidable rival to LA BARRIÈRE, and at length +eclipsed him.</p> +<p>After a lapse of almost eleven years, I again find this identical +BEAUVILLIERS still in the full enjoyment of the greatest celebrity. ROBERT and +NAUDET in the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, and VÉRY on the <i>Terrace des +Feuillant</i> dispute with him the palm in the art of Apicius. All these, it is +true, furnish excellent repasts, and their wines are not inferior to their +cooking: but, after more than one impartial trial, I think I am justified in +giving the preference to BEAUVILLIERS. Let us then take a view of his +arrangements: this, with a few variations in price or quality, will serve as a +general picture of the <i>ars coquinaria</i> in Paris.</p> +<p>On the first floor of a large hotel, formerly occupied, perhaps, by a +farmer-general, you enter a suite of apartments, decorated with arabesques, and +mirrors of large dimensions, in a style no less elegant than splendid, where +tables are completely arranged for large or small parties. In winter, these +rooms are warmed by ornamental stoves, and lighted by <i>quinquets</i>, a +species of Argand's lamps. They are capable of accommodating from two hundred +and fifty to three hundred persons, and, at this time of the year, the average +number that dine here daily is about two hundred; in summer, it is considerably +decreased by the attractions of the country, and the parties of pleasure made, +in consequence, to the environs of the capital.</p> +<p>On the left hand, as you pass into the first room, rises a sort of throne, +not unlike the <i>estrado</i> in the grand audience-chamber of a Spanish +viceroy. This throne is encircled by a barrier to keep intruders at a +respectful distance. Here sits a lady, who, from her majestic gravity and +dignified bulk, you might very naturally suppose to be an empress, revolving in +her comprehensive mind the affairs of her vast dominions. This respectable +personage is Madame BEAUVILLIERS, whose most interesting concern is to collect +from the gentlemen in waiting the cash which they receive at the different +tables. In this important branch, she has the assistance of a lady, somewhat +younger than herself, who, seated by her side, in stately silence, has every +appearance of a maid of honour. A person in waiting near the throne, from his +vacant look and obsequious carriage, might, at first sight, be taken for a +chamberlain; whereas his real office, by no means an unimportant one, is to +distribute into deserts the fruit and other <i>et ceteras</i>, piled up within +his reach in tempting profusion.</p> +<p>We will take our seats in this corner, whence, without laying down our knife +and fork, we can enjoy a full view of the company as they enter. We are rather +early: by the clock, I perceive that it is no more than five: at six, however, +there will scarcely be a vacant seat at any of the tables. "<i>Garçon, la +carte</i>!"—"<i>La voilà devant vous, Monsieur.</i>"</p> +<p>Good heaven! the bill of fare is a printed sheet of double <i>folio</i>, of +the size of an English newspaper. It will require half an hour at least to con +over this important catalogue. Let us see; Soups, thirteen +sorts.—<i>Hors-d'œuvres</i>, twenty-two species.—Beef, +dressed in eleven different ways.—Pastry, containing fish, flesh and +fowl, in eleven shapes. Poultry and game, under thirty-two various +forms.—Veal, amplified into twenty-two distinct articles.—Mutton, +confined to seventeen only.—Fish, twenty-three varieties.—Roast +meat, game, and poultry, of fifteen kinds.—Entremets, or side-dishes, to +the number of forty-one articles.—Desert, thirty-nine.—Wines, +including those of the liqueur kind, of fifty-two denominations, besides ale +and porter.—Liqueurs, twelve species, together with coffee and ices.</p> +<p>Fudge! fudge! you cry—Pardon me, my good friend, 'tis no fudge. Take +the tremendous bill of fare into your own hand. <i>Vide et lege</i>. As we are +in no particular hurry, travel article by article through the whole +enumeration. This will afford you the most complete notion of the expense of +dining at a fashionable <i>restaurateur's</i> in Paris.</p> +<p class="center">BEAUVILLIERS, RESTAURATEUR</p> +<p class="center"><i>Anciennement à la grande Tavernede la République, +Palais-Egalité,<br /> No. 142, Présentement Rue de la LOI, No. 1243.</i></p> +<p class="center">PRIX DES METS POUR UNE PERSONNE.—LES ARTICLES +DONT<br /> LES PRIX NE SONT POINT FIXES, MANQUENT.</p> +<hr width="15%"> +<table summary="paris" align="center" width="65%"> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">POTAGES.</td></tr> +<tr><td width="90%"> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage aux laitues et petits pois</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage aux croûtons à la purée</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage aux choux</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage au consommé</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage au pain</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage de santé</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage au vermicel</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage au ris</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage à la julienne</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage printanier</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage à la purée</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage au lait d'amandes</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Potage en tortue</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">HORS-D'ŒUVRES.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tranche de melon</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Artichaud à la poivrade</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Raves et Radis</td><td>0</td><td align="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td>Salade de concombres</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Thon mariné</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Anchois à l'huile</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Olives</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pied de cochon à la Sainte Mènéhould</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cornichons</td><td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Petit salé aux choux</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Saucisses aux choux</td><td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 Petit Pain de Beurre</td><td>0</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 Œufs frais</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 Citron</td><td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Rissole à la Choisy</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Croquette de volaille</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>3 Rognons à la brochette</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tête de veau en tortue</td><td>2</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tête de veau au naturel</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 Côtelette de porc frais, sauce robert</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chou-Croûte garni</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Jambon de Mayence aux épinards</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENTRÉES DE BŒUF.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bœuf au naturel ou à la sauce</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bœuf aux choux ou aux légumes</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Carnebif</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Rosbif</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Filet de Bœuf sauté dans sa glace</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bifteck</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Entre-côte, sauce aux cornichons</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Palais de Bœuf au gratin</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Palais de Bœuf à la poulette ou à l'Italienne</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Langue de Bœuf glacée aux épinards</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Jarrets de veau</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENTRÉES DE PATISSERIE.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pâté chaud de légumes</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 petits Pâtés à la Béchamel</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 petits Pâtés au jus</td><td>0</td><td align="right">16</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 Pâté chaud d'anguille</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 Pâté chaud de crêtes et de rognons de coqs</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tourte de godiveau</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tourte aux confitures</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vol-au-Vent de filets de volailles</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vol-au-Vent de Saumon frais</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vol-au-Vent de morue à la Béchamel</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vol-au-Vent de cervelle de veau à l'Allemande</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENTRÉES DE VOLAILLES.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Toutes les entrées aux Truffes sont de 15 +de plus.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Caille aux petits pois</td><td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pigeon à la crapaudine</td><td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chapon au riz, le quart</td><td>2</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chapon au gros sel, le quart</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Demi-poulet aux Truffes ou aux Huitres</td> + <td>4</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fricassée de poulets garnie, la moitié</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fricassée de poulets, la moitié</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Salade de volaille</td> <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Friteau de poulet, la moitié</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Demi-poulet à la ravigotte ou à la tartare</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Marinade de poulet, la moitié</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le quart d'un poulet à l'estragon ou à la crème ou aux laitues</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Blanquette de poularde</td><td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 cuisse de poulet aux petits pois</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 cuisse de volaille au jambon</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 côtelettes de poulet</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 cuisse ou aile de poulet en papillote</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 cuisse de poulet à la Provençale</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ragoût mêlé de crêtes et de rognons de coqs</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Capilotade de volaille</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Filet de poularde au suprême</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mayonaise de volaille</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cuisses de Dindon grillées, sauce robert</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le quart d'un Canard aux petits pois ou aux navets</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Foie gras en caisses ou en matelote</td> + <td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Perdrix aux choux, la moitié</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Salmi de perdreau au vin de Champagne</td> + <td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Pigeons en compote ou aux petits pois</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Béchamel de blanc de volaille</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 cuisses de poulet en hochepot</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ailerons de dinde aux navets</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Blanc de volaille aux concombres</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENTRÉES DE VEAU.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Riz de veau piqué, à l'oseille ou à la chicorée</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Riz de veau à la poulette</td><td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fricandeau aux petits pois</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fricandeau à la chicorée</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fricandeau à la ravigotte</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fricandeau à l'oseille</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fricandeau à l'Espagnole</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Côtelette de veau au jambon</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Côtelette de veau aux petits pois</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Côtelette de veau en papillotte</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Côtelette de veau panée, sauce piquante</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Côtelette de veau, sauce tomate</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Blanquette de veau</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Oreille de veau à la ravigotte</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Oreille de veau farcie, frite</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Oreille de veau frite ou en marinade</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cervelle de veau en matelote</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cervelle de veau à la purée</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons de veau panés, grillés, sauce piquante</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons de veau à la poulette</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons de veauen macédoine</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons de veau aux petits pois</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENTRÉES DE MOUTON.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Gigot de mouton braisé, aux légumes</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons de mouton grillés</td><td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons de mouton aux petits pois</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Hachi de mouton à la Portugaise</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 Côtelettes de mouton à la minute</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 Côtelettes de mouton aux racines</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 Côtelettes de mouton au naturel</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>2 Côtelettes de pré</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Epigramme d'agneau</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>2 Côtelettes d'agneau au naturel</td> + <td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons d'agneau aux pointes d'asperges</td> + <td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Tendons d'agneau aux petits pois</td> + <td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Blanquette d'agneau</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Filet de chevreuil</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Côtelette de chevreuil</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Queue de mouton à la purée</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Queue de mouton à l'oseille ou à la chicorée</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENTRÉES DE POISSONS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Merlan frit</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Maquereau à la maître d'hôtel</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Saumon frais, sauce aux câpres</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Raie, sauce aux câpres ou au beurre noir</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Turbot, sauce aux câpres</td><td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cabillaud</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Morue fraîche au beurre fondu</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Morue d'Hol. à la maître-d'hôtel ou à la Provençale</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Sole frite</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Sole sur le plat</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Eperlans frits</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Barbue</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Turbotin</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Matelote de carpe et d'anguille</td> + <td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tronçon d'anguille à la tartare</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Carpe frite, la moitié</td><td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Perche du Rhin à la Vallesfiche</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Goujons frits</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Truite au bleu</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Laitance de carpe</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Moules à la poulette</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Homard</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Esturgeon</td><td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">RÔTS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bécasse</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>3 Mauviettes</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Poularde fine 9fr. la moitié</td> + <td>4</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Poulet Normand, 7fr. la moitié</td> + <td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Poulet gras, 6fr. la moitié</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>1 Pigeon de volière</td><td>2</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Perdreau rouge</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Perdreau gris</td><td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Caneton de Rouen</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Caille</td><td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Agneau</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Veau</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mouton</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Levreau</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Grive</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Obergine</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">ENTREMETS.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Gelée de citron</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Concombres à la Béchamel</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Laitues a jus</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Petits pois à la Française ou à l'Anglaise</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Haricots verts à la poulette ou à l'Anglaise</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Haricots blancs à la maître-d'hôtel</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fèves de marais</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Artichaud à la sauce</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Artichaud à la barigoul</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Artichaud frit</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Truffes au vin de Champagne</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Truffes à l'Italienne</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Croûte aux truffes</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Navets</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Carottes</td><td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Epinards au jus</td><td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chicorée au jus</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Céleri au jus</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Choux-fleurs à la sauce ou au parmesan</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Macédoine de légumes</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pommes de terre à la maître-d'hôtel</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">18</td></tr> +<tr><td>Champignons à la Bordelaise</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Croûtes aux champignons</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Œufs brouillés au jus</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Œufs au beurre noir</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Omelette aux fines herbes</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Omelette aux rognons ou au jambon</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Omelette au sucre ou aux confitures</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Omelette soufflée</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Beignets de pommes</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Charlotte de pommes</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Charlotte aux confitures</td><td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Riz soufflé</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Soufflé aux pommes de terre</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le petit pôt de crème</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Macaroni d'Italie au parmesan</td> + <td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fondu</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Plumpuding</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Eorevisses</td><td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Salade</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">DESSERT.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cerneaux</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Raisins</td><td>1</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fraises</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Cerises</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Groseilles</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Framboises</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Abricot</td><td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pêche</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Prunes</td><td>0</td><td align="right">3</td></tr> +<tr><td>Figue</td><td>0</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Amandes</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Noisettes</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pommes à la Portugaise</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Poires</td><td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pomme</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote de verjus épépine</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote d'épine-vinette</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote de poires</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote de pommes</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote de cerises</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Nix Vert</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Meringue</td><td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote de groseilles</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote d'abricot</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Compote de pêche</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Confitures</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cerises liquides</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Marmelade d'abricots</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Gelée de groseilles</td><td>1</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Biscuit à la crème</td><td>1</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fromage à la crème</td><td>1</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fromage de Roquefort</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fromage de Viry</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fromage de Gruyère</td><td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fromage de Neufehâtel</td><td>0</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fromage de Clochestre ou Chester</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cerises à l'eau-de-vie</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Prunes à l'eau-de-vie</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Abricots à l'eau-de-vie</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Pêches à l'eau-de-vie</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">VINS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Clarette</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Bourgogne</td><td>1</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Chablis</td><td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Beaune</td><td>2</td><td align="right">5</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Mulsaux</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Montrachet</td><td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Pomard</td><td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Volnay</td><td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Nuits</td><td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Grave</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Soterne</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Champagne mousseux</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de champagne, mousseux</td><td>4</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tisane de Champagne</td><td>3</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Rosé</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Silery rouge</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Silery blanc</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Pierri</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin d'Aï</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Porto</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Latour</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Côte-Rôtie</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin du Clos Vougeot de 88</td><td>7</td><td align="right">4</td></tr> +<tr><td>Clos St. Georges</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Pomarel</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin du Rhin</td><td>8</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Chambertin</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de l'Hermitage rouge</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de l'Hermitage blanc</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin delà Romanée</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ronflante Conti</td><td>8</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Richebourg</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chevalier montrachet</td><td>6</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Vône</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vîn de Bordeaux de Ségur</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Bordeaux Lafite</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Saint Emilion</td><td>5</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bierre forte ou porter</td><td>2</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bierre</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">VINS DE LIQUEURS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>fr.</td><td align="right">s.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Chereste, demi-bouteille</td> + <td>4</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vin de Malvoisie, <i>idem</i></td> + <td>4</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Madère sec <i>id.</i></td><td>4</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Malaga</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Alicante <i>id.</i></td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Muscat</td><td>3</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td>Le petit verre</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Vermouth</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Chipre</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Calabre</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Paille</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Palme</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Constance</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Tokai</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Le petit verre</td><td>1</td><td align="right">0</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">LIQUEURS.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Anisette d'Hollande</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Anisette de Bordeaux</td><td>0</td><td align="right">12</td></tr> +<tr><td>Eau-de-vie d'Andaye</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fleur d'Orange</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Cuirasseau</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Rhum</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Kirschewaser</td><td>0</td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Eau Cordiale de Coradon</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Liqueurs des Isles</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Marasquin</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Eau-de-vie de Dantzick</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +<tr><td>Eau-de-vie de Coignac</td><td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Casé, la tasse 12s. la demie</td> + <td>0</td><td align="right">8</td></tr> +<tr><td>Glace</td><td>0</td><td align="right">15</td></tr> +</table> +<p>One advantage, well deserving of notice, of this bill of fare with the price +annexed to each article, is, that, when you have made up your mind as to what +you wish to have for dinner, you have it in your power, before you give the +order, to ascertain the expense. But, though you see the price of each dish, +you see not the dish itself; and when it comes on the table, you may, perhaps, +be astonished to find that a pompous, big-sounding name sometimes produces only +a scrap of scarcely three mouthfuls. It is the mountain in labour delivered of +a mouse.</p> +<p>However, if you are not a man of extraordinary appetite, you may, for the +sum of nine or ten francs, appease your hunger, drink your bottle of Champagne +or Burgundy, and, besides, assist digestion by a dish of coffee and a glass of +liqueur. Should you like to partake of two different sorts of wine, you may +order them, and drink at pleasure of both; if you do not reduce the contents +below the moiety, you pay only for the half bottle. A necessary piece of advice +to you as a stranger, is, that, while you are dispatching your first dish, you +should take care to order your second, and so on in progression to the end of +the chapter: otherwise, for want of this precaution, when the company is very +numerous, you may, probably, have to wait some little time between the acts, +before you are served.</p> +<p>This is no trifling consideration, if you purpose, after dinner, to visit +one of the principal theatres: for, if a new or favourite piece be announced, +the house is full, long before the raising of the curtain; and you not only +find no room at the theatre to which you first repair; but, in all probability, +this disappointment will follow you to every other for that evening.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, ten or fifteen minutes are sufficient for the most dainty or +troublesome dish to undergo its final preparation, and in that time you will +have it smoking on the table. Those which admit of being completely prepared +beforehand, are in a constant state of readiness, and require only to be set +over the fire to be warmed. Each cook has a distinct branch to attend to in the +kitchen, and the call of a particular waiter to answer, as each waiter has a +distinct number of tables, and the orders of particular guests to obey in the +dining-rooms. In spite of the confused noise arising from the gabble of so many +tongues, there being probably eighty or a hundred persons calling for different +articles, many of whom are hasty and impatient, such is the habitual good order +observed, that seldom does any mistake occur; the louder the vociferations of +the hungry guests, the greater the diligence of the alert waiters. Should any +article, when served, happen not to suit your taste, it is taken back and +changed without the slightest murmur.</p> +<p>The difference between the establishments of the fashionable +<i>restaurateurs</i> before the revolution, and those in vogue at the present +day, is, that their profession presenting many candidates for public favour, +they are under the continual necessity of employing every resource of art to +attract customers, and secure a continuance of them. The commodiousness and +elegance of their rooms, the savouriness of their cooking, the quality of their +wines, the promptitude of their attendants, all are minutely criticized; and, +if they study their own interest, they must neglect nothing to flatter the eyes +and palate. In fact, how do they know that some of their epicurean guests may +not have been of their own fraternity, and once figured in a great French +family as <i>chef de cuisine</i>?</p> +<p>Of course, with all this increase of luxury, you must expect an increase of +expense: but if you do not now dine here at so reasonable a rate as formerly, +at least you are sumptuously served for your money. If you wish to dine +frugally, there are numbers of <i>restaurateurs</i>, where you may be decently +served with <i>potage</i>, <i>bouilli</i>, an <i>entrée</i>, an +<i>entremet</i>, bread and desert, for the moderate sum of from twenty-six to +thirty <i>sous</i>. The addresses of these cheap eating-houses, if they are not +put into your hand in the street, will present themselves to your eye, at the +corner of almost every wall in Paris. Indeed, all things considered, I am of +opinion that the difference in the expense of a dinner at a +<i>restaurateur's</i> at present, and what it was ten or eleven years ago, is +not more than in the due proportion of the increased price of provisions, +house-rent, and taxes.</p> +<p>The difference the most worthy of remark in these rendezvous of good cheer, +unquestionably consists in the company who frequent them. In former times, the +dining-rooms of the fashionable <i>restaurateurs</i> were chiefly resorted to +by young men of good character and connexions, just entering into life, +superannuated officers and batchelors in easy circumstances, foreigners on +their travels, &c. At this day, these are, in a great measure, succeeded by +stock-jobbers, contractors, fortunate speculators, and professed gamblers. In +defiance of the old proverb, "<i>le ventre est le plus grand de tous nos +ennemis,</i>" guttling and guzzling is the rage of these upstarts. It is by no +means uncommon to see many of them begin their dinner by swallowing six or +seven dozen of oysters and a bottle of white wine, by way of laying a +foundation for a <i>potage en tortue</i> and eight or ten other rich dishes. +Such are the modern parvenus, whose craving appetites, in eating and drinking, +as in every thing else, are not easily satiated.</p> +<p>It would be almost superfluous to mention, that where rich rogues abound, +luxurious courtesans are at no great distance, were it not for the sake of +remarking that the former often regale the latter at the <i>restaurateurs</i>, +especially at those houses which afford the convenience of snug, little rooms, +called <i>cabinets particuliers</i>. Here, two persons, who have any secret +affairs to settle, enjoy all possible privacy; for even the waiter never has +the imprudence to enter without being called. In these asylums, Love arranges +under his laws many individuals not suspected of sacrificing at the shrine of +that wonder-working deity. Prudes, whose virtue is the universal boast, and +whose austerity drives thousands of beaux to despair, sometimes make themselves +amends for the reserve which they are obliged to affect in public, by indulging +in a private <i>tête-à-tête</i> in these mysterious recesses. In them too, +young lovers frequently interchange the first declarations of eternal +affection; to them many a husband owes the happiness of paternity; and without +them the gay wife might, perhaps, be at a loss to deceive her jealous Argus, +and find an opportunity of lending an attentive ear to the rapturous addresses +of her aspiring gallant.</p> +<p>What establishment then can be more convenient than that of a +<i>restaurateur</i>? But you would be mistaken, were you to look for +<i>cabinets particuliers</i> at every house of this denomination, Here, at +BEAUVILLIERS', for instance, you will find no such accommodation, though if you +dislike dining in public, you may have a private room proportioned to the +number of a respectable party: or, should you be sitting at home, and just +before the hour of dinner, two or three friends call in unexpectedly, if you +wish to enjoy their company in a quiet, sociable manner, you have only to +dispatch your <i>valet de place</i> to BEAUVILLIERS' or to the nearest +<i>restaurateur</i> of repute for the bill of fare, and at the same time desire +him to bring table-linen, knives, silver forks, spoons, and all other necessary +appurtenances. While he is laying the cloth, you fix on your dinner, and, in +little more than a quarter of an hour, you have one or two elegant courses, +dressed in a capital style, set out on the table. As for wine, if you find it +cheaper, you can procure that article from some respectable wine-merchant in +the neighbourhood. In order to save trouble, many single persons, and even +small families now scarcely ever cook at home; but either dine at a +<i>restaurateur's</i>, or have their dinners constantly furnished from one of +these sources of culinary perfection.</p> +<p>But, while I am relating to you the advantages of these establishments, time +flies apace: 'tis six o'clock.—If you are not disposed to drink more +wine, let us have some coffee and our bill. When you want to pay, you say: +"<i>Garçon, la carte payante!</i>" The waiter instantly flies to a person, +appointed for that purpose, to whom he dictates your reckoning. On consulting +your stomach, should you doubt what you have consumed, you have only to call in +the aid of your memory, and you will be perfectly satisfied that you have not +been charged with a single article too much or too little.</p> +<p>Remark that portly man, so respectful in his demeanour. It is BEAUVILLIERS, +the master of the house: this is his most busy hour, and he will now make a +tour to inquire at the different tables, if his guests are all served according +to their wishes. He will then, like an able general, take a central station, +whence he can command a view of all his dispositions. The person, apparently +next in consequence to himself, and who seems to have his mind absorbed in +other objects, is the butler: his thoughts are, with the wine under his care, +in the cellar.</p> +<p>Observe the cleanly attention of the waiters, neatly habited in close-bodied +vests, with white aprons before them: watch the quickness of their motions, and +you will be convinced that no scouts of a camp could be more <i>on the +alert</i>. An establishment, so extremely well conducted, excites admiration. +Every spring of the machine duly performs its office; and the regularity of the +whole might serve as a model for the administration of an extensive State. +Repair then, ye modern Machiavels, to N° 1243, <i>Rue de la Loi</i>; and, +while you are gratifying your palate, imbibe instruction from BEAUVILLIERS.</p> +<h2>END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</h2> +<hr> +<hr> +<p>PARIS</p> +<p>AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS;</p> +<p>OR</p> +<p>A Sketch of the French Capital,</p> +<p>ILLUSTRATIVE OF</p> +<p>THE EFFECTS OF THE REVOLUTION,</p> +<p>WITH RESPECT TO</p> +<p>SCIENCES,<br /> +LITERATURE,<br /> +ARTS,<br /> +RELIGION,<br /> +EDUCATION,<br /> +MANNERS,<br /> +AND<br /> +AMUSEMENTS;</p> +<p>COMPRISING ALSO</p> +<p>A correct Account of the most remarkable National Establishments and Public +Buildings.</p> +<p>In a Series of Letters,</p> +<p>WRITTEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER,</p> +<p>DURING THE YEARS 1801-2,</p> +<p>TO A FRIEND IN LONDON.</p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p><i>Ipsâ varietate tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis, quædem fortasse omnibus +placeant. PLIN. Epist.</i></p> +<hr width="25%"> +<p /><p /><p>VOL. II</p> +<p>LONDON</p> +<p>1803</p> +<p /><p /><p /><h1>A SKETCH OF PARIS, &c. &c.</h1> +<h2><a name="let38">LETTER XXXVIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 23, 1801.</i></p> +<p>An establishment at once deserving of the attention of men of feeling, +particularly of those who, in cultivating literature, apply themselves to the +science of metaphysics and grammar; an establishment extremely interesting to +every one, the great difficulties of which mankind had, repeatedly, in the +course of ages, endeavoured to encounter, and which had driven to despair all +those who had ventured to engage in the undertaking; an establishment, in a +word, which produces the happiest effects, and in a most wonderful manner, is +the</p> +<p class="center">NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB.</p> +<p>To the most religious of philanthropists is France indebted for this sublime +discovery, and the Abbé SICARD, a pupil of the inventor; the Abbé de l'Epée, +has carried it to such a degree of perfection, that it scarcely appears +possible to make any further progress in so useful an undertaking. And, in +fact, what can be wanting to a species of instruction the object of which is to +establish between the deaf and dumb, and the man who hears and speaks, a +communication like that established between all men by the knowledge and +practice of the same idiom; when the deaf and dumb man, by the help of the +education given him, succeeds in decomposing into phrases the longest period; +into simple propositions, the most complex phrase; into words, each +proposition; into simple words, words the most complex: and when he +distinguishes perfectly words derived from primitives; figurative words from +proper ones; and when, after having thus decomposed the longest discourse, he +recomposes it; when, in short, the deaf and dumb man expresses all his ideas, +all his thoughts, and all his affections; when he answers, like men the +best-informed, all questions put to him, respecting what he knows through the +nature of his intelligence, and respecting what he has learned, either from +himself or from him who has enlightened his understanding? What wish remains to +be formed, when the deaf and dumb man is enabled to learn by himself a foreign +language, when he translates it, and writes it, as well as those of whom it is +the mother-tongue?</p> +<p>Such is the phenomenon which the Institution of the deaf and dumb presents +to the astonishment of Europe, under the direction, or rather under the +regeneration of the successor of the celebrated Abbé de l'Epée. His pupils +realize every thing that I have just mentioned. They write English and Italian +as well as they do French. Nothing equals the justness and precision of their +definitions.</p> +<p>Nor let it be imagined that they resemble birds repeating the tunes they +have learned. Never have they been taught the answer to a question. Their +answers are always the effect of their good logic, and of the ideas of objects +and of qualities of beings, acquired by a mind which the Institutor has formed +from the great art of observation.</p> +<p>This institution was far short of its present state of perfection at the +death of the celebrated inventor, which happened on the 23d of December 1789. +During the long career of their first father, the deaf and dumb had been able +to find means only to write, under the dictation of signs, words whose import +was scarcely known to them. When endeavours were made to make them emerge from +the confined sphere of the first wants, not one of them knew how to express in +writing any thing but ideas of sense and wants of the first necessity. The +nature of the verb, the relations of tenses, that of other words comprehended +in the phrase, and which form the syntax of languages, were utterly unknown to +them. And, indeed, how could they answer the most trifling question? Every +thing in the construction of a period was to them an enigma.</p> +<p>It was not long before the successor of the inventor discovered the defect +of this instruction, which was purely mechanical and acquired by rote. He +thought he perceived this defect in the <i>concrete</i> verb, in which the deaf +and dumb, seeing only a single word, were unable to distinguish two ideas which +are comprehended in it, that of affirmation and that of quality. He thought he +perceived also that defect in the expression of the qualities, always +presented, in all languages, out of the subjects, and never in the noun which +they modify; and, by the help of a process no less simple than ingenious and +profound, he has made the deaf and dumb comprehend the most arduous difficulty, +the nature of abstraction; he has initiated them in the art of generalizing +ideas by presenting to them the adjective in the noun, as the quality is in the +object, and the quality subsisting alone and out of the object, having no +support but in the mind, for him who considers it, and but in the abstract noun +for him who reads the expression of it. He has, in like manner, separated the +verb from the quality in concrete verbs, and communicated to the deaf and dumb +the knowledge of the true verb, which he has pointed out to them in the +termination of all the French verbs, by reattaching to the subject, by a line +agreed on, its verbal quality. This line he has translated by the verb <i>to +be</i>, the only verb recognized by philosophic grammarians.</p> +<p>These are the two foundations of this very extraordinary source of +instruction, and on which all the rest depend. The pronouns are learned by +nouns; the tenses of conjugation, by the three absolute tenses of conjugation +of all languages; and these, by this line, so happily imagined, which is a sign +of the present when it connects the verbal quality and the subject, a sign of +the past when it is intersected, a sign of the future when it is only +begun.</p> +<p>All the conjugations are reduced to a single one, as are all the verbs. The +adverbs considered as adjectives, when they express the manner, and as +substitutes for a preposition and its government, when they express time or +place, &c. The preposition represented as a mean of transmitting the +influence of the word which precedes it to that which follows it; the articles +serving, as in the English language, to determine the extent of a common noun. +Such is a summary of the grammatical system of the Institutor of the deaf and +dumb.</p> +<p>It is the metaphysical part, above all, which, in this institution, is +carried to such a degree of simplicity and clearness, that it is within reach +of understandings the most limited. And, indeed, one ought not to be astonished +at the rapid progress of the deaf and dumb in the art of expressing their ideas +and of communicating in writing with every speaker, as persons absent +communicate with each other by similar means. In the space of eighteen months, +a pupil begins to give an account in writing of the actions of which he is +rendered a witness, and, in the space of five years, his education is +complete.</p> +<p>The objects in which the deaf and dumb are instructed, are Grammar, the +notions of Metaphysics and Logic, which the former renders necessary, Religion, +the Use of the Globes, Geography, Arithmetic, general notions of History, +ancient and modern, of Natural History, of Arts and Trades, &c.</p> +<p>These unfortunates, restored by communication to society, from which Nature +seemed to have intended to exclude them, are usefully employed. One of their +principal occupations is a knowledge of a mechanical art. Masters in the most +ordinary arts are established in the house of the deaf and dumb, and every one +there finds employment in the art which best suits his inclination, his +strength, and his natural disposition. In this school, which is established at +the extremity of the <i>Faubourg St. Jacques</i>, is a printing-office, where +some are employed as compositors; others, as pressmen. In a preparatory +drawing-school they are taught the rudiments of painting, engraving, and +Mosaic, for the last of which there are two workshops. There is also a person +to teach engraving on fine grained stones, as well as a joiner, a tailor, and a +shoemaker. The garden, which is large, is cultivated by the deaf and dumb. +Almost every thing that is used by them is made by themselves. They make their +own bedsteads, chairs, tables, benches, and clothes. The deaf and dumb females +too make their shirts, and the rest of their linen.</p> +<p>Thus their time is so taken up that, with the exception of three hours +devoted to moral instruction, all the rest is employed in manual labour.</p> +<p>Such is this establishment, where the heart is agreeably affected at the +admirable spectacle which presents at once every thing that does the most +honour to human intelligence, in the efforts which it has been necessary to +make in order to overcome the obstacles opposed to its development by the +privation of the sense the most useful, and that of the faculty the most +essential to the communication of men with one another, and the sight of the +physical power employed in seeking, in arts and trades, resources which render +men independent.</p> +<p>But to what degree are these unfortunates deaf, and why are they dumb?</p> +<p>It is well known that they are dumb because they are deaf, and they are more +or less deaf, when they are so only by accident, in proportion as the auditory +nerve is more or less braced, or more or less relaxed. In various experiments +made on sound, some have heard sharp sounds, and not grave ones; others, on the +contrary, have heard grave sounds, and not sharp ones.</p> +<p>All would learn, were it deemed expedient to teach them, the mechanism of +speech. But, besides that the sounds which they would utter, would never be +heard by themselves, and they would never be conscious of having uttered them, +those, sounds would be to those who might listen to them infinitely +disagreeable. Never could they be of use, to them in conversing with us, and +they would serve only to counteract their instruction.</p> +<p>Woe be to the deaf and dumb whom it should be proposed to instruct by +teaching them to speak! How, in fact, can, the development of the understanding +be assisted by teaching them a mechanism which has no object or destination, +when the thought already formed in the mind, by the help of signs which fix the +ideas, restores not the mechanism of speech?</p> +<p>Of this the Institutor has been fully sensible, and, although in his public +lessons, he explains all the efforts of the vocal instrument or organ of the +voice, and proves that he could, as well as any other man, teach the deaf and +dumb to make use of it, all his labour is confined to exercising the instrument +of thought, persuaded that every thing will be obtained, when the deaf and dumb +shall have learned to arrange their ideas, and to think.</p> +<p>It is then only that the Institutor gives lessons of analysis. But, how +brilliant are they! You think yourself transported into a class of logic. The +deaf and dumb man has ceased to be so. A contest begins between him and his +master. All the spectators are astonished; every one wishes to retain what is +written on both sides. It is a lesson given to all present.</p> +<p>Every one is invited to interrogate the deaf and dumb man, and he answers to +any person whatsoever, with a pen or pencil in his hand, and in the same manner +puts a question. He is asked, "What is Time?"—"Time," says the dumb +pupil, "is a portion of duration, the nature of which is to be successive, to +have commenced, and consequently to have passed, and to be no more; to be +present, and to be so through necessity. Time," adds he, "is the fleeting or +the future." As if in the eyes of the dumb there was nothing real in Time but +the future.—"What is eternity?" says another to him—"It is a day +without yesterday, or to-morrow," replies the pupil.—"What is a +sense?"—"It is a vehicle for ideas."—"What is duration?"—"It +is a line which has no end, or a circle."—"What is happiness?"—"It +is a pleasure which never ceases."—"What is God?"—"The author of +nature, the sun of eternity."—"What is friendship?"—"The affection +of the mind."—"What is gratitude?"—"The memory of the heart."</p> +<p>There are a thousand answers of this description, daily collected at the +lessons of the deaf and dumb by those who attend them, and which attest the +superiority of this kind of instruction over the common methods. Thus, this +institution is not only, in regard to beneficence and humanity, deserving of +the admiration of men of feeling, it merits also the observation of men of +superior understanding and true philosophers, on account of the ingenious +process employed here to supply the place of the sense of seeing by that of +hearing, and speech by gesture and writing.</p> +<p>I must not conceal from my countrymen, above all, that the Institutor, in +his public lessons, formally declares, that it is by giving to the French +language the simple form of ours, and accommodating to it our syntax, he has +been chiefly successful in making the deaf and dumb understand that of their +own country. I must also add, that it is no more than a justice due to the +Institutor to say that, in the midst of the concourse of auditors, who press +round him, and who offer him the homage due to his genius and philanthropy, he +shews for all the English an honourable preference, acknowledging to them, +publicly, that this attention is a debt which he discharges in return for the +asylum that we granted to the unfortunate persons of his profession, who, +emigrating from their native land, came among us to seek consolation, and found +another home.</p> +<p>Should ever this feeble sketch of so interesting an institution reach +SICARD, that religious philosopher, who belongs as much to every country in the +world as to France, the land which gave him birth, he will find in it nothing +more than the expression of the gratitude of one Englishman; but he may promise +himself that as soon as the definitive treaty of peace shall have reopened a +free intercourse between the two nations, the sentiments contained in it will +be adopted by all the English who shall witness the extraordinary success of +his profoundly-meditated labours. They will all hasten to pay their tribute of +admiration to a man, whose most gratifying reward consists in the benefits +which he has had the happiness to confer on that part of his fellow-creatures +from whom Nature has withheld her usual indulgence.</p> +<h2><a name="let39">LETTER XXXIX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 25, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Much has been said of the general tone of immorality now prevailing in this +capital, and so much, that it becomes necessary to look beyond the surface, and +examine whether morals be really more corrupt here at the present day than +before the revolution. To investigate the subject through all its various +branches and ramifications, would lead me far beyond the limits of a letter. I +shall therefore, as a criterion, take a comparative view of the increase or +decrease of the different classes of women, who, either publicly or privately, +deviate from the paths of virtue. If we begin with the lowest rank, and ascend, +step by step, to the highest, we first meet with those unfortunate creatures, +known in France by the general designation of</p> +<p class="center">PUBLIC WOMEN.</p> +<p>Their number in Paris, twelve years ago, was estimated at thirty thousand; +and if this should appear comparatively small, it must be considered how many +amorous connexions here occupy the attention of thousands of men, and +consequently tend to diminish the number of <i>public</i> women.</p> +<p>The question is not to ascertain whether it be necessary, for the +tranquillity of private families, that there should be public women. Who can +fairly estimate the extent of the mischief which they produce, or of that which +they obviate? Who can accurately determine the best means for bringing the good +to overbalance the evil? But, supposing the necessity of the measure, would it +not be proper to prevent, as much as possible, that complete mixture by which +virtuous females are often confounded with impures?</p> +<p>Charlemagne, though himself a great admirer of the sex, was of that opinion. +He had, in vain, endeavoured to banish entirely from Paris women of this +description; by ordering that they should be condemned to be publicly whipped, +and that those who harboured them, should carry them on their shoulders to the +place where the sentence was put in execution. But it was not a little singular +that, while the emperor was bent on reforming the morals of the frail fair, his +two daughters, the princesses Gifla and Rotrude, were indulging in all the +vicious foibles of their nature.</p> +<p>Charlemagne, who then resided in the <i>Palais des Thermes</i>, situated in +the <i>Rue de la Harpe</i>, happened to rise one winter's morning much earlier +than usual. After walking for some time about his room, he went to a window +which looked into a little court belonging to the palace. How great was his +astonishment, when, by the twilight, he perceived his second daughter, Rotrude, +with Eginhard, his prime minister, on her back, whom she was carrying through +the deep snow which had fallen in the night in order that the foot-steps of a +man might not be traced.</p> +<p>When Lewis the <i>débonnaire</i>, his successor, ascended the throne, he +undertook to reform these two princesses, whose father's fondness had prevented +him from suffering them to marry. The new king began by putting to death two +noblemen who passed for their lovers, thinking that this example would +intimidate, and that they would find no more: but it appears that he was +mistaken, for they were never at a loss. Nor is this to be wondered at, as +these princesses to a taste for literature joined a very lively imagination, +and were extremely affable, generous, and beneficent; on which account, says +Father Daniel, they died universally regretted.</p> +<p>Experience having soon proved that public women are a necessary evil in +great cities, it was resolved to tolerate them. They therefore began to form a +separate body, became subject to taxes, and had their statutes and judges. They +were called <i>femmes amoureuses</i>, <i>filles folles de leur corps</i>, and, +on St. Magdalen's day, they were accustomed to form annually a solemn +procession. Particular streets were assigned to them for their abode; and a +house in each street, for their commerce.</p> +<p>A penitentiary asylum, called <i>les Filles Dieu</i>, was founded at Paris +in 1226, and continued for some years open for the reception of <i>female +sinners who had gone astray, and were reduced to beggary</i>. In the time of +St. Lewis, their number amounted to two hundred; but becoming rich, they became +dissolute, and in 1483, they were succeeded by the reformed nuns of +Fontevrault.</p> +<p>When I was here in the year 1784, a great concourse of people daily visited +this convent in order to view the body of an ancient virgin and martyr, said to +be that of St. Victoria, which, having been lately dug up near Rome, had just +been sent to these nuns by the Pope. This relic being exposed for some time to +the veneration and curiosity of the Parisian public, the devout wondered to see +the fair saint with a complexion quite fresh and rosy, after having been dead +for several centuries, and, in their opinion, this was a miracle which +incontestably proved her sanctity. The incredulous, who did not see things in +the same light, thought that the face was artificial, and that it presented one +of those holy frauds which have so frequently furnished weapons to impiety. But +they were partly mistaken: the nuns had thought proper to cover the face of the +saint with a mask, and to clothe her from head to foot, in order to skreen from +the eyes of the public the hideous spectacle of a skeleton.</p> +<p>In 1420, Lewis VIII, with a view of distinguishing impures from modest +women, forbade the former to wear golden girdles, then in fashion. This +prohibition was vain, and the virtuous part of the sex consoled themselves by +the testimony of their conscience, whence the old proverb: "<i>Bonne rénommée +vaut mieux que ceinture dorée</i>."</p> +<p>Another establishment, first called <i>Les Filles pénitentes ou +repenties</i>, and afterwards <i>Filles de St. Magloire</i>, was instituted in +1497 by a Cordelier, and had the same destination. He preached against +libertinism, and with such success, that two hundred dissolute women were +converted by his fervent eloquence. The friar admitted them into his +congregation, which was sanctioned by the Pope. Its statutes, which were drawn +up by the Bishop of Paris, are not a little curious. Among other things, it was +established, that "none should be received but women who had led a dissolute +life, and that, in order to ascertain the fact, they should be examined by +matrons, who should swear on the Holy Evangelists to make a faithful +report."</p> +<p>There can be no doubt that women were well taken care of in this house, +since it was supposed that virtue even might assume the mask of vice to obtain +admission. The fact is singular. "To prevent girls from prostituting themselves +in order to be received, those who shall have been once examined and refused, +shall be excluded for ever.</p> +<p>"Besides, the candidates shall be obliged to swear, under penalty of their +eternal damnation, in presence of their confessor and six nuns, that they did +not prostitute themselves with a view of entering into this congregation; and +in order that women of bad character may not wait too long before they become +converted, in the hope that the door will always be open to them, none will be +received above the age of thirty."</p> +<p>This community, for some years, continued tolerably numerous; but its +destination had been changed long before the suppression of convents, which +took place in the early part of the revolution. All the places of public +prostitution in Paris, after having been tolerated upwards of four hundred +years, were abolished by a decree of the States General, held at Orleans in +1560. The number of women of the town, however, was far from being diminished, +though their profession was no longer considered as a trade; and as they were +prohibited from being any where, that is, in any fixed place, they were +compelled to spread themselves every where.</p> +<p>At the present day, the number of these women in Paris is computed at +twenty-five thousand: they are taken up as formerly, in order to be sent into +infirmaries, whence they, generally, come out only to return to their former +habits. Twelve years ago, those apprehended underwent a public examination once +a month, and were commonly sentenced to a confinement, more or less long, +according to the pleasure of the minister of the police. The examination of +them became a matter of amusement for persons of not over-delicate feelings. +The hardened females, neither respecting the judge not the audience, impudently +repeated the language and gestures of their traffic. The judge added a +fortnight's imprisonment for every insult, and the most abandoned were confined +only a few months longer in the <i>Salpétrière</i>.</p> +<p>Endeavours have since been made to improve the internal regulation of this +and similar houses of correction; but, as far as my information goes, with +little success. For want of separating, from the beginning of their +confinement, the most debauched from those whom a moment of distress or error +has thrown into these scenes of depravity, the contamination of bad example +rapidly spreads, and those who enter dissolute, frequently come out thievish; +while all timidity is banished from the mind of the more diffident. Besides, it +is not always the most culpable who fall into the hands of the police, the more +cunning and experienced, by contriving to come to terms with its agents, +employed on these errands, generally escape; and thus the object in view is +entirely defeated.</p> +<p>On their arrival at the <i>Salpétrière</i>, the healthy are separated from +the diseased; and the latter are sent to <i>Bicêtre</i>, where they either find +a cure or death. Your imagination will supply the finishing strokes of this +frightful picture.—These unfortunate victims of indigence or of the +seduction of man, are deserving of compassion. With all their vices, they have, +after all, one less than many of their sex who pride themselves on chastity, +without really possessing it; that is, hypocrisy. As they shew themselves to be +what they really are, they cannot make the secret mischief which a detected +prude not unfrequently occasions under the deceitful mask of modesty. Degraded +in their own eyes, and being no longer able to reign through the graces of +virtue, they fall into the opposite extreme, and display all the audaciousness +of vice.</p> +<p>The next class we come to is that which was almost honoured by the Greeks, +and tolerated by the Romans, under the denomination of</p> +<p class="center">COURTESANS.</p> +<p>By courtesans, I mean those ladies who, decked out in all the luxury of +dress, if not covered with diamonds, put up their favours to the highest +bidder, without having either more beauty or accomplishments, perhaps, than the +distressed female who sells hers at the lowest price. But caprice, good +fortune, intrigue, or artifice, sometimes occasions an enormous distance +between women who have the same views.</p> +<p>If the ancients made great sacrifices for the Phrynes, the Laïses, or the +Aspasias of the day, among the moderns, no nation has, in that respect, +surpassed the French. Every one has heard of the luxurious extravagance of +Mademoiselle Deschamps, the cushion of whose <i>chaise-percée</i>, was trimmed +with point-lace of very considerable value, and the harness of whose carriage +was studded with paste, in imitation of diamonds. This woman, however, lived to +repent of her folly; and if she did not literally die in a poorhouse, she at +least ended her days in wretchedness.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, of all the gay ladies in Paris, Madame Grandval +displayed the greatest luxury in her equipage; and Mademoiselle D'Hervieux, in +her house. I knew them both. The former I have seen at Longchamp, as well as at +the annual review of the king's household troops, in a splendid coach, as fine +as that of any Lord Mayor, drawn by a set of eight English grays, which cost a +hundred and twenty guineas a horse. She sat, like a queen, adorned with a +profusion of jewels; and facing her was a <i>dame de compagnie</i>, +representing a lady of the bedchamber. Behind the carriage, stood no less than +three tall footmen, besides a chasseur, in the style of that of the Duke of +Gloucester, in rich liveries, with swords, canes, and bags.</p> +<p>As for the house of Mademoiselle D'Hervieux, it was every thing that +oriental luxury, combined with French taste, could unite on a small scale. +Although of very low origin, and by no means gifted with a handsome person, +this lady, after having, rather late in life, obtained an introduction on the +opera-stage as a common <i>figurante</i>, contrived to insinuate herself into +the good graces of some rich protectors. On the <i>Chaussée d'Antin</i>, they +built for her this palace in miniature, which, twelve years ago, was the object +of universal admiration, and, in fact, was visited by strangers as one of the +curiosities of Paris.</p> +<p>At the present day, one neither sees nor hears of such favourites of +fortune; and, for want of subjects to paint under this head, I must proceed to +those of the next rank, who are styled</p> +<p class="center">KEPT WOMEN.</p> +<p>What distinctions, what shades, what different names to express almost one +and the same thing! From the haughty fair in a brilliant equipage, figuring, +like a favourite Sultana, with "all the pride, pomp, and circumstance" of the +toilet, down to the hunger-pinched female, who stands shivering in the evening +at the corner of a street, what gradations in the same profession!</p> +<p>Before the revolution, there were reckoned in Paris eight or ten thousand +women to whom the rich nobility or financiers allowed from a thousand pounds a +year upwards to an almost incredible amount. Some of these ladies have ruined a +whole family in the short space of six months; and, having nothing left at the +year's end, were then under the necessity of parting with their diamonds for a +subsistence. Although many of them are far inferior in opulence to the +courtesans, they are less depraved, and, consequently, superior to them in +estimation. They have a lover, who pays, and from whom they, in general, get +all they can, at the same time turning him into ridicule, and another whom, in +their turn, they pay, and for whom they commit a thousand follies.</p> +<p>These women used to have no medium in their attachments; they were either +quite insensible to the soft passion, or loved almost to distraction. On the +wane, they had the rage for marrying, and many of them found men who, +preferring fortune to honour, disgraced themselves by such alliances. Some of +these ladies, if handsome, were not unfrequently taken by a man of fortune, and +kept from mere ostentation, just as he would sport a superlatively elegant +carriage, or ride a very capital horse; others were maintained from caprice, +which, like Achilles's spear, carried with it its own antidote; and then, of +course, they passed into the hands of different keepers. It cannot be denied, +however that a few of these connexions were founded on attachment; and when the +woman, who was the object of it, was possessed of understanding, she assumed +the manners and deportment of a wife. Indeed, now and then a keeper adopted the +style of oriental gallantry.</p> +<p>Beaujon, the banker of the court, who had amassed an immense fortune, +indulged himself in his old age, and, till his death, in a society composed of +pretty women, some of whom belonged to what was then termed good families, +among which he had diffused his presents. In an elegant habitation, called +<i>la Chartreuse</i>, which he erected in the <i>Faubourg du Roule</i>, as a +place of occasional retirement, was a most curious apartment, representing a +bower, in the midst of which was placed a bedstead in imitation of a basket of +flowers: four trees, whose verdant foliage extended over part of the ceiling, +which was painted as a sky, seemed to shade this basket, and supported drapery, +suspended to their branches. This was M. Beaujon's Temple of Venus.</p> +<p>The late Prince of Soubise, for some years, constantly kept ten or a dozen +ladies. The only intercourse he had with them, was to breakfast or chat with +them twice or thrice a month, and latterly he maintained several old stagers, +in this manner, from motives of benevolence. At the end of the month, all these +ladies came in their carriages at a fixed hour, in a string, as it were, one +after the other. The steward had their money ready; they afterwards, one by +one, entered a very spacious room furnished with large closets, filled with +silks, muslins, laces, ribbands, &c. The prince distributed presents to +each, according to her age and taste: thus ended a visit of mere ceremony, +interspersed with a few words of general gallantry.</p> +<p>Such was the style in which many women were kept by men of fortune under the +old <i>régime</i>. At the present day, if we except twenty or thirty perhaps, +it would be no easy matter to discover any women supported in a style of +elegance in Paris, and the lot of these seems scarcely secured but from month +to month. The reason of this mystery is, that the modern Crœsuses having +mostly acquired their riches in a clandestine manner, they take every possible +precaution to prevent the reports in circulation concerning their ill-gotten +pelf from being confirmed by a display of luxury in their <i>chères amies</i>. +On this account, many a matrimonial connexion, I am told, is formed between +them and women of equivocal character, on the principle, that a man is better +able to check the extravagant excesses of his wife than those of his +mistress.</p> +<p>We now arrive at that class of females who move in a sphere of life the best +calculated for making conquests. I mean</p> +<p class="center">OPERA-DANCERS.</p> +<p>When a spectator, whose eyes are fascinated by the illusion of scenic +decorations, contemplates those beauties whose voluptuous postures, under the +form of Calypso, Eucharis, Delphis, &c. awaken desire in the mind of youth, +and even of persons of maturer years, he forgets that the divinities before him +are women, who not unfrequently lavish their favours on the common herd of +mortals. His imagination lends to them a thousand secret charms which they +possess not; and he cannot be persuaded that they are not tremblingly alive to +a passion which they express with so much apparent feeling. It is in their arms +only that he discovers his error. To arrive at this point, many an Englishman +has sacrificed thousands of pounds; while his faithless fair has been indulging +in all the wantonness of her disposition, perhaps, with some obscure Frenchman +among the long train of her humble admirers. Hence the significant appellation +of <i>Milord Pot-au-feu</i>, given to one who supports a woman whose favours +another enjoys <i>gratis</i>.</p> +<p>Such an opera-dancer used formerly to exhibit herself in a blaze of jewels +in the lobby, and according to the style in which she figured, did she obtain +respect from her companions. The interval between them was proportioned to the +degree of opulence which the one enjoyed over the other, so that the richer +scarcely appeared to belong to the same profession as the poorer. To the +former, every shopkeeper became a candidate for custom; presents were heaped on +presents, and gold was showered on her in such a manner that she might, for the +time, almost have fancied herself a second Danaë.</p> +<p>In the midst of this good fortune, perhaps, an obscure rival suddenly +started into fashion. She then was eclipsed by her whom, a few days before, she +disdained. Instead of a succession of visiters, her house was deserted; and, at +the expiration of the year, the proud fair, awakened from her golden dream by +the clamours of her importunate creditors, found herself without one friend to +rescue her valuables from their rapacious gripe.</p> +<p>No wonder, then, that this order of things, (excepting the reverse by which +it was sometimes followed) was very agreeable to the great majority of these +capering beauties, and, doubtless, they wished its duration. For, among the +reports of the <i>secret</i> police, maintained by Lewis XVI, in 1792, it +appears by a letter addressed to M. de Caylus, and found among the King's +papers in the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>, that most of the female +opera-dancers were staunch <i>aristocrates</i>; but that democracy triumphed +among the women who sang at that theatre. This little anecdote shews how far +curiosity was then stretched to ascertain what is called public opinion; and I +have no doubt that the result confirmed the correctness of the statement.</p> +<p>The opera-stage was certainly never so rich as it now is in first-rate +female dancers, yet the frail part of these beauties were never so deficient, +perhaps, in wealthy admirers. Proceeding to the next order of meretricious +fair, we meet with that numerous one denominated</p> +<p class="center">GRISETTES.</p> +<p>This is the name applied to those young girls who, being obliged to subsist +by their labour, chiefly fill the shops of milliners, mantua-makers, and +sellers of ready-made linen, &c.</p> +<p>The rank which ought to be assigned to them, I think, is between +opera-dancers and demireps. You may smile at the distinction; but, as Mr. +Tickle justly observes, in the Spectator, we should vary our appellations of +these fair criminals, according to circumstances. "Those who offend only +against themselves," says he, "and are not a scandal to society; but, out of +deference to the sober part of the world, have so much good left in them as to +be ashamed, must not be comprehended in the common word due to the worst of +women. Regard is to be had to their situation when they fell, to the uneasy +perplexity in which they lived under senseless and severe parents, to the +importunity of poverty, to the violence of a passion in its beginning +well-grounded, to all the alleviations which make unhappy women resign the +characteristic of their sex, modesty. To do otherwise than thus," adds he, +"would be to act like a pedantic Stoic, who thinks all crimes alike, and not +as an impartial spectator, who views them with all the circumstances that +diminish or enhance the guilt."</p> +<p>If we measure them by this standard, <i>grisettes</i> appear entitled to be +classed immediately below demireps; for, as Lear says of his daughter,</p> +<p class="bq">"-------- Not to be the worst<br /> +Stands in some rank of praise."</p> +<p>Their principal merit consists in their conducting themselves with a certain +degree of decorum and reserve, and in being susceptible of attachment. Born in +an humble sphere, they are accustomed from their infancy to gain their +livelihood by their industry. Like young birds that feel the power of using +their wings, they fly from the parent-nest at the age of sixteen; and, hiring a +room for themselves, they live according to their means and fancy.</p> +<p>More fortunate in their indigence than the daughters of petty tradesmen, +they overleap the limits of restraint, while their charms are in full lustre; +and sometimes their happiness arises from being born in poverty. In marrying an +artisan of their own class, they see nothing but distress and servitude, which +are by no means compatible with their spirit of independence. Vanity becomes +their guide, and is as bad a guide as distress; for it prompts them to add the +resources of their youth and person to those of their needle. This double +temptation is too strong for their weak virtue. They therefore seek a friend to +console them on Sundays for the <i>ennui</i> of the remainder of the week, +which must needs seem long, when they are sitting close at work from morning to +night. In general, they are more faithful than any of the other classes of the +frail part of the sex, and may be supported at little expense, and without +scandal.</p> +<p>It would require almost the powers of the inquisition to ascertain whether +<i>grisettes</i> have increased or diminished since the revolution; but their +number is, and always has been, immense in Paris. An object highly deserving of +the attention of the French legislators would be to find a remedy for this +evil. A mortal blow should, no doubt, be struck at the luxury of the toilet; as +the rage for dress has, I am convinced, undermined the virtue of as many women +as the vile stratagems of all the Lotharios in being. Leaving these matters to +some modern Lycurgus, I shall end my letter. But, in my eager haste to close +it, I must not omit a class, which has increased in a proportion equal to the +decrease of kept women. As they have no precise designation in France, I shall +take the liberty of applying to them, that of</p> +<p class="center">DEMIREPS.</p> +<p>Without having the shameless effrontery of vice, these ladies have not the +austere rigour of virtue. Seeing that professed courtesans insnared the most +promising youths, and snatched them from other women, this description of +females sprang up, in a manner, to dispute with them, under the rose, the +advantages which the others derived from their traffic. If they have not the +same boldness in their carriage, their looks bespeak almost as much +complaisance. They declaim loudly against women of all the classes +before-mentioned, for the best possible reason; because these are their more +dangerous rivals. It is certain that a virtuous woman cannot hold the breach of +chastity too much in abhorrence, but every Lucretia ought to have "a tear for +pity," especially towards the fallen part of her sex. Nothing can be more +disgusting than to hear women, who are known to have transgressed, forget their +own frailties, and rail against the more unguarded, and, consequently, more +artless part of womankind, without mercy or justice.</p> +<p>Demireps, in general, profess the greatest disinterestedness in their +connexions; but if they receive no money at the moment of granting their +favours, they accept trinkets and other presents which have some value. It is +not at all uncommon for a man to think that he has a <i>bonne fortune</i>, when +he finds himself on terms of intimacy with such a woman. Enraptured at his +success, he repeats his visits, till one day he surprises his belle, +overwhelmed by despair. He eagerly inquires the cause. After much entreaty, she +informs him that she has had ill luck at play, and, with anguish in her looks, +laments that she is ruined beyond redemption. The too credulous admirer can do +no less than accommodate her secretly with a sufficient sum to prevent her from +being taken to task by her husband; and thus the disinterested lady proves, in +the end, a greater drain to the gallant's pocket than the most mercenary +courtesan.</p> +<p>The man who would wish to recommend himself to their favour, scarcely need +take any further trouble than to change some of their trinkets, which are no +longer in fashion. Sometimes he may meet with a husband, who, conniving at his +wife's infidelity, will shew him every mark of attention. In that case, the +lover is quite at home, and his presence being equally agreeable to the +obliging husband as to the kind wife, when they are all three assembled, they +seem to fit their several places like the three sides of an equilateral +triangle.</p> +<p>Since the revolution, the increase of demireps is said to have diminished +most sensibly the class of what are termed kept women. Indeed, it is affirmed +by some, that the number of the former has, within these few years, multiplied +in a tenfold proportion. Others again maintain that it is no greater than it +was formerly; because, say they, the state of society in Paris is not near so +favourable to amorous intrigue as that which existed under the old +<i>régime</i>. Riches being more equally divided, few persons, comparatively +speaking, are now sufficiently affluent to entertain large parties, and give +routs, balls, and suppers, where a numerous assemblage afforded, to those +inclined to dissipation, every opportunity of cultivating an intimate +acquaintance. I must confess that these reasons, assigned by some worthy +Frenchmen whose opinions I respect, do not altogether accord with the result of +my observation; and, without taking on myself to controvert them, I am +persuaded that truth will bear me out in asserting, that, if the morals of that +class of society in which I have chiefly mixed during the different periods of +my stay in France, are not deteriorated, they are certainly not improved since +I last visited Paris.</p> +<p>After having painted, in regular succession, and with colours occasionally +borrowed, the general portrait of all those classes of females whose likeness +every English traveller has, no doubt, met with, I must find a little corner of +my canvass for a small number of women who might, probably, be sought in vain +out of Paris. However great a recommendation their rarity may be in the eyes of +some, still it is not the only quality that points them out to the notice of +the impartial observer.</p> +<p>When a man has come to his senses respecting the sex, or, according to the +vulgar adage, sown his wild oats, he naturally seeks a sincere friend to whom +he can unbosom himself with confidence. Experience warns him that few men are +to be trusted; and unless he has had the good fortune to meet with a virtuous +wife, blessed with an engaging temper and a good understanding, he must even, +like Junius, be the depository of his own secret. In Paris, however, he may +find one of those scarce females, who, being accustomed early in life to +reflection, possess the firm mind of a man, combined with the quick sensibility +of a woman.</p> +<p>When the illusion of the first passions is dissipated, their reason becomes +unclouded. Renouncing every narrow thought, they raise themselves to the +knowledge of the most weighty affairs, and, by an active observation of +mankind, are accustomed to discriminate every shade of character. Hence their +penetration is great; and they are capable of giving good advice on important +occasions. In short, a French woman at thirty makes an excellent friend, and, +attaching herself to the man she esteems, thinks no sacrifice too great for the +advancement of his interest, or the security of his happiness or +reputation.</p> +<p>The friendship between man and woman is a thousand times more sweet than +that between one man and another. A woman's friendship is active, vigilant, and +at the same time tender. French women cherish more sincerely their old friends +than their young lovers. They may perchance deceive the lover, but never the +friend; the latter they consider as a sacred being. Whence, no doubt, Rousseau +(who has not spared the Parisian ladies) has been led to say: "I would never +have sought in Paris a wife, still less a mistress; but I would willingly have +made there a female friend; and this treasure would, perhaps, have consoled me +for not finding the other two."</p> +<h2><a name="let40">LETTER XL.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 27, 1801.</i></p> +<p>About thirty years ago, a public insult offered to human nature, in the +person of some unfortunate blind men belonging to the Hospital of the +<i>Quinze-vingts</i>, and repeated daily for the space of two months, suggested +to a spectator the idea of avenging it in a manner worthy of a true +philanthropist.</p> +<p>In a coffeehouse of the <i>Foire St. Ovide</i>, in Paris, were placed ten +blind beggars, muffled up in grotesque dresses and long pointed caps, with +large paste-board spectacles on their nose, without glass: music and lights +were set before them; and one of them was characterized as Midas, with the ears +of an ass, and the addition of a peacock's tail, spread behind him. He sang, +while all the others played the same parts of a monotonous tune, without either +taste or measure; and the unfeeling public turned into derision the unfortunate +actors in this infamous scene. This happened in September 1771.</p> +<p>From that moment, M. VALENTIN HAÜY, brother to the celebrated mineralogist +of that name, animated by a noble enthusiasm, conceived the project of teaching +the blind to write and read, and of placing in their hands books and music, +printed by themselves. After employing twelve years in maturing it, at length, +in 1784, he ventured to carry it into execution. To so laudable and benevolent +a purpose, he devoted all his fortune; and hence originated the establishment +known in Paris, since the year 1791, by the title of</p> +<p class="center">NATIONAL INSTITUTION OF THE INDUSTRIOUS BLIND.</p> +<p>Presently M. HAÜY found his plan seconded by the Philanthropic Society, and +the benefactions and advice of several persons, no less distinguished for +understanding than benevolence, contributed not a little to encourage his zeal +in its prosecution. The following were the primary objects of the +establishment.</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li>To withdraw the blind from the dangerous paths of idleness.</li> +<li>To procure them certain means of subsistence by the execution of pleasant +and easy labours.</li> +<li>To restore them to society.</li> +<li>To console them for their misfortune.</li> +</ol> +<p>To rescue the blind from idleness is, unquestionably, of itself a great +blessing, as it preserves them from an infinite number of vices, and +consequently must be approved by the moralist. But another advantage, equally +deserving of approbation, is to cause them to find, in their labour, an +infallible resource against indigence. Previously to the execution of this +beneficent plan, a young blind child, born of poor parents, was reduced to the +melancholy and humiliating necessity of standing in a public thoroughfare, +exposed to all the inclemency of the weather, to beg its bread, and, at +present, it has no occasion to owe its livelihood but to its own labour.</p> +<p>The children that M. HAÜY had to educate were, in general, of the class of +artisans, though a few belonged to that of artists and men of science. Some +were born with a little aptitude for mechanical labours, others with a great +disposition for the arts and sciences. These considerations naturally pointed +out to him his plan of instruction, which is divided into four branches.</p> +<ol class="upper-roman"> +<li><p>Handicraft work, viz. Spinning, knitting, making of cord, fringe, +trimming, ribband, pasteboard, &c.</p> +<p>Task-masters direct the execution of these works, which are as easy to the +blind as to the clear-sighted.</p></li> +<li><p>Education, viz. Reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, literature, +history, foreign languages, arts and sciences.</p> +<p>This education of blind children is carried on by means of raised-work or +relief, and is intrusted to other blind people whose education is completed. +The latter not only instruct their unfortunate fellow-sufferers, but also the +clear-sighted.</p> +<p>The sense of feeling is so refined in blind children, that a pupil, a little +informed, becomes perfectly acquainted with maps by handling them: he points +out with his finger countries and towns; if a map is presented to him upside +down, he places it in a proper manner, and if one map is substituted to +another, he instantly discovers the deception.</p></li> +<li><p>Printing, viz. In black characters, for the public. In relief, for +themselves.</p> +<p>In black, they have printed no inconsiderable number of voluminous works, +for the use of the public. In relief, they have printed for themselves a +catechism, a grammar, and a great quantity of music. No where but at this +institution, and at the MUSEUM OF THE BLIND, of which I shall presently speak, +is there to be found an office for printing in relief.</p></li> +<li><p>Music, viz. Vocal and instrumental, and composition.</p> +<p>The music of the blind pupils has always been employed with the greatest +success in public festivals, playhouses, balls, coffeehouses, and many public +and private assemblies. It is impossible to form an adequate idea of the +decided taste of the blind for music, and of the consolation which it affords +them. Deprived of their eyes, they seem to become all ears.</p></li> +</ol> +<p>No sooner had M. HAÜY rendered public his first essays, than the learned, +and especially the members of the <i>ci-devant</i> Academy of Sciences, stamped +them with their approbation, as appears by a Report signed by some of the most +distinguished of that body, such as DESMARETS, LA ROCHEFOUCAULT, CONDORCET, +&c. Professors of the arts, cultivated by his pupils, such as printing, +music, &c. were equally eager to acknowledge to what an astonishing degree +the blind had succeeded in appropriating to themselves the enjoyment of those +arts. Three of the first master-printers in Paris certified the intelligence +and skill of the blind pupils; and a concert was executed by them to the no +small satisfaction of the <i>ci-devant</i> Academy of Music.</p> +<p>Persons of every degree now wished to be spectators of the result of these +essays. Lewis XVI sent for the Industrious Blind, their machinery, &c. to +Versailles; he visited them when at work, and inspected their several +performances, attended by all the royal family, princes of the blood, +ministers, ambassadors, &c. After having procured the inhabitants of that +town this interesting sight for several successive days, he rewarded the blind +with marks of his favour and encouragement.</p> +<p>The government, which succeeded to the monarchy, shewed no less interest in +the progress of M. HAÜY'S undertaking. The different legislatures, which have +successively governed France, promoted it by various decrees. In proportion as +the number of the pupils increased, so did the resources of their industrious +activity. By a law which was solicited by M. HAÜY, and which excited and kept +up a singular emulation among his pupils, the blind, in preference to the +clear-sighted of equal merit, were admitted to the various secondary +employments of the establishment. From that period, the first blind pupils, +formed by M. HAÜY, being promoted to the functions of teachers, transmitted +with success to young blind children, sent for instruction, from different +parts of the Republic, the first elements of education given them by himself +and assistants. By virtue of this law, the office of house-steward was +intrusted to LESUEUR, a blind pupil who had already discharged it with credit +at a banker's. It will scarcely be believed, no doubt, that a blind man can be +a cashier, receive money coming in, either from the public treasury, or from +the industry of his brothers in misfortune; make of it a suitable division; buy +commodities necessary for life and clothing; introduce the strictest economy +into his disbursements; by means of his savings, procure the establishment the +implements and machinery of the Industrious Blind; in times of real scarcity, +make use of the productions of the labour of the grown blind, to maintain the +young blind pupils, and that, with all these concerns on his hands, his +accounts should always be ready for inspection.</p> +<p>M. HAÜY informs me that out of fifteen or twenty of his old pupils, whom he +has connected by the ties of marriage, ten or twelve are fathers; and that they +have children more fortunate than the authors of their days, since the enjoy +the benefit of sight. But the most interesting part of these connexions is, +that the blind father (on the principle of the plan before-stated) teaches his +clear-sighted son reading, arithmetic, music, and every thing that it is +possible to teach without the help of the eyes.</p> +<p>Raised work, or relief, is the simple and general process by means of which +M. HAÜY forms his pupils, and there are a great number of them whose abilities +would excite the pride of many a clear-sighted person. For instance, in +addition to the before-mentioned LESUEUR, who is an excellent geographer and a +good mathematician, might be quoted HUARD, a man of erudition and a correct +printer; likewise CAILLAT, a capital performer on the violin, and a celebrated +composer. For vocal and instrumental music, printing, and handicraft work, +there might be noticed thirty or forty, as well as ten or twelve for knowledge +relating to the sciences.</p> +<p>It may not be improper to observe, that M. HAÜY always first puts a frame +into the hands of his pupils, and that he has made a law, to which he +scrupulously adheres, not to lean too much towards the <i>agreeable</i> arts, +unless the pupil manifest for them a peculiar disposition.</p> +<p>Hence you may form an idea of the proficiency which these unfortunates +attain under the auspices of the benevolent M. HAÜY. In the compass of a +letter, or even of several letters, it is impossible to develope proceedings +which it is more easy to put into execution than to describe. The process alone +of printing in relief would require a vast number of pages, and some plates, in +order to make it perfectly intelligible; but the greater part of what composes +these branches of instruction is amply detailed in a work, which I shall +communicate to you, entitled "<i>Essai sur l'Éducation des Aveugles</i>, +<i>par</i> Valentin Haüy, <i>auteur de la manière de les instruire</i>," +printed under the sanction of the <i>ci-devant</i> Academy of Sciences.</p> +<p>By a law on public education, passed in July 1796, several establishments +were to be founded in favour of blind children, in the principal towns of the +Republic; but, in consequence of the political changes which have since +occurred in the government, it has never been carried into execution.</p> +<p>In October, 1800, the Consuls decreed that the <i>National Institution of +the Industrious Blind</i> should be united to the Hospital of the +<i>Quinze-vingts</i>, together with the soldiers who had lost their sight in +Egypt. M. HAÜY is shortly to be honoured by a pension, as a reward for the +services which he has bestowed on those afflicted with blindness. At the +present moment, he is engaged in founding a second establishment, of a similar +nature, which is to take the name of</p> +<p class="center">MUSEUM OF THE BLIND.</p> +<p>On my asking M. HAÜY, whether he would not retire, as it was intended he +should, on his pension? "This favour of the government," replied he, "I +consider as a fresh obligation, silently imposed on me, to continue to be of +service to the blind. The first establishment, supported and paid by the +nation, belonged to the poor. In forming the second," added he, "I have yielded +to the wishes of parents in easy circumstances, who were desirous of giving to +their blind children a liberal education."</p> +<p>I have already mentioned, that, agreeably to M. HAÜY'S plan, the blind +instruct the clear-sighted; and in this Museum, which is situated <i>Rue Sainte +Avoie, Hôtel de Mêsme, No. 19</i>, the former are to be seen directing a class +of fifty youths, whom they instruct in every branch before-mentioned, writing +excepted. It is also in contemplation to teach a blind pupil <i>pasigraphy</i>, +or universal language, invented by DEMAIMIEUX.</p> +<p>M. HAÜY details to strangers every part of his plan with the most patient +and obliging attention. When he had concluded, I could not avoid expressing a +wish that the art of instructing the blind in the fullest extent might be +speedily introduced among all nations. "After having paid to my country," +rejoined M. HAÜY, "the merited homage of my invention, my anxiety to contribute +to the relief of the afflicted, wherever they may be found, gives birth to the +desire of propagating, as much as possible, an institution which enlightened +men and philanthropists have been pleased to recommend to the attention of +foreigners and to the esteem of my countrymen, as may be seen by consulting +different literary publications from the year 1785 down to the present time, +particularly the new French Encyclopædia, at the article <i>Aveugle</i>."</p> +<p>"I should," added he, "perform a task very agreeable to my feelings in +concurring, by my advice and knowledge, to lay in England the foundation of an +establishment of a description similar to either of those which I have founded +in Paris. One of my pupils in the art of instructing the blind, M. GRANCHER, a +member of several learned societies in France, and possessed of my means and +method, would voluntarily devote his talents and experience to the success of +such an undertaking, to which he is himself strongly attached through +philanthropy and zeal for my reputation."—"I am persuaded," interrupted +I, "that were the advantages of such an establishment made public in England, +it would receive the countenance and support of every friend of human +nature."—"It is an unquestionable fact," concluded M. Haüy, "that an +institution of fifty blind, well conducted, ought, by their labour, to produce +more than would defray its expenses. I have already even tried with success to +apply to the English tongue my method of reading, which is so contrived for the +French language, that I need not give more than two or three lessons to a blind +child, in order to enable him to teach himself to read, without the further +help of any master."</p> +<h2><a name="let41">LETTER XLI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 29, 1801.</i></p> +<p>Such a crowd of different objects present themselves to my mind, whenever I +sit down to write to you, that, frequently as I have visited the Grand French +Opera since my arrival here, I have been hesitating whether I should make it +the subject of this letter. However, as it is one of the first objects of +attraction to a stranger, and the first in a theatrical point of view, I think +you cannot be too soon introduced to a knowledge of its allurements. +<a name="let41fr1"></a>Let us then pass in review the</p> +<p class="center">THÉÂTRE DES ARTS ET DE LA +REPUBLIQUE.[<a href="#let41f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>Previously to the revolution, the French opera-house, under the name of +<i>Académie Royale de Musique</i>, was situated on the Boulevard, near the +<i>Porte St. Martin</i>. Except the façade, which has been admired, there was +nothing very remarkable in the construction of this theatre, but the dispatch +with which it was executed.</p> +<p>The old opera-house in the <i>Palais Royal</i> having been burnt down on the +8th of June 1781, M. LENOIR, the architect, built a new one in the short space +of sixty days, and, within a fortnight after, it was decorated and opened. Had +an hospital been reduced to ashes, observes an able writer, it would have +required four years at least to determine on the eligibility of new +plans.—But a theatre, constructed with such expedition, excited +apprehensions respecting its stability: it was necessary to remove them, and, +by way of <i>trying the house</i>, the first representation was given +<i>gratis</i>. This had the desired effect: after having sustained the weight +of between two and three thousand market-women, oyster-wenches, shoe-blacks, +chimney-sweepers, porters, &c, it was deemed sufficiently solid to receive +a more refined audience.</p> +<p>At the beginning of the year 1793, the interior of this quickly-built +theatre was also destroyed by fire. But the opera experienced no interruption: +such an event would be regarded as a public calamity in the capital. In fact, +this expensive establishment affords employ to a vast number of persons. The +singers, dancers, musicians, machinists, painters, tailors, dress-makers, +scene-shifters, &c. attached to it, would constitute a little nation. The +richness and variety of the dresses give activity to several branches of trade, +and its representations involve all the agreeable arts. These united +attractions captivate foreigners, and induce them to squander considerable sums +of money in the country. Hence, were the opera-house shut up, commerce would +suffer; there would be an absolute void in the pleasures of the Parisians; and, +as experience proves, these volatile people would sooner resign every thing +most valuable than any portion of their amusements. Besides, without such an +establishment, the talents of singers and dancers could not be maintained in +their present perfection. It holds out to them constant encouragement and +remuneration; while, compared to any other theatre, it excites in the +spectators a greater number of pleasing sensations. How then could it be +dispensed with?</p> +<p>Accordingly, when the disaster befell the theatre of the <i>Porte St. +Martin</i>, it was considered as a fortunate circumstance that the present +opera-house was just finished. The performers of the <i>ci-devant Académie de +Musique</i> immediately established themselves in this new asylum, which is +situated in the <i>Rue de la Loi</i>, facing the National Library, and opened +it to the public under the name of <i>Théâtre des Arts</i>. I must observe, by +the way, that, in France, all players, dancers, musicians, and every one who +exercises an art, are now styled <i>artistes</i>.</p> +<p>The form of this house is nearly a parallelogram: one of the shorter sides +is occupied by the stage, and the other three are slightly curved. In general, +one is ill placed here, except in the boxes in front of the stage, and in the +pit, the seats of which rise abruptly, in the manner of an amphitheatre, from +the orchestra to the first tier of boxes. The Chief Consul has chosen for +himself the stage-box, as I believe we term it in England, on the right hand of +the actors. It is elegantly decorated with scarlet velvet, embroidered in gold. +The ornaments (I am not speaking of the scenery) are neither of superlative +elegance, nor do they display extraordinary taste. The curtain, however, is +majestic and beautiful, as well as the ceiling.</p> +<p>"Here," says a French author, "arts, graces, genius, and taste conspire to +produce a most magnificent, a most brilliant, and most enchanting spectacle. +Here heroes come to life again to sing their love and their despair; here many +a goddess is seen to mix with mortals, many a Venus to descend from the radiant +Olympus in order to throw herself into the arms of more than one +Anchises."—Certainly, if splendid decorations, rich and appropriate +dresses, the most skilful machinists, the most distinguished composers, a +numerous and most select orchestra, some excellent actors, together with the +most celebrated dancers in Europe, of both sexes, constitute a brilliant +spectacle, this justly deserves that title. In these magnificent arrangements, +we see again the Grand French Opera, as it appeared in the most splendid days +of the monarchy. With the exception of the singing, every other department at +this theatre is much improved; the only drawback that I can discover at the +representation of the same pieces, which I have often seen here before the +revolution, consists in the exterior of the spectators. Between the acts, when +I transport myself in idea to the former period, and, looking round the house, +form a comparison, I find the republican audience far less brilliant, owing, no +doubt, to the absence of that glare of diamonds, embroidery, lace, and other +finery, which distinguished the frequenters of the opera under the old +government.</p> +<p>The performances at the opera being, in general, more calculated for +charming the eyes and ears, than gratifying the understanding, it is, +consequently, the most frequented of any of the capital.</p> +<p class="bq">"-------- With the many<br /> +Action is eloquence, and th' eyes of th' ignorant<br /> +More learned than their ears."</p> +<p>There is, however, no piece represented at this theatre that a stranger +ought not to see, either on account of the music, or of the spectacle and its +decorations. The operas, or lyric tragedies, which, from the number of times +they have been performed, appear to have obtained the greatest success, are +those of GLUCK. The originality, the energy, the force and truth of declamation +of this great musician were likely to render him successful, especially among +the French, who applauded the two last-mentioned qualities on their other +national theatre.</p> +<p>With the exception of one only, all the works of GLUCK have remained as +stock-pieces, and are played from time to time. They are five in number; +namely, <i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i>, <i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i>, <i>Orphée et +Euridice</i>, <i>Armide</i>, and <i>Alceste</i>. That which could not maintain +its ground, and consequently fell, was <i>Narcisse</i>. The flimsiness of the +poem was the cause; for the music, I am assured, is the finest that GLUCK ever +composed, and several pieces of it have been repeatedly performed in the +Parisian concerts.</p> +<p>The <i>Didon</i> of PICCINI and the <i>Œdipe à Colonne</i> of SACCHINI +have had no less success than the operas of GLUCK. They are very frequently +represented.</p> +<p>It may not, perhaps, be unseasonable to remind you that, from twenty to +twenty-five years ago, when the old operas of LULLI and RAMEAU were laid aside, +and replaced by modern works, two parties were formed, which, from the name of +the musician that each adopted, were called, the one, <i>Gluckists</i>; and the +other, <i>Piccinists</i>. Their inveteracy was great, somewhat like that which, +forty years before, existed between the <i>Molinists</i> and <i>Jansenists</i>: +and few persons, if any, I believe, remained neuter. Victory seems to have +crowned the former party. Indeed the music of GLUCK possesses a melody which is +wonderfully energetic and striking. PICCINI is skilful and brilliant in his +harmony, as well as sweet and varied in his composition; but this style of +beauty has been thought to be deficient in expression. Truth obliges me to say, +that, of PICCINI'S works, no opera is now played but his <i>Didon</i>, and that +his other productions, which, to the best of my recollection, are <i>Alys</i>, +an opera called <i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i>, and <i>Pénélope</i>, have fallen. +This was ascribed to the mediocrity of the language; a part of an opera +somewhat essential, though no great attention seems to be bestowed on it. But +if people here are not very difficult as to the style of the language, they +require at least an action well conducted and interesting. When the piece is of +itself cold, it is not in the power of the finest music to give it warmth. The +<i>Œdipe à Colonne</i> of SACCHINI is reckoned by many persons the +<i>chef-d'œuvre</i> of operas. That able musician has there excelled in +all that is graceful, noble, and pathetic; but it exhibits not the tragic fire +that is to be found in the works of GLUCK. SACCHINI has left behind him another +composition, called <i>Arvire et Evéline</i>, which, though a cold subject, +taken from the history of England, is held in estimation.</p> +<p>At this theatre are also performed what the French term <i>opéras de +genre</i>. These are a species of comic opera, in which is introduced a great +deal of show and bustle. <i>Panurge</i>, <i>La Caravanne</i>, <i>Anacréon</i>, +<i>Tarare</i>, <i>Les Prétendus</i>, <i>Les Mystères d'Isis</i>, &c. are of +this description. The music of the first three is by GRÉTRY. It is considered +as replete with grace, charm, and truth of expression. The poem of +<i>Panurge</i> is an <i>estravaganza</i>. Those of the <i>Caravanne</i> and of +<i>Anacréon</i> are but indifferent. It required no small share of talent to +put words into the mouth of the charming poet, whose name is given to the +last-mentioned piece; but M. GUY appears not to have thought of this. +<i>Tarare</i> is a tissue of improbabilities and absurdities. The poem is +frequently nothing but an assemblage of words which present no meaning. It is a +production of the celebrated BEAUMARCHAIS, who has contrived to introduce into +it a sort of impious metaphysics, much in fashion here before the revolution. +The music is by SALIERI; it is very agreeable. The decorations are brilliant +and diversified. The piece is preceded by a prologue (which no other opera has) +representing the confusion and separation of the elements; and at the time of +its first appearance, I remember it was said that chaos was the image of the +author's head.</p> +<p><i>Les Prétendus</i> is a piece in one act, the plot of which is weak, +though of a gay cast. The music is charming. It is by LE MOYNE, who died a few +years ago, at an early period of life. <i>Les Mystères d'Isis</i>, which is now +the rage, is an incoherent parody from a German opera, called <i>the Enchanted +Flute</i>. To say that the music is by MOZART, dispenses me from any eulogium. +The decorations are extremely beautiful and varied: a scene representing +paradise is really enchanting.</p> +<p>After speaking of lyric tragedies, I should have mentioned those which are +either in rehearsal, or intended to be brought forward at this theatre. They +consist of <i>Hécube</i>, <i>Andromaque</i>, <i>Sémiramis</i>, and +<i>Tamerlan</i>. Although none of them are spoken of very highly, they will, in +all probability, succeed in a certain degree; for a piece scarcely ever has a +complete fall at the opera. This theatre has so many resources in the +decorations, music, and dancing, that a new piece is seldom destitute of +something worth seeing.</p> +<p>What, at the present day, proves the greatest attraction to the opera, is +the dancing. How bad soever may be a piece, when it is interspersed with fine +ballets, it is sure of having a certain run. Of these I shall say no more till +I come to speak of that department.</p> +<p>The weakest part of the performances at the opera is the singing. All are +agreed as to the mediocrity of the singers at this theatre, called +<i>lyric</i>. No one can say that, within the last ten or twelve years, they +are improved. To any person fond of the Italian style, it would be a sort of +punishment to attend while some of the singers here go through a scene. On the +stage of the French comic opera, it has been adopted, and here also a similar +change is required; but with the will to accomplish it, say its partisans, the +means, perhaps, might still be wanting. The greater part of the old performers +have lost their voice, and those who have not, do not appear to have +sufficiently followed the progress of modern taste to be able all at once to +embrace a new manner.</p> +<p>The first singer at the opera, in point of talent, is LAÏS. He even leaves +all the others far behind him, if we consider him only as a singer. He is a +<i>tenore</i>, according to the expression of the Italians, and a +<i>taille</i>, according to that of the French: in the <i>cantabile</i> or +graceful style, he is perfect; but he ought to avoid tragic pieces requiring +exertion, in which his voice, though flexible, is sometimes disagreeable, and +even harsh. Besides, he is absolutely deficient in nobleness of manner; and his +stature and countenance are better suited to low character. Indeed, he chiefly +performs in the operas termed here <i>opéras de genre</i>, such as +<i>Panurge</i>, <i>La Caravanne</i>, <i>Anacréon</i>, and <i>Les Prétendus</i>. +In these, his acting is correct, and his delivery judicious.</p> +<p>LAÏS is no less famous for the violence of his political opinions than for +his talents as a singer. At the period when the abettors of the reign of terror +were, in their turn, hunted down, for a long time he durst not appear on the +stage. He was accused by his brother performers of having said that the opera +would never go on well till a guillotine should be placed on the stage. This +stroke was levelled against the greater part of the actors and the musicians +belonging to the orchestra. However, as LAÏS could not be reproached with any +culpable <i>actions</i>, he found zealous defenders, and the public sacrificed +their resentment to their pleasure. This lenity appears not to have had on him +the effect which one would imagine. He still possesses every requisite for +singing well, but seems indifferent as to the means of pleasing, and exerts +himself but little.</p> +<p>If singers were esteemed by seniority, and perhaps by employment, LAINEZ +would be reckoned the first at this theatre. He is a counter-tenor, and +performs the parts of a lover. His voice is very strong, and, besides singing +through his nose, he screams loud enough to split one's ears. I have already +observed that the ears of a tasteful amateur would sometimes be shocked at this +theatre. The same remark, no doubt, was equally just some time ago; for J. J. +ROUSSEAU, when he was told that it was intended to restore to him the free +admission which he had enjoyed at the opera, replied that this was unnecessary, +because he had at the door of his country-residence the screech owls of the +forest of Montmorency. Those who are partial to LAINEZ think him an excellent +actor. This means that he has some warmth, and bestirs himself like a demoniac. +When the heroes of the opera wore hair-powder, nothing was more comic than to +see him shake his head, which was instantly enveloped in a cloud of dust. At +this signal the plaudits burst forth with great violence, and the would-be +singer, screaming with still greater loudness, seemed on the point of bursting +a blood-vessel.</p> +<p><a name="let41fr2"></a>It is reported that, not long since, a great +personage having sent for the <i>artists</i> belonging to the opera, said to +them, addressing himself to LAINEZ, "Gentlemen, do you intend to keep long your +old singers?"[<a href="#let41f2">2</a>] The same personage then turning round +to the dancers added, "As for you, gentlemen of the dance, none but compliments +can be paid to you."</p> +<p>LAFORÊT who (as the French express it), <i>doubles</i> LAINEZ, that is, +performs the same characters in his absence, has little more to recommend him +than his zeal. His voice is tolerably agreeable, but not strong enough for so +large a house. As an actor he is cold and aukward.</p> +<p>Next comes CHÉRON: he sings bass. His voice is strong, and the tone of it +sonorous and clear. However, it is thought to be weakened, and although this +singer sometimes throws out fine tones, he is reproached with a want of taste +and method. He is a sorry actor. Indeed, he very seldom makes his appearance, +which some attribute to idleness; and others, to his state of health. The +latter is likely to be occasionally deranged, as in point of epicurism, he has +as great a reputation as our celebrated Quin.</p> +<p>ADRIEN, who <i>doubles</i> CHÉRON, is an excellent actor; but his means do +not equal his intelligence. He presents himself wonderfully well; all his +movements, all his gestures have dignity, grace, and ease. There are, for the +same employment, other secondary singers, some of whom are by no means backward +in exertion, particularly DUFRESNE; but an impartial observer can say nothing +more in their commendation.</p> +<p>Let us now examine the qualifications of <i>Mesdames les +cantatrices</i>.</p> +<p>The first female singer at the opera is Mademoiselle MAILLARD. By means of a +rather pretty face, a clear voice, and a cabal of malcontents (for there are +some every where and in every line), she obtained loud applause, when she first +appeared some years ago as the rival of the charming ST. HUBERTI. Since the +revolution, France has lost this celebrated actress, and probably for ever. She +emigrated, and has since married the <i>ci-devant</i> Comte d'Antraigues. +Although she had not a powerful voice, she sang with the greatest perfection; +and her impressive and dignified style of acting was at least equal to her +singing.</p> +<p>At the present day, Mademoiselle MAILLARD has succeeded Madame ST. HUBERTI, +and is, as I have said, the first singer, in point of rank. She is become +enormous in bulk, and as the Italians express it, <i>canta a salti</i>. Her +powerful voice fills the house, but she is not unfrequently out of tune: her +declamation is noisy; while her masculine person gives her in all her motions +the air of a Bacchante. These qualities, no doubt, recommended her to the +notice of CHAUMETTE, the proclaimer of atheism, under whose auspices she more +than once figured as the goddess of reason. She has, nevertheless, occasionally +distinguished herself as an actress; and those who love noise, admire the +effect of her transitions. But I give the preference to Mademoiselle LATOUR, +who has a melodious pipe, which you will probably hear, as it is said that she +has not retired from the stage, where she frequently reminded the public of the +fascinating ST. HUBERTI, particularly in the character of <i>Didon</i>.</p> +<p>Since the prolonged absence of Mademoiselle LATOUR, Madame BRANCHU +<i>doubles</i> Mademoiselle MAILLARD. She is of much promise both as a singer +and actress. Her voice is agreeable, but not extensive.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle ARMAND is another most promising singer, who has a more +powerful organ than Madame BRANCHU, and when she has perfectly acquired the art +of modulating it, will, doubtless, prove a very valuable acquisition to this +theatre. Her voice has much sweetness, and sometimes conveys to the ear the +most flattering sounds, as its low tones are grave without being harsh, and its +high ones sonorous without being sharp. She seems to execute the most difficult +pieces of music with considerable ease; but she is deficient in action.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle HENRY is strong as to method, but weak as to means, in singing. +There are several other female singers; but, in my opinion, their merits do not +entitle them to particular mention.</p> +<p>Twelve or fourteen years ago, the opera was much better provided with +singers than it is at the present moment. Their voices, in every line of this +department, were well-toned and powerful. They easily reached the highest notes +according to the tone given by the diapason. Since then, the powers of most of +the singers who still remain on the stage have diminished, and those called in +to supply the place of such as are dead or have retired, are not near so rich +in voice as their predecessors. The diapason, however, has remained the same: +to this, in a great measure, may be attributed those shrieks and efforts which +disgust foreigners, unaccustomed to the French method. At the Parisian comic +opera, in consequence of a remonstrance from the principal singers, their +diapason has been lowered half a tone; and it seems necessary to examine +whether the same rule be not applicable to this theatre.</p> +<p>The choruses, notwithstanding, are now given here with more effect and +precision than I ever remember at any former period. In these, the ear is no +longer offended by exaggerated extensions of the voice, and, on the whole, they +are sung in a grand and graceful style.</p> +<p>The orchestra, which is ably led by REY, has also experienced a manifest +improvement. The principal musicians, I understand, have been recently changed; +and the first artists are engaged for the execution of the solos, and nothing +can now be wished for, either as to the spirit and correctness of the +overtures, or to the melody and taste of the accompaniments.</p> +<p>The Chief Consul is said to be particularly partial to Italian music. In +consequence, KREUTZER, a capital violin, and also a celebrated composer, has +been dispatched to Italy by the French government, for the express purpose of +selecting and purchasing the finest musical compositions which can be procured +in that land of harmony. Thus, the advice given by ROUSSEAU, in his +<i>Dictionnaire de Musique</i>, has at length been followed.</p> +<p>So much for the singing department of the opera, which, as you see, with +some exceptions, is but indifferent: in my next, I shall speak of the +dancing.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let41f1">Footnote 1</a>: Since the above letter was +written, this Lyric theatre has changed its name for that of <i>Théâtre de +l'Opéra</i>. This seems like one of the minor modifications, announcing the +general retrograde current setting towards the readoption of old habits; for +the denomination of <i>Théâtre des Arts</i> was certainly unobjectionable, as +poetry, music, dancing, painting, and mechanics, concurred in rendering more +pompous and more surprising the effects which a fertile genius, when governed +by reason, might assemble here for the gratification of the public. The +addition of the words <i>et de la République</i> was probably given to it from +patriotic zeal, at the time when the <i>Royal Academy of Music</i> was +abolished by the decree which annihilated all similar monarchical +institutions. <a href="#let41fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let41f2">Footnote 2</a>: It appears that, from pique, +this old opera-singer refused to sing on Easter-Sunday last, (1802) at the +cathedral of <i>Notre-Dame</i>. <a href="#let41fr2">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let42">LETTER XLII</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, December 30, 1801</i>.</p> +<p>Dancing, like the other arts in France, has, during the revolution, +experienced the vicissitudes of this new order of things; but also, like the +other arts, it has made a progress equally astonishing and rapid. However, it +must not thence be inferred that dancing, particularly theatrical, had not +attained a certain degree of superiority long before the revolution; yet a most +evident improvement has been made in it, not only by the old-established +dancers, who then seemed almost to have done their best, but by the numerous +competitors who have since made their appearance.</p> +<p>It is not in the power of words to convey an adequate idea of the effect +produced on the senses by some of the ballets. In lieu of those whimsical +capers, forced attitudes, vague and undefined gestures of a set of dancers +whose movements had no signification, dancing now forms an animated, graceful, +and diversified picture, in which all the human passions are feelingly +pourtrayed. Their language is the more expressive from its being more refined +and concentrated. In the silence of pantomime, recourse is had to every +ingenious gesture, in order to impart to them greater force and energy; and, in +this mute play, restraint seems to kindle eloquence. Every motion has its +meaning; the foot speaks as well as the eye, and the sensations of the mind are +expressed by the attitudes of the body. A delicate sentiment is rendered with +the rapidity of lightning. Love, fear, hope, and despair, change countenances, +and say every thing that they wish to say, void of deceit, as if falsehood no +longer existed as soon as the mouth ceased to open.</p> +<p>It should not be forgotten that it was NOVERRE who first brought about in +France this reform in what were till then called ballets, without deserving the +title. He banished wigs, hoop-petticoats, and other preposterous habiliments, +and, by dint of superior genius, seconded by taste and perseverance, introduced +those historical pictures, replete with grace, expression, and sentiment, in +the room of the flat, insipid, and lifeless caricatures, which had hitherto +usurped admiration.</p> +<p>But, though NOVERRE, and, after him, the GARDELS, introduced on the Parisian +stage the pantomimic art in all the lustre in which it flourished on the +theatres of Greece and Rome, yet they had been anticipated by HILWERDING in +Germany, and ANGIOLINI in Italy, two celebrated men, who, in a distinguished +manner, laid the foundations of a species of modern entertainment, before known +only by the annals of ancient history. Those who have trod in their steps have +infinitely surpassed them in attractions, and, by their scientific +compositions, acquired a justly-merited reputation.</p> +<p>GARDEL, who, for the last fifteen years, has been the first dancer at the +opera, shews himself but seldom. After having, during that long period, +received the warmest and best deserved applause, either in the execution of the +noble style of dancing, or in the composition of ballets, he seems now to have +devoted himself almost exclusively to the last-mentioned branch of his art, and +the perfection to which he daily carries it, may well compensate the public for +the privation of his talents in the line of execution.</p> +<p>The most famous pantomimical ballets or <i>ballets d'action</i> (as they are +styled) now represented here, are <i>Psyché</i>, <i>Télémaque</i>, <i>Le +Jugement de Paris</i>, <i>Mirza</i>, and <i>la Dansomanie</i>. The impression +to which I have before alluded, is particularly observable during the +representation of the first three (composed by GARDEL), the charm of which +would be weakened by any attempt at description. No spectator, be his +disposition ever so cold and indifferent, can behold them unmoved. Every effort +of human skill and invention is exerted to excite astonishment and admiration. +The <i>ensemble</i> of the <i>spectacle</i> and decorations correspond to the +fertile genius of the author. It is the triumph of the art, and there may be +fixed the limits of pantomime, embellished by dancing. Nothing more perfect +than the rapid change of scenery. Meteors, apparitions, divinities borne on +clusters of clouds or in cars, appear and disappear, as if by enchantment, +exhibiting situations the most picturesque and striking.</p> +<p>BOULAY, the principal machinist, is, perhaps, the first in his line in +Europe. In the opera of <i>Armide</i>, I have seen him raise into the air +nearly one half of the theatre. He executes whatever is proposed to him, no +matter how difficult, and he is well seconded by the painters and draughtsmen. +The new decorations display much taste, and produce an effect truly +wonderful.</p> +<p>Had I not already made the remark, you might have concluded from the general +tenour of my observations, that the dancing forms the most brilliant part, of +the <i>spectacle</i> at this theatre, or, in other words, that the accessory +prevails over the main subject. It is no longer, as heretofore, a few capital +dancers of both sexes who form the ornament of the opera. Almost all the +competitors in this line are so many <i>virtuosi</i> who deserve and equally +participate the plaudits of the public. There is not among them any mediocrity. +The establishment of the <i>école de la danse</i> is for this theatre a +nursery, where Terpsichore finds, in great numbers, the most promising plants +for the decoration of her temple. It is saying little to affirm that nothing +equals the superiority of talents of this description which the opera +comprehends at the present moment. These advantages, I understand, are chiefly +due to GARDEL. He has given the example and the precept, and, through his +guidance, the art of dancing is become doubly captivating.</p> +<p>After having supplied most of the principal cities in Europe with capital +dancers, this theatre, far from being impoverished, is still in possession of a +numerous train of first-rate <i>artists</i> of both sexes in every style of +dancing. The men are GARDEL, MILON, ST. AMAND, DESHAIES, GOYON, BEAUPRÉ, +BRANCHU, BEAULIEU, AUMER, LÉON, TAGLIONI, DUPORT, and VESTRIS.</p> +<p>It is unnecessary to speak of the talents of VESTRIS, as they are as well +known in London as in Paris. I shall therefore content myself with remarking +that he delights in exhibiting feats of agility; but as his age increases, +connoisseurs think that he declines a little. Nevertheless, he is still, in +reality, the first dancer at the opera. It is said that his son, ARMAND +VESTRIS, will, in time, be able to supply his place; in the mean while, DUPORT +bids fair to fill it, in case the "<i>Dieu de la danse</i>" should retire; not +to mention DESHAIES, who has lately met with an accident which has disabled him +for the present; but who, when on the stage in the presence of Vestris, has +shewn that he could also astonish and delight the spectators. Without having +the boldness of his rival, he exhibits more certainty and <i>à-plomb</i>. In +the character of <i>Télémaque</i>, he appears with all the grace of Apollo. If +excellence in dancing be allowed to consist less in the efforts of the dancer, +than in the ease and gracefulness of his attitudes, and the lightness and +precision of his steps, DESHAIES may he classed in the first rank of his +profession.</p> +<p><a name="let42fr1"></a>In this exercise, as in every thing else, there is a +just medium, and this is more particularly observed by the principal female +dancers. The names of these are GARDEL, CLOTILDE, CHEVIGNY, PÉRIGNON, COLLOMB, +CHAMEROI,[<a href="#let42f1">1</a>] SAULNIER, VESTRIS, DELISLE, MILLIÈRE, +LOUISE, FÉLICITÉ, DUPORT, TAGLIONI, ALINE, ÉTIENNE, JACOTOT, FLORINE, ADÈLE, to +whom may be added two most promising <i>débutantes</i>, LA NEUVILLE and +BIGOTINI, whose first appearance I witnessed.</p> +<p>Though Madame GARDEL, wife of the principal ballet-master, shines in +<i>demi-caractère</i>, her talents, in the different parts in which she is +placed, are above all panegyric. As NOVERRE has said somewhere of a famous +dancer, "she is always tender, always graceful, sometimes a butterfly, +sometimes a zephyr, at one moment inconstant, at another faithful; always +animated by a new sentiment, she represents with voluptuousness all the shades +of love." To sum up her merits, she is really in her art the female Proteus of +the lyric scene. Mademoiselle CLOTILDE is a tall, elegant woman, who dances in +the serious style. All her movements, made with precision, exhibit the +beautiful proportion of her finely-modelled figure; but, owing to her stature, +she appears to most advantage in pantomime, particularly in the character of +<i>Calypso</i> in the ballet of <i>Télémaque</i>. In the same ballet, MILLIÈRE, +in the part of <i>Eucharis</i>, displays her playful graces and engaging mien. +CHEVIGNY is full of expression in pantomime, and dances in great perfection, +notwithstanding her <i>embonpoint</i>. <a name="let42fr2"></a>PÉRIGNON and +COLLOMB are superior in the comic style, and all the others are not without +some peculiar exellence.[<a href="#let42f2">2</a>]</p> +<p>I should never finish, were I to attempt to particularize the merits of all +these fascinating women, who, as well as the men, have, of late, alternately +interchanged the characters they performed in the ballets of action. Even those +introduced occasionally in the fêtes given and received by the heroes in the +different operas, present a real contest, in which the first-rate dancers of +both sexes exert themselves to snatch the palm from their rivals. When a +theatre possesses such a richness, variety, and assemblage of talents in the +same art, it may boldly stylo itself the first in Europe. But I must confess +that an innovation has been introduced here which detracts much from what has +always been considered as fine dancing. I mean the mania of <i>pirouettes</i>. +This, however, seems less to be attributed to a decided <i>penchant</i> of the +dancers than to that of a new public, not yet familiarized to what constitutes +true taste.</p> +<p>During a revolution, every thing changes, every thing assumes a new face. +What was entitled to please yesterday in times of tranquillity, is to-day, +during the jar of public opinion, and will be to-morrow subject to all the +variations of caprice. The marvellous and gigantic usurp the place of the +natural, and claim alone the right to entertain. True it is that the dancers +have found means to render this new manner interesting, while they have enjoyed +the sweets of it. The pleasure of being applauded is so great, that it is no +easy matter to withstand the powerful allurement of the plaudits of a numerous +audience. Boileau has said, "<i>Aimez-vous la muscade? On en a mis par +tout</i>." The French dancers, following his example, have said, "<i>Aimez-vous +les pirouettes?</i>" The public have answered <i>oui</i>; and <i>pirouettes</i> +are all the rage.</p> +<p>When a certain king of Bisnagar sneezes, the court, the town, the provinces, +all the subjects of his empire, in short, sneeze in imitation of their monarch. +Without departing from my subject, I shall only observe that <i>pirouettes</i>, +like this sneezing, have found their way from the opera-stage into the circles +of every class of society in Paris. There lies the absurdity. The young +Frenchmen have been emulous to dance like dancers by profession; the women have +had the same ambition; and both men and women have, above all, been desirous to +shine like them in <i>pirouettes</i>. Thence most of the dances, formerly +practised in society, in which simple and natural grace was combined with a +certain facility and nobleness of execution, have been entirely laid aside. It +must be acknowledged, that, among the dancers in private company, there are +many, indeed, who, by dint of imitation and study, have attained a great degree +of perfection. But I now perceive that people here no longer dance for their +amusement; they dance to gratify their vanity, and many a person who has not +practised some hours in the morning under the tuition of his master, excuses +himself in the evening, pretends to be lame, and declines dancing.</p> +<p>The taste and elegance of the dresses of the opera-dancers, like those of +the heroes and heroines of the sock and buskin, leave nothing to be wished for. +<a name="let42fr3"></a>In lieu of drawers, which all women, without exception, +were formerly obliged to wear on the stage[<a href="#let42f3">3</a>], those who +dance have now substituted silk pantaloons, woven with feet, in order to serve +also as stockings. In some particular characters, they wear these of flesh +colour, and it is not then easy, at first sight, to distinguish whether it be +or be not the clothing of nature.</p> +<p>The French opera having been long considered as the grand national theatre, +it has ever been the pride of the government, whether monarchical or +republican, to support it in a manner worthy of the nation. In fact, the +disbursements are so great, that it would be impossible for the receipts to +cover them, though the performances are seldom suspended for more than two days +in the week, and the house is generally crowded. This theatre is managed by the +government, and on its account. The Minister of the Interior appoints a +commissioner to superintend its operations, and managers to conduct them. +During the old <i>régime</i>, the opera cost the crown annually from one +hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand livres. What the extraordinary +expenses of this house are, under the present government, is not so easily +ascertained; but, from the best information that I have been able to procure, +their amount is from three to four hundred thousand francs a year. Here is a +considerable increase; but it must be remembered that the price of several +articles is now greatly augmented, if not doubled.</p> +<p>The receipt of the opera, on an average, used to be from twelve to fifteen +thousand livres a night; what it is at this day, is not positively known. +Formerly, the produce of the boxes, let by the year, was such, that nine +thousand livres were paid, in a manner, before the doors were thrown open. That +resource is almost void at present; nevertheless, this house being more +spacious than the old one, the prices of admission higher, and the performance, +perhaps, more constantly attended, the money taken at the door cannot well be +less than it was formerly. It then cost much less than it does now to bring out +a new piece. Thirty or forty thousand livres were sufficient for the production +of the most magnificent opera; while the disbursements to be made for +<i>Tamerlan</i> will, it is thought, amount to upwards of eighty thousand +francs. At this rate, the first representation of the <i>Mystères d'Isis</i>, +of which so much has been said, must have been attended with an expense of more +than a hundred thousand. Scandal whispers, that the managers of the opera are +rather partial to expensive pieces; but as they are accountable for their +conduct to the Minister of the Interior, I should presume that they must act as +honourable men.</p> +<p>The salaries are not considerable at this theatre. The first performers have +not more than twelve thousand francs a year, exclusively of the <i>feux</i>, +which is the sum given to each of them, when they perform. This, I understand, +does not exceed a louis a night. Those who have a name, indemnify themselves by +going, from time to time, to play in the great commercial towns of the +departments, such as Bordeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, &c. where they generally +collect a rich harvest. It is said that VESTRIS has received from the +government a gratification to prevent him from visiting the British metropolis; +and it is also reported that DIDELOT and LABORIE have made vain efforts to +return to the Parisian opera; but that the managers, faithful to their +instructions, refuse to readmit such of the old performers as have voluntarily +quitted it. What attaches performers to the opera-house is the <i>pension de +retraite.</i> They all eventually obtain it, even the chorus-singers.</p> +<p>The remuneration of authors, that is, of the poet and composer of the music, +is to each three hundred francs for every representation, when the piece is not +less than three acts. This is the most common division. +<a name="let42fr4"></a>I know of no operas in one act; those in two are paid in +the above proportion.[<a href="#let42f4">4</a>]</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let42f1">Footnote 1</a>: The refusal made by the Rector +of St. Roch to admit into that church the corpse of Mademoiselle CHAMEROI, has +informed us in England of the loss which this theatre has sustained in that +young and accomplished dancer. She died, generally regretted, in consequence of +being delivered of a child of which VESTRIS considered himself as the real +father. However, M. DE MARKOFF, the Russian ambassador at Paris, stood sponsor +to the infant, and, according to the scandalous chronicle, was not contented +with being only a spiritual father. The Parisian public have consoled +themselves for this loss by talking a great deal about the scene to which it +gave rise. It seems that the Rector was decidedly in the wrong, the dancers of +the opera never having been comprised in the papal excommunication which +involved players. The persons composing the funeral procession were also in the +wrong to go to St. Roch, since the Rector had positively declared that the +corpse of Mademoiselle CHAMEROI should not enter the +church. <a href="#let42fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let42f2">Footnote 2</a>: In a preceding note, VESTRIS +has been mentioned as the reputed lover of Mademoiselle CHAMEROI, and from this +instance of illicit intercourse, it might, perhaps, be erroneously inferred +that most of the Parisian female opera-dancers had overleaped the pale of +virtue. Without pretending to enter the lists as the champion of their +character, though I admire their talents as warmly as any amateur, truth +induces me to observe that many of these ladies enjoy an unblemished +reputation. Madame VESTRIS, in particular, is universally represented as a +young and pretty woman, much attached to her faithless husband, and, +notwithstanding his improper example, a constant observer of the most exemplary +conduct. <a href="#let42fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let42f3">Footnote 3</a>: Many years ago, a Parisian +actress, coming on the stage in the part of <i>Mérope</i>, in the tragedy of +that name, her petticoats somehow happened to catch in the side-scene, and, in +her hasty endeavours to disentangle them, she exhibited to the audience the +hind part of her person. In consequence of this accident, a <i>sentence de +police</i> enjoined every woman, whether actress or dancer, not to appear on +the boards of any theatre, without +drawers. <a href="#let42fr3">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let42f4">Footnote 4</a>: GARDEL has lately added +another sprig of laurel to his brow, by the production of a new pantomimical +ballet, called <i>Daphnis et Pandrose, ou la vengeance de l'amour</i>. He has +borrowed the subject from a story of Madame DE GENLIS, who took it from fable. +Every resource of his inexhaustible genius has been employed to give the +happiest effect to this charming work, to enumerate the beauties of which is, +by general report, beyond the powers of language. All the first-rate dancers of +both sexes are placed in the most advantageous point of view throughout this +ballet. Madame GARDEL performs in it the part of Cupid, with all the charms, +wiles, and graces which poets ascribe to the roguish deity. The other +characters are represented in a manner no less interesting. In short, music, +dancing, pantomime, dress, decoration, every thing in this piece, concurs to +stamp it as one of the most wonderful productions of the kind ever exhibited to +the admiration of the public. <a href="#let42fr4">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let43">LETTER XLIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 1, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Fast locked in the arms of Morpheus, and not dreaming of what was to happen, +as Lord North said, when the king caused him to be awakened, in the dead of the +night, to deliver up the seals, so was I roused this morning by a message from +an amiable French lady of my acquaintance, requesting me to send her some +<i>bonbons</i>. "<i>Bonbons</i>!" exclaimed I, "in the name of wonder, Rosalie, +is your mistress so childishly impatient as to send you trailing through the +snow, on purpose to remind me that I promised to replenish her +<i>bonbonnière</i>?"—"Not exactly so, Monsieur," replied the <i>femme de +chambre</i>, "Madame was willing to be the first to wish you a happy new +year."—"A new year!" said I, "by the republican calendar, I thought that +the new year began on the 1st of Vendémiaire."—"Very true," answered she; +"but, in spite of new laws, people adhere to old customs; wherefore we +celebrate the first of January."—"As to celebrating the first of January, +<i>à la bonne heure</i>, Rosalie," rejoined I, "I have no sort of objection; +but I wish you had adhered to some of your other old customs, and, above all, +to your old hours. I was not in bed till past six o'clock this morning, and +now, you wake me at eight with your congratulations."—"Never mind, +Monsieur," said she, "you will soon drop asleep again; but my mistress hopes +that you will not fail to make one of her party on the <i>Fête des +Rois</i>."—"Good heaven!" exclaimed I again, "what, is a +counterrevolution at hand, that the <i>Fête des Rois</i> must also be +celebrated?"—"'Tis," interrupted Rosalie, "only for the pleasure of +drawing for king and queen."—"Tell Madame," added I, "that I will accept +her invitation."—Dismissing the <i>soubrette</i> with this assurance, at +the same time not forgetting to present her with a new year's gift, she at once +revealed the secret of her early visit, by hinting to me that, among intimate +friends, it was customary to give <i>étrennes</i>. This, in plain English, +implies nothing more nor less than that I must likewise make her mistress a +present, on the principle, I suppose, that <i>les petits cadeaux entretiennent +l'amitié</i>.</p> +<p>My reflection then turned on the instability of this people. After +establishing a new division of time, they return to the old one, and celebrate, +as formerly, the first of January. Now, it is evident that the former accords +better with the order of nature, and that autumn was the first season which +followed the creation. Why else should apples of irresistible ripeness and +beauty have presented themselves to the eye of our first parents in the garden +of Eden? This would not have been the case, had the world commenced in +winter.</p> +<p>Besides, a multitude of advantages would accrue to the French from an +adherence to the 1st of Vendémiaire, or 23d of September of the Gregorian +calendar, as the first day of the year. The weather, after the autumnal +equinox, is generally settled, in consequence of the air having been purified +by the pre-existing gales, the ordinary forerunners of that period: and the +Parisians would not be obliged to brave the rain, the wind, the cold, the +frost, the snow, &c. in going to wish a happy new year to their fathers, +mothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, and other relations. For to all this are they +now exposed, unless they choose to ruin themselves in coach-hire. The +consequence is that they are wet, cold, and dirty for two or three successive +days, and are sure to suffer by a sore throat, rheumatism, or fever, all which +entail the expensive attendance of the faculty; whereas, did they celebrate the +23d of September as new year's day, they might, in a quiet, unassuming manner, +pay all their visits on foot, and, in that season, this exercise would neither +be prejudicial to their purse nor their health.</p> +<p>I do not immediately recollect whether I have spoken to you of the +long-expected account of the French expedition to Egypt, by DENON: yet I ought +not to have omitted to inform you that, upwards of two months ago, I set down +your name for a copy of this splendid work. It will cost you 360 francs; but +you will have one of the proof impressions. I have seen a specimen of the +letter-press, which is to consist of a folio volume, printed by Didot. The +plates, amounting to upwards of one hundred and forty in number, are entirely +engraved from DENON'S original drawings, without any reduction or enlargement, +with the exception of that representing the Battle of the Pyramids, the size of +which has been increased at the express desire of BONAPARTE. I have often +amused myself on a morning in contemplating these drawings; but the crowd of +curious persons being generally great, I determined to seize the opportunity of +examining them more at leisure to-day, when the French are entirely engaged in +interchanging the compliments of the season. I found DENON himself diligently +employed on some of the engravings; and so anxious is he for the publication of +the work, that he toils early and late to forward its appearance.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the anxiety he feels on that account, this estimable artist +takes a real pleasure in explaining the subject of his drawings; and, by means +of his obliging communications, I am now become tolerably well acquainted with +Egypt. What country, in fact, has a better claim to fix attention than that +which served as a cradle to human knowledge, and the history of which goes back +to the first ages of the world; a country, where every thing seems to have +commenced? Laws, arts, sciences, and even fables, which derive their origin +from nature, whose attributes they immortalize, and which, at a subsequent +period, formed the ground-work of the ingenious fictions of mythology.</p> +<p>What idea must we not conceive of the industry and civilization of a people +who erected those celebrated monuments, anterior to the annals of history, to +the accounts even of tradition, those pyramids which have unalterably withstood +all the ravages of time?</p> +<p>When we look back on the ancients, the Greeks and Romans almost exclusively +divide our attention. The former, it is true, carried farther the love and the +culture of the fine arts; while the latter are more remarkable for the great +traits of their character; though both acquired that renown which mankind have +so improperly attached to the success of arms.</p> +<p>But, in allowing to Greece all the interest which she claims, in so many +respects, we cannot forget that she was originally peopled by Egyptian +colonies; that it was Egyptians who, in later times, carried thither the +knowledge of the arts, the most necessary and the most indispensable to +society; and that, at the epoch which preceded the splendid days of Greece, it +was also into Egypt that the sages went to acquire that knowledge of a superior +kind, which constituted their glory, and rendered their country +illustrious.</p> +<p>What keeps up a sort of rivalship between Greece and Egypt is that, +independently of the priority of knowledge, the former had the eminent +advantage of opening her arms to philosophy and the sciences, which, forsaking +their adoptive country, and not being able to survive the loss of liberty, fled +back to their natal soil, and found, in the Museum of Alexandria, an asylum, +which neither the Lyceum, the Portico, nor the Academy, could longer afford +them at Athens. Thus, to the reign of the Ptolemies are we, unquestionably, +indebted for the preservation of the knowledge acquired by the ancients.</p> +<p>Apropos, I forgot to mention to you that BERTHOLET, a Senator and Member of +the Institute, communicated to that society, in one of its sittings last month, +a letter from FOURIER, the geometrician, and member of the late Institute of +Egypt. This <i>savant</i>, in the researches he made in Upper Egypt, discovered +and delineated several zodiacs, which, he says, fully confirm the theory of +DUPUIS, respecting the origin and antiquity of the figures of the zodiac. As +far back as the year 1781, DUPUIS published a memoir, since reprinted in his +large work, entitled <i>De l'Origine des Cultes</i>, in which he presumes that +the zodiac, such as it has been transmitted to us by the Greeks, is of Egyptian +origin, and that it goes back to fifteen thousand years, at least, before the +era of the French revolution.</p> +<h2><a name="let44">LETTER XLIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 3, 1802.</i></p> +<p>An almost uninterrupted succession of wet weather has, of late, precluded me +from the regular enjoyment of a morning walk. But, with the new year, we had a +heavy fall of snow, which has since been succeeded by a severe frost. I gladly +availed myself of this opportunity of taking exercise, and yesterday, after +viewing the skaiters in that part of the <i>Champs Elysées</i> which had been +inundated, and is now frozen, I immediately proceeded to the</p> +<p class="center">HÔTEL DES INVALIDES.</p> +<p>This majestic edifice was projected by Henry IV, and executed, by order of +Lewis XIV, after the designs of BRUANT, who laid the foundation on the 30th of +November, 1671. It is composed of five courts, surrounded by buildings. The +middle court is as large as all the other four.</p> +<p>A spacious esplanade planted with trees, an outer court surrounded by a wall +newly-built, form the view towards the river, and lead to the principal façade, +which is twelve hundred feet in extent. This façade has, within these few +years, been entirely polished anew: the details of sculpture have, perhaps, +gained by the operation; but the architecture has certainly lost that gloomy +tint which gave to this building a manly and respectable character. In the +middle of this façade, in the arched part above the great gate, was a +bas-relief of Lewis XIV on horseback.</p> +<p>This gate leads to the great court, which is decorated by two rows of +arcades, the one above the other, forming, on the two stories, uniform +galleries which give light to the apartments of the circumference. The windows, +which serve to light the upper apartments of the façade, are remarkable from +their being placed in cuirasses, as those of the great court are in trophies of +arms.</p> +<p>From this court, you enter the church, now called the <i>Temple of Mars</i>. +It is ornamented with the Corinthian order, and has the form of a Greek cross. +The pulpit no longer exists. The altar, which was magnificently decorated, is +likewise destroyed.</p> +<p>The chapels, to the number of six, were each ornamented by a cupola painted +in fresco, and statues in marble by the greatest masters, which, after being +left for some time exposed to the injuries of the air in the court looking +towards the country, are at length deposited in the MUSEUM OF FRENCH +MONUMENTS.</p> +<p>To the arches of this temple are suspended the standards and colours taken +from the enemy. Two British flags only contribute to augment the number. The +oldest of these trophies have been removed from <i>Notre-Dame</i>. When they +were formerly displayed in that cathedral, a general, who was constantly +victorious, was called by the people the <i>upholsterer of Notre-Dame</i>; an +energetic appellation which spoke home to the feelings. But, however calculated +these emblems of victory may be to foster heroism in the mind of youth, and +rekindle valour in the heart of old age, what a subject of reflection do they +not afford to the philanthropist! How can he, in fact, contemplate these +different flags, without regretting the torrents of blood which they have cost +his fellow-creatures?</p> +<p>In this <i>Temple of Mars</i> is erected the monument of TURENNE, whose +body, after various removals, was conveyed hither, in great pomp, on the 1st of +Vendémiaire, year IX (23d of September, 1800) conformably to a decree of the +Consuls, and immediately deposited in the inside of this tomb.</p> +<p>The present government of France seems to have taken the hint from St. Foix, +who expresses his astonishment that Lewis XIV never conceived the idea of +erecting, in the <i>Hôtel des Invalides</i>, mausolea, with the statues of the +generals who had led with the greatest glory the armies of the nation. +<a name="let44fr1"></a>"Where could they be more honourably interred," says he, +"than amidst those old soldiers, the companions of their fatigues, who, like +themselves, had lavished their blood for their +country?"[<a href="#let44f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>At the age of sixty-four, TURENNE was killed by a cannon-ball, while +reconnoitring the enemy's batteries near the village of Salzbach in Germany, on +the 27th of July, 1675. No less esteemed for his virtues as a man, than +honoured for his talents as a general, he at last fell a victim to his courage. +His soldiers looked up to him as to a father, and in his life-time always gave +him that title. <a name="let44fr2"></a>After his death, when they saw the +embarrassment in which it left the generals who succeeded him in the command of +the army: "<i>Let loose old Piebald</i>," said they, "<i>he will guide +us</i>."[<a href="#let44f2">2</a>] The same ball which (to borrow a line from +Pope) laid</p> +<p class="bq">"The <i>god-like</i> TURENNE prostrate in the dust,"</p> +<p>likewise took off the arm of ST. HILAIRE, Lieutenant-general of artillery: +his son, who was beside him at the moment, uttered a cry of grief. "<i>'Tis not +me, my son, that you must bewail</i>," said ST. HILAIRE; "<i>'tis that great +man.</i>"</p> +<p>The Marshal was as much lamented by the enemy as he was by his own +countrymen; and MONTECUCULLI, the general opposed to him, when he learned the +loss which France had sustained in the person of TURENNE, exclaimed: "Then a +man is dead who was an honour to human nature!"</p> +<p>The Germans, for several years, left untilled the field where he was killed; +and the inhabitants shewed it as a sacred spot. They respected the old tree +under which, he reposed a little time before his death, and would not suffer it +to be cut down. The tree perished only, because soldiers of all nations carried +away pieces of it out of respect to his memory.</p> +<p>TURENNE had been interred in the abbey of St. Denis, and at the time of the +royal vaults being opened in 1793, by order of the National Convention, the +remains of that great captain were respected amid the general destruction which +ensued. From the eagerness of the workmen to behold them, his tomb was the very +first that was opened. When the lid of the coffin was removed, the Marshal was +found in such a state of preservation that he was not at all disfigured: the +features of his face, far from being changed, were perfectly conformable to the +portraits and medallions of TURENNE in our possession.</p> +<p>This monument, now placed in the <i>Temple of Mars</i>, had been erected to +that warrior in the abbey of St. Denis, and was preserved through the care of +M. LENOIR; after being seen for five years in the MUSEUM OF FRENCH MONUMENTS, +of which he is the director, it was removed hither by the before-mentioned +decree of the Consuls. LE BRUN furnished the designs from which it was +executed. The group, composed of TURENNE in the arms of Immortality, is by +TUBY; the accessory figures, the one representing Wisdom, and the other, +Valour, are by MARSY. The bas-relief in bronze in the middle of the cenotaph is +likewise by TURY, and represents TURENNE charging the enemy at the battle of +Turckheim, in 1675.</p> +<p>The dome forms a second church behind the large one, to which it +communicates. Its exterior, entirely covered with lead, is surrounded by forty +pillars of the Composite order, and ornamented with twelve large gilt coats of +mail, crowned with helmets, which serve as skylights, and with a small lantern +with pillars which support a pyramid, surmounted by a large ball and a +cross.</p> +<p>All the architecture of the dome, which is called the new church, is from +the design of MANSARD. Its elevation, from the ground-floor, is three hundred +feet; and its diameter, fifty. It has the character of elegance. The beauty of +its proportion, its decoration, and especially all the parts which concur in +forming the pyramid, render it a master-piece of architecture. But nothing +commands admiration like the interior, though it may be said to be +three-fourths damaged. The twelve windows, by which it is lighted, but which +the observer below cannot perceive, are ornamented with coupled piasters, +resting on a continued pedestal. On the broad band, which was formerly adorned +with flower-de-luces, and at this day with emblems of liberty, were the +medallions of twelve of the most famous kings of France: namely, Clovis, +Dagobert, Childebert, Charlemagne, Lewis the Debonair, Charles the Bald, Philip +Augustus, St. Lewis, Lewis XII, Henry IV, Lewis XIII, and Lewis XIV. The first +arch, distributed into twelve equal parts, presented the twelve apostles, +painted in fresco by JOUVENET. The second arch, painted by LA FOSSE, +represented the apotheosis of St. Lewis, offering to God his sword and crown. +The pavement, which alone has not suffered, is in compartments of different +marbles of great value.</p> +<p>The portal, which looks towards the country, is thirty toises in extent. Of +all the figures which decorated this façade, those of the Four Virtues; namely, +Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, and Prudence, are the only ones that have been +suffered to remain in their places. They are by COYZEVOX.</p> +<p>The other objects most worthy of notice in this spacious, building, which, +together with its precincts, occupies seventeen <i>arpens</i>, are the +refectories and kitchens, which are very extensive. Formerly, neither of these +were kept in such high order as they are at present. The tables of the private +soldiers are now better supplied; sirloins of beef and legs of mutton being no +longer roasted for the officers only. In the four refectories, where the +soldiers dine, twelve in a mess, they are regularly served with soup, bouilli, +a plate of vegetables, and a pint of unadulterated wine. When Peter the Great +visited this establishment, the Invalids happened to be at dinner, the czar, on +entering the first refectory, poured out a bumper of wine, and drank it off in +a military style to the health of the veterans, whom he termed his +comrades.</p> +<p>The halls are ornamented with paintings representing the conquests of Lewis +XIV. During the reign of terror the features of the <i>Grand Monarque</i>, who +made a conspicuous figure in these pictures, were concealed by a coat of dark +paint, which answered the purpose of a mask. BONAPARTE has ordered this mask to +be removed, so that the ambitious monarch now reappears in all his former +glory.</p> +<p>Whatever may be said in praise of establishments of this description, for my +part, I see nothing in them but the gratification of national pride. The old +soldiers, are, in a manner, without a comrade, though living in the midst of +their brother warriors. The good fellowship which they have witnessed in camps +no longer subsists. The danger of battles, the weight of fatigues, and the +participation of privations and hardships, no longer form the tie of common +interest, by which they were once united. This, being dissolved, they seek in +vain that reciprocity of little kindnesses which they used to find in their own +regiments and armies. All hope of promotion or change being at an end, their +only consolation is to enjoy the present by indulging in reveries concerning +the past.</p> +<p>Instead of being doomed to end their days in this sort of stately +confinement, subject to restrictions which render life so dull and monotonous, +how different would these veterans feel, could they retire to the bosom of +their families and friends! Then, indeed, would they dwell with delight on the +battles and sieges in which they had served, enumerating their many +hair-breadth escapes, and detailing the particulars of the fight in which they +lost their deficient leg or arm. After a pause, the sense of their country's +gratitude operating powerfully on their mind, would soothe every painful +recollection. Their auditors, impressed with admiration, would listen in +silence to the recital of the well-fought day, and, roused by the call of +national honour, cheerfully step forth to emulate these mutilated heroes, +provided they were sure of a <i>free</i> asylum, when reduced to their helpless +condition.</p> +<p>Whether I enter the <i>Hôtel des Invalides</i>, or <i>Chelsea Hospital</i>, +such are the reflections which never fail to occur to me, when I visit either +of those establishments, and contemplate the dejected countenances of the +maimed beings that inhabit them.</p> +<p>Experience tells us that men dislike enjoyments, regularly prepared for +them, if under restraint, and prefer smaller gratifications, of which they can +partake without control. Policy, as well as prudence, therefore dictates a +departure from the present system of providing for those maimed in fighting the +battles of their nation.</p> +<p>In a word, I am fully persuaded that the sums expended in the purchase of +the ground and construction of this magnificent edifice, together with the +charges of maintaining the establishment, would have formed a fund that might +have enabled the government to allow every wounded soldier a competent pension +for life, in proportion to the length of his services, and the injuries which +he might have suffered in defence of his country.</p> +<p>From the <i>Hôtel des Invalides</i> are avenues, planted with trees, which, +on one side, communicate to the <i>New Boulevards</i>, and, on the other, to +the</p> +<p class="center">CHAMP DE MARS.</p> +<p>This extensive inclosure was originally intended for the exercises of the +<i>École Militaire</i>, in front of which it is situated, as you will perceive +by referring to the Plan of Paris. Its form is a parallelogram of four hundred +and fifty toises in length by one hundred and fifty in breadth. It is +surrounded by ditches, faced with masonry, which are bordered on each side by a +double row of trees, extending from the façade of the <i>ci-devant École +Militaire</i> to the banks of the Seine. That building, I shall observe <i>en +passant</i>, was founded in 1751, by Lewis XV, for the military education of +five hundred young gentlemen, destitute of fortune, whose fathers had died in +the service. It stands on the south side of the <i>Champ de Mars</i>, and +serves at present as barracks for the horse-grenadiers of the consular guard. +On the third story of one of the wings is a national observatory, which was +constructed at the instigation of Lalande, the celebrated astronomer.</p> +<p>The various scenes of which the <i>Champ de Mars</i> has successively been +the theatre, are too interesting to be passed over in silence. Indeed, they +exhibit the character of the nation in such striking colours, that to omit +them, would be like omitting some of the principal features in the drawing of a +portrait. Often have they been mentioned, it is true; but subsequent events +have so weakened the remembrance of them, that they now present themselves to +the mind more like dreams than realities. However, I shall touch on the most +remarkable only.</p> +<p>In 1790, a spacious arena, encompassed by a mound of earth, divided into +seats so as to accommodate three hundred thousand spectators, was formed within +this inclosure. To complete it speedily for the ceremony of the first +federation, required immense labour. The slow progress of twenty-five thousand +hired workmen could not keep pace with the ardent wishes of the friends of +liberty. But those were the days of enthusiasm: concord and harmony then +subsisted among the great majority of the French people. What other sentiments, +in fact, could daily bring together, in the <i>Champ de Mars</i>, two hundred +and fifty thousand persons of every class, without distinction of age or sex, +to work at the necessary excavation? Thus, at the end of a week, the +amphitheatre was completed as if by enchantment.</p> +<p>Never, perhaps, since the time of the Spartans, was seen among any people +such an example of cordial union. It would be difficult for the warmest +imagination to conceive a picture so varied, so original, so animated. Every +corporation, every society was ambitious of the honour of assisting in the +erection of the altar of the country: all wished to contribute, by individual +labour, to the arrangement of the place where they were to swear to defend the +constitution. Not a man, woman, or child remained an idle spectator. On this +occasion, the aged seemed to have recovered the vigour of youth, and women and +children to have acquired the strength of manhood. In a word, men of all trades +and professions were confounded, and cheerfully handled the pickaxe and shovel: +delicate females, sprucely dressed, were seen here and there wheeling along +barrows filled with earth; while long strings of stout fellows dragged heavy +loads in carts and waggons. As the electric matter runs along the several links +of an extensive chain, so patriotism seemed to have electrified this whole mass +of people. The shock was universal, and every heart vibrated in unison.</p> +<p>The general good order which prevailed among this vast assemblage, composed +indiscriminately of persons of every rank and condition, was truly surprising. +No sort of improper discourse, no dispute of any kind occurred. But what is +still more singular and more worthy of remark is, that the mutual confidence +shewn by so many people, strangers to each other, was in no one instance +abused. Those who threw off their coats and waistcoats, leaving them to the +fate of chance, during the time they were at work elsewhere, on their return to +the same spot found them untouched. Hence, as Paris is known to abound with +<i>filoux</i>, it may be inferred that the <i>amor patriæ</i> had deadened in +them the impulse of their ordinary vocation.</p> +<p>Franklin, when promoting the emancipation of America, during his residence +in Paris, probably did not foresee that the French would soon borrow his +favourite expression, and that it would become the burden of a popular air. Yet +so it happened; and even Lewis XVI himself participated in the patriotic +labours of the <i>Champ de Mars</i>, while different bands of military music +made the whole inclosure resound with <i>ça ira</i>.</p> +<p>To these exhilarating scenes succeeded others of the most opposite nature. +Hither the guillotine was transported for the execution of the greatest +astronomer of the age, and this with no other view than to prolong his +punishment. Bailly, as every one knows, was the first mayor of Paris after the +revolution. Launched into the vortex of politics, he became involved in the +proscriptions which ensued during the reign of terror, and was dragged from +prison to the <i>Champ de Mars</i>, where, though exposed to the most trying +insults, he died, like a philosopher, with Socratic calmness.</p> +<p>In no one of the numerous victims of the revolution was the instability of +popular favour more fully exemplified than in Bailly. In this <i>Champ de +Mars</i>, where he had published martial law in consequence of a decree of the +Convention, in the very place where he had been directed by the representatives +of the people to repel the factions, he expired under the guillotine, loaded +with the execration of that same people of whom he had been the most venerated +idol.</p> +<p>Since those sanguinary times, the <i>Champ de Mars</i> has chiefly been the +site chosen for the celebration of national fêtes, which, within these few +years, have assumed a character more distinguished than any ever seen under the +old <i>régime</i>. These modern Olympics consist of chariot-races and +wrestling, horse and foot races, ascensions of balloons, carrying three or four +persons, descents from them by means of a parachute, mock-fights and aquatic +tilting. After the sports of the day, come splendid illuminations, grand +fire-works, pantomimes represented by two or three hundred performers, and +concerts, which, aided by splendid decorations, are not deficient in point of +effect: the evening concludes with dancing.</p> +<p>During the existence of the directorial government, the number of national +fêtes had been considerably increased by the celebration of party triumphs. +They are at present reduced to the two great epochs of the revolution, the +taking of the Bastille on the 14th of July, 1789, and the foundation of the +Republic on the 23d of September, 1792. On the anniversary of those days, the +variety of the exhibitions always attracted an immense concourse. The whole of +this mound, whose greatest diameter is upwards of eight hundred yards, was then +covered with spectators; but were the <i>Champ de Mars</i> now used on such +occasions, they would be compelled to stand, there being no longer any seats +for their accommodation.</p> +<p>The subject of national fêtes has, in this country, employed many pens, and +excited much discussion. Some say that they might be rendered more interesting +from the general arrangement; while others affirm that they might be made to +harmonize more with the affections and habits of the people. In truth, this +modern imitation of the Greek festivals has fallen far short of those +animating, mirth-inspiring scenes, so ably described by the learned author of +Anacharsis, where, to use his own words, "every heart, eagerly bent on +pleasure, endeavoured to expand itself in a thousand different ways, and +communicated to others the impression which rendered it happy." Whatever +exertions have hitherto been made to augment the splendour of these days of +festivity, it seems not to admit of a doubt that they are still susceptible of +great improvement. If the French have not the wine of <i>Naxos</i>, their +goblets may at least sparkle with <i>vin de Surenne</i>; the <i>Champs +Elysées</i> may supply the place of the shady bowers of <i>Delos</i>; and, in +lieu of the name of the ill-fated NICIAS, the first promoter of the sports +formerly celebrated in that once-happy island, the air may be made to ring with +the name of the more fortunate BONAPARTE.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let44f1">Footnote 1</a>: <i>Essais historiques sur +Paris</i>. <a href="#let44fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let44f2">Footnote 2</a>: This was the name given by the +soldiers to the Marshal's favourite +charger. <a href="#let44fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let45">LETTER XLV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 6, 1802.</i></p> +<p>In speaking of the interior of the <i>Louvre</i>, in one of my former +letters, I think I mentioned the various learned and scientific societies, +which, under the name of Academies, formerly held their sittings in that +palace. For the sake of facilitating a comparison between the past and the +present, it may be necessary to state the professed object of those different +institutions.</p> +<p><i>French Academy</i>. The preservation of the purity of the French +language, its embellishment and augmentation.</p> +<p><i>Academy of Sciences</i>. The progress of the sciences, the encouragement +of researches and discoveries, as well in physics, geometry, and astronomy, as +in those sciences which are applicable to the daily wants of society.</p> +<p><i>Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres</i>. The composition of +inscriptions, of the subjects of medals, and their mottos, the research of the +manners, habits, customs, and monuments of antiquity, as well as all literature +relating to history.</p> +<p><i>Academy of Painting and Sculpture.</i><br /> +<i>Academy of Architecture.</i><br /> +The titles of these are a sufficient explanation.</p> +<p>All these academies were founded by Lewis XIV, at the instigation of his +minister Colbert; with the exception of the French Academy, which owed its +origin to Cardinal Richelieu. This was a misfortune for that society; for +custom had established it as a law that every new member, on the day of his +reception, should not only pronounce a panegyric on him whom he succeeded, but +also on the founder of the institution. It certainly was not very philosophical +for men of enlightened understanding, and possessing even a common portion of +sensibility, to make an eulogium on a minister so cruel, a man of a spirit so +diabolically vindictive, that he even punished the innocent to revenge himself +on the guilty. De Thou, the celebrated author of the <i>History of his own +time</i>, had told some truths not very favourable to the memory of the +Cardinal's great uncle. In consequence, the implacable minister, under false +pretences, caused the philosophic historian's eldest son to be condemned and +decapitated, saying: "De Thou, the father, has put my name into his +history, I will put the son into mine."</p> +<p>It is well known, from their memoirs, that these academies included among +their members men of eminent talents. The Academy of Sciences, in particular, +could boast of several first-rate geniuses in the different branches which they +respectively cultivated, and the unremitting labours of some of them have, no +doubt, greatly contributed to enlarge the sphere of human knowledge. +<a name="let45fr1"></a>During the early part of the revolution, all these +monarchical institutions were overthrown, and on their ruins rose the</p> +<p class="center">NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND +SCIENCES.[<a href="#let45f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>This establishment was formed, agreeably to a decree of the National +Assembly passed on the 3d of Brumaire, year IV (25th of October, 1796). By that +decree, it appears that the Institute belongs to the whole Republic, though its +point of union is fixed in Paris. Its object is to extend the limits of the +arts and sciences in general, by an uninterrupted series of researches, by the +publication of discoveries, by a correspondence with the learned societies of +foreign countries, and by such scientific and literary labours as tend to +general utility and the glory of the Republic.</p> +<p>It is composed of one hundred and forty-four members, resident in Paris, and +of an equal number scattered over the departments. The number of its foreign +associates is twenty-four. It is divided into three classes, and each class +into several sections, namely:</p> +<p>Mathematical and Physical Sciences.<br /> +Moral and Political Sciences.<br /> +Literature and the Fine Arts.<br /> +The Mathematical Class is divided into ten sections; each of which consists of +six members. Of this class, there are sixty members in Paris, and as many in +the departments, where they are divided, in the same manner, into ten sections, +each of six members.</p> +<p>The first section comprehends Mathematics.<br /> +The second, Mechanical Arts.<br /> +The third, Astronomy.<br /> +The fourth, Experimental Physics.<br /> +The fifth, Chemistry.<br /> +The sixth, Natural History and Mineralogy.<br /> +The seventh, Botany and vegetable Physics.<br /> +The eighth, Anatomy and Zoology.<br /> +The ninth, Medicine and Surgery.<br /> +The tenth, Rural Economy and the Veterinary Art.</p> +<p>The Moral and Political Class is divided into six sections, each consisting +of six members, making in all thirty-six members in Paris, and an equal number +in the departments.</p> +<p>The first section comprises the Analysis of Sensations and Ideas.<br /> +The second, Morals.<br /> +The third, Social Science and Legislation.<br /> +The fourth, Political Economy.<br /> +The fifth, History.<br /> +The sixth, Geography.<br /> +<p>The Class of Literature and Fine Arts is divided into eight sections, each +of six members, forty-eight of whom reside in Paris, and as many in the +departments.</p> +<p>The first section includes Grammar.<br /> +The second, Ancient Languages.<br /> +The third, Poetry.<br /> +The fourth, Antiquities and Monuments.<br /> +The fifth, Painting.<br /> +The sixth, Sculpture.<br /> +The seventh, Architecture.<br /> +The eighth, Music and Declamation.<br /> +<p>Twice in every decade, each class holds a meeting: that of the first class +takes place on the first and sixth days; that of the second, on the second and +seventh days; and that of the third, on the third and eighth days. Every six +months each class elects its president and two secretaries, who continue in +office during that interval.</p> +<p>On the fifth day of the first decade of every month is held a general +meeting of the three classes, the purpose of which is to deliberate on affairs, +relating to the general interests of the Institute. The chair is then taken by +the oldest of the three presidents, who, at these meetings, presides over the +whole society.</p> +<p>The National Institute has four public quarterly meetings, on the 15th of +the months of Vendémiaire, Nivôse, Germinal, and Messidor. Each class annually +proposes two prize questions, and in the general meetings, the answers are made +public, and the premiums distributed. The united sections of Painting, +Sculpture, and Architecture nominate the pupils who are to visit Rome, and +reside there in the national palace, at the expense of the Republic, in order +to study the Fine Arts. Conformably to the decree by which the Institute was +organised, six of its members were to travel at the public charge, with a view +of collecting information, and acquiring experience in the different sciences; +and twenty young men too were to visit foreign countries for the purpose of +studying rural economy: but the expenses of the war and other matters have +occasioned such a scarcity of money as, hitherto, to impede these +undertakings.</p> +<p>The apartments of the Institute are on the first floor of the <i>Louvre</i>, +or, as it is now styled, the <i>Palais Nationial des Sciences et des Arts</i>. +These apartments, which were once inhabited by Henry IV, are situated on the +west side of that building. Before you arrive at the hall of the Institute, you +pass through a handsome antichamber, in which are the statues of Molière, +Racine, Corneille, La Fontaine, and Montesquieu. This hall, which is oblong and +spacious, formerly served for the meetings of the Academy of Sciences. Its +sides are adorned with colonnades, and the ceiling is richly painted and +decorated. In the intercolumniations are fourteen marble statues (seven on each +side) of some of the most celebrated men that France has produced: namely, +Condé, Tourville, Descartes, Bayard, Sully, Turenne, Daguessau, Luxembourg, +L'Hôpital, Bossuet, Duquesne, Catinat, Vauban, and Fenelon. Parallel to the +walls, tables are set, covered with green cloth, at which the members take +their places.</p> +<p>At the upper end of the hall is the chair of the President, and on each side +below him are seated the two Secretaries. A little on one side again is the +tribune, from which the members who speak address the assembly, after having +asked leave of the President, who never quits the chair during the whole +meeting. The space appropriated to the members is inclosed by a railing, +between which and the walls, the hall is surrounded by benches for the +spectators, among whom there are generally many of the fair sex.</p> +<p>The library of the Institute consists of three spacious apartments, which +are said to contain about sixteen thousand volumes. On one side of the hall is +an apartment, destined for the communications of correspondents. There is also +an apartment for the secretary and his deputies, and a large room containing a +collection of machines and models, (among which are several of shipping), as +well as every apparatus necessary for chemical and physical experiments.</p> +<p>Although I have several times attended the private meetings of the three +classes, I have thought that the printed accounts of their proceedings, which I +subjoin, would be more satisfactory than a hasty sketch from my pen. However, +as I promised to describe to you one of the public sittings of the Institute, I +shall now inform you of what passed at that held yesterday, the 15th of Nivôse, +year X, (5th of January, 1802), at which I was present.</p> +<p>On this occasion, BIGOT-PRÉAMENEU, one of the members of the class of Moral +and Political Sciences, was the President. The sitting was opened by +proclaiming the nomination of three foreign associates, elected by the +Institute in its general sitting of the 5th of Nivôse; namely, Mr. JEFFERSON, +Sir JOSEPH BANKS, and HAYDN, the celebrated musical composer. A prize was then +awarded to Citizen Framery, a literary character residing in Paris, for having +solved the following question proposed by the class of Literature and Fine +Arts. "To analyze the relations existing between music and declamation, and +determine the means of applying declamation to music, without detracting from +the charms of melody."</p> +<p>DELAMBRE read an account of the life and works of Cousin.</p> +<p>DÉGÉRANDO, an account of the education which the young savage of Aveyron +receives from Itard, physician to the Institution of the Deaf and Dumb.</p> +<p>PRONY, the result of observations made with a French instrument and an +English one, for the purpose of determining the relation between the French +metre and the English foot.</p> +<p>Next were heard notes, by CAMUS, on the public exhibitions of the +productions of French Industry, which took place in the years VI and IX of the +Republic.</p> +<p>Then, the report of the restoration of the famous picture known by the name +of the <i>Madonna di Foligno</i>, which I have already communicated to you.</p> +<p>BUACHE, the celebrated geographer, read some observations on the ancient map +of the Romans, commonly called Peutinger's map, as well as on the geography of +the anonymous writer of Ravenna. The sitting was terminated by an account of +the life and works of Dumoustier, read by COLIN D'HARLEVILLE.</p> +<p>The members of the Institute have a full-dress and a half-dress. The former +consists of a suit of black, embroidered in dark green silk, with a cocked hat. +The latter is the same, but the embroidery is confined to the collar and cuffs +of the coat, which is trimmed with a cord edging,</p> +<p>P.S. Yesterday evening was married Mademoiselle Beauharnois, daughter-in-law +of the First Consul, to Louis Bonaparte, one of his younger brothers.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let45f1">Footnote 1</a>: At the end of this volume will +be found the new organization of the Institute, conformably to a decree of the +government, dated the 3d of Pluviôse, year +XI. <a href="#let45fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let46">LETTER XLVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 7, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Knowing you to be an amateur of Italian music, I am persuaded that you will +wish to be made acquainted with the theatre where you may enjoy it in full +perfection. It is distinguished by the appellation of</p> +<p class="center">OPÉRA BUFFA.</p> +<p>This establishment is not new in the French metropolis. In 1788, Paris was +in possession of an excellent company of Italian comedians, who then performed +in the <i>Théâtre de Monsieur</i>, in the palace of the <i>Tuileries</i>, which +is now converted into a hall for the sittings of the Council of State. The +success of this company had a rapid influence on the taste of the discerning +part of the French public. This was the less extraordinary as, perhaps, no +Italian sovereign had ever assembled one composed of so many capital +performers. In Italy, there are seldom more than two of that degree of merit in +a company; the rest are not attended to, because they are not worth the +trouble: but here every department was complete, and filled by persons +deservedly enjoying a high reputation in their own country; such as MANDINI, +RAFFANELLI, SIMONI, MENGOZZI, VIGANONI, ROVEDINO, and Signoras MORICHELLI and +BALETTI.</p> +<p>The events of 1792 banished from Paris this admired assemblage. A new +company of Italian comedians has been formed here within these few months: they +at first occupied a charming little theatre constructed for the use of a +society, called <i>La Loge Olympique</i>; but are lately removed to the +<i>Théâtre Favart</i>, on the Boulevard. Before the revolution, this was called +<i>le Théâtre Italien</i>. The façade is decorated with eight very large Ionic +pillars. The house is of an oval form, and the interior distribution deserving +of praise, in as much as it is far more commodious than that of any other +theatre in Paris. The audience here too is generally of a more select +description. Among the female amateurs, Madame Tallien is one of its most +constant visiters, and, in point of grace and beauty, one of its greatest +ornaments.</p> +<p>At the head of this new company, may be placed RAFFANELLI, the same whom I +have just mentioned. He is a consummate comedian, and more to be commended in +that point of view than as a singer. RAFFANELLI has a countenance to which he +gives any cast he pleases: his features, from their wonderful pliability, +receive every impression: his eye is quick; his delivery, natural and correct; +and his action, easy. Sometimes he carries his buffooneries too far, merely to +excite laughter; but as he never fails in his object, this defect may be +overlooked. His best characters are <i>Taddeo</i> in <i>Il Rè Theodora</i>, +<i>il Governatore</i> in <i>La Molinara</i>, the Father in <i>Furberia e +Puntiglio</i>, and the Deaf Man in <i>Il Matrimonio Secreto</i>. It is +necessary to see him in these different operas to form a just idea of the truth +and humour with which he represents them. Although he is but an indifferent +singer, his method is good, and he seizes the spirit of the composer with +perfect discrimination. In <i>morceaux d'ensemble</i>, he is quite at home, and +when he dialogues with the orchestra, he shews much energy and feeling. +Independently of these gifts, Nature has granted to RAFFANELLI another most +valuable privilege. She seems to have exempted him from the impression of time. +In 1788 and 89, I saw him frequently, both on and off the stage; after a lapse +of upwards of twelve years, he appears again to my eyes exactly the same man. I +cannot perceive in him the smallest change.</p> +<p>The tenor of the new company is LAZZARINI. His method too is very good; he +sings with taste, expression, and feeling; but his voice is extremely weak: his +powers appear exhausted; and it is only by dint of painful efforts that he +succeeds in giving to his singing those embellishments which his taste +suggests, but which lose their grace and charm when they are laboured. In +short, LAZZARINI communicates to the audience an unpleasant sensation in +proving that he has real talents.</p> +<p>Neither the same reproaches nor the same praises can be bestowed on +PARLAMAGNI. He is a good counter-tenor, but has a harshness in the high tones, +which he does not always reach with perfect justness. He is also deficient in +ease and grace. PARLAMAGNI, however, having an advantageous person, and the air +of a Frenchman, is a great favourite with the Parisian <i>dilettanti</i>. He is +a tolerably good comedian, and in some scenes of buffoonery, his acting is +natural, and his manner free and unaffected.</p> +<p>The <i>prima donna</i> of the Italian company is Signora STRINA-SACCHI. She +possesses a fine voice, and no small share of taste, joined to great confidence +and a perfect acquaintance with the stage. Sometimes she is rather apt to +fatigue the ear by sounds too shrill, and thus breaks the charm produced by her +singing. As for her acting, it is as extraordinary as can well be imagined; for +her vivacity knows no bounds; and her passion, no restraint. She appears to +conceive justly, to feel very warmly, and she plays in the same manner. In her, +Nature commands every thing; Art, nothing. The parts in which she shines most, +are <i>La Molinara</i> and <i>Gianina</i>; in these, she literally follows the +impulse given her by her situation, without concerning herself in the least, +whether it is <i>secundum artem</i>; but certain that it is natural and +conformable to the character and habits of the personage she represents. +<i>Anima in voce</i> is the characteristic of her singing: the same epithet may +be applied to her recitative and her acting: in these she displays no less +spirit and animation.</p> +<p>After Signora SACCHI, comes Signora PARLAMAGNI. She is a young, and rather +pretty woman, not unlike a French actress in her manner. Her voice is free and +clear, and her method by no means to be disdained. She wants habit and +confidence. This is evident in her performance of a part new to her; for it is +only after a few representations that she feels herself at her ease. Then the +public appreciate her powers, which she exhibits to advantage; and her +exertions are rewarded by reiterated marks of their satisfaction.</p> +<p>Unfortunately it is the nature of an Italian opera-house to have its shelf +poorly furnished. It cannot, however, be denied that the managers of the +<i>Opera Buffa</i> take every pains to vary and increase their stock. The +following are the pieces which I have seen at this theatre.</p> +<p><i>Furberia e Puntiglio</i>, which is a second-hand imitation of GOLDONI. +The music, by Signor MARCELLO DI CAPUA, is agreeable, particularly a quartetto +and a cavatina. RAFFANELLI shines in this piece as a first-rate actor.</p> +<p><i>Il Matrimonio Secreto</i>, the chef-d'œuvre of CIMAROSA, and of its +kind, perhaps, the most charming opera extant. Throughout it, the composer has +lavished beauties; there is not to be found in it an air of inferior merit, or +which, of itself alone, would not sustain the reputation of a piece. What then +can be said of a work in which they are all united? Nothing can surpass the +variety, spirit, grace, and originality of the duos, terzettos, quartettos, +&c. with which this opera abounds. CIMAROSA has here combined the strength +of German harmony with the grace which constitutes the charm of Italian melody. +He is particularly famous for the brilliancy of his ideas, the fecundity of his +genius, the richness of his style, and, above all, for the finish of his +pictures.</p> +<p>The certain effect of such a production is to eclipse every thing put in +competition with it. This effect is particularly conspicuous at the +representation of other pieces, the music of which is by the same composer.</p> +<p><i>Gianina e Bernadone</i>, another of CIMAROSA'S productions, makes less +impression, though it is in the graceful style, what <i>Il Matrimonio +Secreto</i> is in the serio-comic.</p> +<p><i>La Molinara</i>, however, upholds the reputation of that celebrated +composer, PAËSIELLO. This opera requires no eulogium. Selections from it are +daily repeated in the public and private concerts in Paris. <i>Il Matrimonio +Secreto</i> is a masterpiece of spirit and originality, while <i>La +Molinara</i> is a model of grace, melody, and simplicity.</p> +<p>To the great regret of the lovers of Italian music, CIMAROSA died not long +since, just as he was preparing to visit Paris. But his fame will long survive, +as his works bear the stamp of true genius, combined with taste and judgment. +His <i>Italiana in Londra</i> is just announced for representation.</p> +<p><i>Il Matrimonio Inaspettato</i>, a composition of PAËSIELLO, is likewise in +rehearsal, as well as <i>Le Nozze di Dorina</i>, by SARTI, and <i>La Vilanella +Rapita</i>, by BIANCHI. MOZART too will soon enter the lists; his <i>Dom +Giovanni</i> is to be speedily brought forward.</p> +<p>The orchestra of the <i>Opéra Buffa</i>, though far from numerous, is +extremely well-composed. It accompanies the singers with an <i>ensemble</i>, a +grace, and precision deserving of the highest encomium. BRUNI, a distinguished +Italian composer, is the leader of the band, and PARENTI, a professor, known +also by several admired productions, presides at the piano-forte.</p> +<p><a name="let46fr1"></a>NEUVILLE, the manager of this theatre, is gone to +Italy for the purpose of completing the company by the addition of some eminent +performers.[<a href="#let46f1">1</a>] In its present state, the <i>Opéra +Buffa</i> maintains its ground. It is thought that the French government will +assist it in case of necessity, and even make it a national establishment; a +commissary or agent having been appointed to superintend its proceedings.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let46f1">Footnote 1</a>: The <i>Opéra Buffa</i>, the +constant object of the jealousy of the other lyric theatres, because it +constitutes the delight of real amateurs of music, has, during the year 1802, +acquired several new performers. Two of these only, Madame BOLLA and +MARTINELLI, deserve particular mention. Madame BOLLA is a good figure on the +stage, and though her features are not regular, yet they are susceptible of the +most varied expression. Her voice, which is a species of feminine +<i>tenore</i>, astonishes by the purity and firmness of its grave tones; while +her brilliant and sure method easily conceals its small extent in the higher +notes. MARTINELLI is a species of counter-tenor. His voice has already lost +much of its strength, and has not that clearness which serves as an excuse for +every thing; but connoisseurs find that he takes care to calculate its effects +so as to make amends, by the art of transitions, for that firmness in which it +is deficient. He is much applauded in the <i>cantabile</i>, which he sings with +uncommon precision, and he particularly shines in the counter-parts which charm +in the Italian <i>finales</i>. As an actor, MARTINELLI, though inferior to +RAFFANELLI, is also remarkable. His manner is easy and natural, and his +countenance capable of assuming the most comic +expression. <a href="#let46fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let47">LETTER XLVII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 9, 1802.</i></p> +<p>The exaggerated accounts of the interior state of France which have reached +us, through various channels, during the late obstinate struggle, have diffused +so many contradictions, that it is by no means surprising we still continue so +ill-informed in England on many points most intimately connected with the +morals of the French nation. Respecting none of these, have we been more +essentially mistaken than the</p> +<p class="center">PRESENT STATE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP.</p> +<p>I am given to understand, from unquestionable authority, that there are at +this moment, and have been for the last four years, no less than from +thirty-five to forty thousand churches where divine service has been regularly +performed throughout the different departments of the Republic. It is therefore +a gross error to suppose that the christian religion was extinguished in +France. The recent arrangements made between the French government and the See +of Rome will consolidate that religion, which was, in a great measure, +re-established long before his Holiness occupied the papal chair. I shall +illustrate this truth by a summary of the proceedings of the constitutional +clergy.</p> +<p>The last general assembly of the clergy of France, held in 1789, the account +of which has never been printed, already presented facts which announced that +the necessity of reforming abuses was felt, and the epoch when that reform +would take place was foreseen. In this assembly several bishops spoke with much +force on the subject.</p> +<p>The disastrous state of the finances, brought about by the shameful +dilapidations of the court, occasioned a deficit which it was necessary to make +good. This consideration, joined to the spirit of cupidity, jealous of the +estates of the clergy, immediately caused every eye to turn towards that +mortmain property, in order to employ it in the liquidation of the national +debt.</p> +<p>In the <i>Moniteur</i>, and other journals of the time, may be seen what +successive steps gradually led to the abolition of tythes, and the decision +which placed the estates of the clergy at the disposal of the nation.</p> +<p>The civil constitution of the clergy was a severe check given to the many +existing abuses. It really brought back the Gallican church to the discipline +of the first ages. It snatched from the Pope the power of giving the canonical +institution to bishops. Those who have thought proper to tax with novelty this +constitution, have only to look into history. They will see that, during twelve +hundred years, bishops received the canonical institution from the +metropolitans, and not from the Pope. Thus to tax with intrusion the +constitutional bishops, and condemn them because they have received that +institution from the metropolitans, is to condemn the first twelve centuries of +christianity.</p> +<p>This civil constitution served as a pretext to the dignified clergy, +irritated at the loss of their estates, for concerting a combined resistance to +the new laws, in the hope that this resistance would lead to a subversion which +would restore to them their riches. Thence the refusal of the oath "to be +faithful to the nation, to the law, and to the king, to guide faithfully the +flock intrusted to their care, and to maintain with all their power the +constitution decreed by the assembly, and sanctioned by the king." Thence the +line of division between the clergy who had taken the oath and those who had +not.</p> +<p>The Constituent Assembly, who had decreed the above oath, declared, that the +refusal of giving this pledge of fidelity should be considered as a voluntary +resignation. The royal sanction had rendered the above decree a law of the +State. Almost the whole of the bishops, a great number of rectors, and other +ecclesiastics, refused to take this oath, already taken by several among them +who were deputies to the assembly.</p> +<p>They were, in consequence, declared to have resigned; and measures were +taken for supplying their place. The people proceeded to effect this by +electors authorized by law. A respectable number of ecclesiastics, who had +already submitted to the law, accepted the elections. These priests thought +that obedience to the national authority which respected and protected +religion, was a catholic dogma. What resistance could be made to legitimate +power, which neither attacked the dogma, nor morality, nor the interior and +essential discipline of the church? It was, say they, resisting God himself. +They thought that the pastor was chosen, and sent solely for the care of the +flock intrusted to him; that, when difficult circumstances, flight, for +instance, voluntary or forced, the prohibition from all functions, pronounced +by the civil power, rendered the holy ministry impossible, or that the pastor +could not exericise it, without declaring himself in open insurrection, the +pretended unremoveable rights then ceased with the sacred duties which they +could not discharge, without being accused of rebellion.</p> +<p>The dissentient bishops drew many priests into their party. Most of them +spread themselves over Europe, where they calumniated at their ease the +patriotic clergy. Those of their adherents who had remained in the interior of +this country, kindled a civil war, tormented people's consciences, and +disturbed the peace of families, &c. This conduct, which engendered the +horrible scenes in La Vendée, provoked repressive measures, emanated from +legislative authority.</p> +<p>Enemies without and within, say the constitutional clergy, wished to create +a disgust to liberty, by substituting to it licentiousness. And, indeed, the +partisans of the dissentient clergy were seen to coalesce with the unbelievers, +in order to produce the sacrilegious disorders which broke out every where in +the year 1793.</p> +<p>The clergy who had taken the oath had organized the dioceses; the bishops, +in general, had bestowed great pains in spreading in every parish the word of +the gospel; for they preached themselves, and this was more than was done by +their predecessors, who, engaged only in spending, frequently in a shameful +manner, immense revenues, seldom or never visited their dioceses. The +constitutional clergy followed a plan more conformable to the gospel, which +gained them the affection of the well-disposed part of the nation.</p> +<p>These priests were of opinion that the storm which threatened religion, +required imperiously the immediate presence of the pastor, and that, in the day +of battle, it was necessary to be in person at the breach. They were of opinion +that the omission or impossibility of fulfilling minute and empty formalities, +imposed by a Concordat, rejected from the beginning by all the public bodies +and the church of France, and annihilated at the moment by the will of the +representatives of the nation, sanctioned by royal authority, could not exempt +them from accepting holy functions presented by all the constituted +authorities, and on which evidently depended the preservation of religion, the +salvation of the faithful, and the peace of the State.</p> +<p>But, when persecution manifested itself, the clergy who had taken the oath, +became equally the victims of persecuting rage. Some failed in this +conjuncture; but the greater number remained intrepid in their principles. +Accordingly several constitutional bishops and priests were dragged to the +scaffold. If, on the one hand, the dastardly GOBEL was guillotined, the same +fate attended the respectable EXPILLY, bishop of Quimper, AMOURETTE, bishop of +Lyons, and GOUTTES, bishop of Autun, &c.</p> +<p>The dissentient clergy reproach some constitutional priests with having +married, and even with having apostatized; but they say not that, among the +dissentient, there are some who; have done the same. If the number of the +latter is smaller, it is because the greater part of them were out of France; +but what would they have done, if, like the constitutional clergy, they had +either had the axe suspended over their head, or the guillotine accompanying +all their steps?</p> +<p>In England, where the French priests were not thus exposed, there are some +who have likewise married, and even some who have apostatized.</p> +<p>It is well known that, amidst the terrors of impiety, GRÉGOIRE, bishop of +Blois, declared that he braved them, and remained attached to his principles +and duties, as a christian and bishop. He firmly believed that, in doing so, he +was pronouncing his sentence of death, and, for eighteen months, he was in +expectation of ascending the scaffold. The same courage animated the majority +of the constitutional bishops and priests. They exercised secretly their +ministry, and consoled the faithful. As soon as the rage for persecution began +to abate, GRÉGOIRE and some other bishops, who had kept up a private +correspondence with the clergy of various dioceses for the purpose of +encouraging them, concerted together in order to reorganize worship. In Nivôse +year III (January 1795), GRÉGOIRE demanded this liberty of worship of the +National Convention. He was very sure of meeting with outrages, and he +experienced some; but to speak in the tribune, was speaking to France and to +all Europe, and, in the then state of things, he was almost certain of +staggering public opinion, which would force the Convention to grant the free +exercise of religion. Accordingly, some time after having refused the liberty +of worship on the demand of GRÉGOIRE, that assembly granted it, though with +evident reluctance, on a Report of BOISSY D'ANGLAS, which insulted every +species of worship.</p> +<p>The constitutional bishops had already anticipated this moment by their +writings and their pastoral letters, &c. They then compiled two works, +entitled <i>Lettres Encycliques</i>, to which the bishops and priests of the +various dioceses adhered. The object of these works, which are monuments of +wisdom, piety, and courage, was to reorganize public worship in all the +dioceses, according to the principles of the primitive church. They pronounced +a formal exclusion from ecclesiastical functions against all prevaricating +priests or married ones, as well as all those who had the cowardice to deliver +up their authority for preaching, and abdicate their functions. Some interested +persons thought this too severe. Those bishops persisted in their decision, +and, by way of answer, they reprinted a translation of the celebrated treatise +of St. Cyprian de Lapsis. On all sides, they reanimated religions zeal, caused +pastors for the various sees to be elected by the people, and consecrated by +the metropolitan bishops. They held synods, the arts of which form a valuable +collection, equally honourable to their zeal and knowledge. They did more.</p> +<p>For a long time past the custom of holding councils had fallen into disuse. +They convoked a national council, notwithstanding the unfavourableness of a +silent persecution; and, in spite of the penury which afflicted the pastors, +the latter had the courage to expose themselves in order to concur in it. This +council was opened with the greatest solemnity on the 15th of August, 1797, the +day of the Assumption of the Virgin. It sat for three months. The canons and +decrees of this assembly, which have been translated into Italian and German, +have been printed in one volume.</p> +<p>This council was published in the different dioceses, and its regulations +were put into force. During this time, the government, ever hostile to +religion, had not abandoned the project of persecuting and perhaps of +destroying it. The voice of the public, who called for this religion, and held +in esteem the constitutional clergy as religious and patriotic, checked, in +some respects, the hatred of the Directory and its agents. Then the spirit of +persecution took a circuitous way to gain its end: this was to cry down +religion and its ministers, to promote theophilanthropy, and enforce the +transferring of Sunday to the <i>décade</i>, or tenth day of every republican +month.</p> +<p>The bishops, assembled at Paris, again caused this project to miscarry, and, +in their name, GRÉGOIRE compiled two consultations against the transferring of +Sunday to the <i>décade</i>. The adhesion of all the clergy was the fruit of +his labour; but all this drew on him numerous outrages, the indigence to which +he was at that time reduced, and multiplied threats of deportation. The +functions which he had discharged, and the esteem of the friends of religion, +formed around him a shelter of opinion that saved him from deportation, to +which were condemned so many unfortunate and virtuous constitutional priests, +who were crowded, with the refractory among others, into vessels lying in the +road of Rochefort.</p> +<p>GRÉGOIRE remonstrated against this grievance, and obtained an alleviation +for his brethren; but it is to be remarked that, in giving an account of their +enlargement, the dissentient priests have taken good care not to mention to +whom they were indebted for having provoked in their behalf this act of +humanity and justice.</p> +<p>The constitutional clergy continued their labours, struggling incessantly +against calumny and libels, either from their dissentient brethren or from the +agents of the directorial government. This clergy convoked a second national +council for the year 1801. It was preceded by a vast number of synods, and by +eight metropolitan councils.</p> +<p>This second national council was opened at Paris on St. Peter's day of the +same year. Several decrees had already been carried, one of which renewed, in +the face of the whole church, the example of the bishops of Africa, by a solemn +invitation of the dissentients to conferences for the grand affair which +separated them from the constitutional clergy. The different congregations were +on the point of presenting to the general meeting their labours on the dogma, +morality, and discipline. A report on the liturgy by GRÉGOIRE, bishop of Blois +and vice-president of the council; and a similar report on the plan of +education for ecclesiastics, occupied the members of this assembly, when all at +once the government manifested its wish to see the council closed, on account +of the Concordat which it had just arranged with the Pope.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding this proceeding, which trenched on the rights of a national +church, the fathers of the council suspended their remonstrances, in order not +to afford any pretext to those who might have wished to perpetuate religious +troubles. Wherefore, after having sat six weeks and pronounced the suspension +of the national council, &c. they separated quietly without quitting +Paris.</p> +<p>Their presence was necessary for the execution of the decree of the +conferences. The eighteen members destined for that purpose by the council, +after having held several meetings, presented themselves at the Cathedral of +<i>Notre-Dame</i>, the place appointed and proclaimed by the council throughout +all the extent of France. For three successive days, morning and evening, they +there assembled. At the expiration of that time, on seeing that the dissentient +kept themselves concealed, the members of the constitutional clergy took for +witnesses of this generous and open proceeding the vast body of people who had +repaired to <i>Notre-Dame</i>, and by two energetic and moving discourses, +delivered by BELMAY, bishop of Carcassonne, and GRÉGOIRE, bishop of Blois, +terminated the council after the accustomed prayers.</p> +<p>M. SPINA, archbishop of Corinth, charged by the court of Rome with part of +the affairs to be transacted with the First Consul, about the middle of +September, sent to the constitutional bishops a brief which he announced to +come from Pius VII, in order to induce them on the part of the Pope to give up +the episcopal sees they had occupied, and return to unity. An invitation so +insulting, received by all these bishops, drew on M. SPINA energetic answers, +which made the Pope and himself sensible how wrong they were to accuse of +intrusion and schism bishops, whose canonical institution was conformable to +that of the bishops of the first twelve centuries, and who had always professed +the warmest love for catholic unity.</p> +<p>But as there was little good to be expected from M. SPINA, some bishops made +their complaints to the government in a spirited and well-composed memorial, +denouncing the Pope's brief as an attack on the liberties of the Gallican +church and the rights of the Republic. This measure had its effect. The +government passed a decree for prohibiting the publication of the Rescripts of +Rome, if they should not be found conformable to the rules and usages observed +in France.</p> +<p>During these transactions, the Cardinal Legate, CAPRARA, arrived in Paris. +The Concordat had just been signed. The constitutional bishops, without +remonstrating against it, no sooner learnt that the government wished them to +resign, than they hastened to do so, the more willingly, as they had a thousand +times made the promise whenever the good of religion and of the country should +require it. A similar generosity was expected on the part of the emigrated +bishops. Have they been to blame in refusing? <a name="let47fr1"></a>This +question may, in a great measure, depend on the arrangement of the Concordat, +and the imperious and menacing tone of the court of Rome which demanded of them +the resignation of their former sees.[<a href="#let47f1">1</a>]</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let47f1">Footnote 1</a>: For the gratification of the +reader is here annexed an account of the Pope's conduct in regard to the +constitutional clergy, since the promulgation of the Concordat.</p> +<p class="fnt">At length the nominations took place. A small number of those +appointed to the sixty new dioceses, were taken from the constitutional clergy. +The others were taken from the mass of the refractory and those who had +retracted, and the greater number formed the most eloquent apology of the +constitutional bishops. They all received the institution from the Pope, who +announced it with an air of triumph to the college of Cardinals, in his +collocution of the 24th of May, 1802. He had good reason to congratulate +himself at this epoch, the more so as he had been made to believe that the +re-elected constitutional clergy had made a retraction, and received penitence +and absolution. The author of this calumny was BERNIER, who had been charged +by the Cardinal Legate with a step so worthy of his former military exploits. +It was solemnly contradicted. After the decree of absolution which BERNIER had +ventured to present to these bishops was thrown with indignation into the fire +of PORTALIS, the counsellor of state charged by the government with religious +affairs, who was witness to the transaction. Indeed, he had in this encouraged +the bishops to imitate his own example in getting rid, by the same means, of a +brief which the Legate had transmitted to him in order to absolve him from the +guilt he might have incurred by taking part in the revolution.</p> +<p class="fnt">The government wished to pacify religious troubles; but the +majority of the dissentient bishops began to foment new disputes, by requiring +retractations from the constitutional clergy, who, for the most part, have +stood firm amidst privations of every description. However, the mischief made +not the progress which there was every reason to apprehend: the government +pronounced its opinion thereon by prohibiting bishops from requiring any thing +more than submission to the Concordat, and obedience to the new bishops. +Notwithstanding the wise intentions of the government, sincerely desirous of +peace and concord, it is only in the dioceses fallen to the constitutional +bishops that a good understanding prevails. Most of the disentient clergy +continue to promote discord, and torment their constitutional brethren. +BOISCHOLLET, bishop of Séez, MONTAULT, bishop of Angers, and some others, have +been sent for to Paris, in order to be reprimanded and cautioned to behave +better.</p> +<p class="fnt">It is proper to mention the documents which Cardinal CAPRARA has +distributed to all the bishops. They form a collection of thirteen papers, +which might not improperly be called an analysis of the decretals of Isidorus. +On these, no doubt, good canonists will debate at some future day, in order to +shame the court of Rome, by pointing out its absurdities and blunders; and +certainly the respect which catholics owe to the Holy See ought not to prevent +then from resisting the pretensions of the +Pope. <a href="#let47fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let48">LETTER XLVIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 10, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Going the other day to call on M. S----i, I stopped by the way, to examine +an edifice which, when I first visited Paris in 1784, engaged no small share of +public attention. It was, at that time, one of the principal objects pointed +out to the curiosity of strangers. At one period of the revolution, you will, +doubtless, recollect the frequent mention made of the</p> +<p class="center">PANTHEON.</p> +<p>Conceive my surprise, on learning that this stately building, after having +employed the hands of so many men, for the best part of half a century, was not +only still unfinished; but had threatened approaching ruin. Yes—like the +Gothic abbey at Fonthill, it would, by all accounts, have fallen to the ground, +without the aid of vandalism, had not prompt and efficacious measures been +adopted, to avert the impending mischief.</p> +<p>This monument, originally intended for the reception of the shrine of St. +Geneviève, once the patroness of the Parisians, is situated on an eminence, +formerly called <i>Mont St. Étienne</i>, to the left of the top of the <i>Rue +St. Jacques</i>, near the <i>Place de l'Estrapade</i>. It was begun under the +reign of Lewis XV, who laid the first stone on the 6th of September, 1764. +During the American war, the works were suspended; but, early in the year 1784, +they were resumed with increasing activity. The sculpture of this church +already presented many attributes analogous to its object, when, in 1793, it +was converted into a Pantheon.</p> +<p>The late M. SOUFFLOT furnished the plan for the church, which, in point of +magnificence, does honour both to the architect and to the nation.</p> +<p>Its form is a Greek cross, three hundred and forty feet in length by two +hundred and fifty in breadth. The porch, which is an imitation of that of the +Pantheon at Rome, consists of a peristyle of twenty-two pillars of the +Corinthian order. Eighteen of these are insulated, and are each five feet and a +half in diameter by fifty-eight in height, including their base and capital. +They support a pediment, which combines the boldness of the Gothic with the +beauty of the Greek style. This pediment bears the following inscription:</p> +<p class="bq">"AUX GRANDS HOMMES,<br /> +LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE."</p> +<p>In the delirium of the revolutionary fever, when great crimes constituted +great men, this sanctuary of national gratitude was polluted. MARAT, that man +of blood, was, to use the modern phraseology, <i>pantheonized</i>, that is, +interred in the Pantheon. When the delirium had, in some measure, subsided, and +reason began to resume her empire, he was <i>dispantheonized</i>; and, by means +of quick-lime, his canonized bones were confounded with the dust. This +apotheosis will ever be a blot in the page of the history of the +revolution.</p> +<p>However, it operated as a check on the inconsiderate zeal of hot-brained +patriots in bestowing the honours of the Pantheon on the undeserving. MIRABEAU +was, consequently, <i>dispantheonized</i>; and, in all probability, this temple +will, in future, be reserved for the ashes of men truly great; legislators +whose eminent talents and virtues have benefited their fellow-citizens, or +warriors, who, by distinguishing themselves in their country's cause, have +really merited that country's gratitude.</p> +<p>The interior of this temple consists of four naves, in whose centre rises an +elegant dome, which, it is said, is to be painted in fresco by DAVID. The naves +are decorated by one hundred and thirty fluted pillars, also of the Corinthian +order, supporting an entablature, which serves as a base for lofty +<i>tribunes</i>, bordered by stone balustrades. These pillars are three feet +and a half in diameter by nearly twenty-eight feet in height.</p> +<p>The inside of the dome is incircled by sixteen Corinthian pillars, standing +at an equal distance, and lighted by glazed apertures in part of the +intercolumniations. They support a cupola, in the centre of which is an +opening, crowned by another cupola of much more considerable elevation.</p> +<p>To survey the interior of the Pantheon, in its present state, is rather a +matter of eager curiosity than of pleasing enjoyment. The precautions taken to +prevent the fall of the whole building, which was apprehended from the almost +tottering state of the dome, have necessitated the erection of such a quantity +of scaffolding, that it is no easy task to gain an uninterrupted view of its +majestic pillars, of the delicate and light foliage of its capitals, and of its +proud and triple canopy. I mounted the ladders, and braved the dust of stone +and plaster, amidst the echoing sound of saws, chisels, and mallets, at work in +different directions.</p> +<p>Mercier is said to have offended several of the partisans of Voltaire by +observing that, through a strange inconsistency, the constant flatterer not +only of royalty in general, but of kings in particular, and of all the great +men and vices of the age in which he lived, here shares the gratitude of a +republic with the <i>man of nature and truth</i>, as Jean-Jacques is styled on +his sepulchral monument. Thus, in the first instance, says he, a temple, +consecrated to stern republican virtue, contains the remains of a great poet +who could not strike superstition, without wounding +morals.—Unquestionably, the <i>Pucelle</i> is a work, which, like a +blight on a promising crop, has committed incalculable ravage among the rising +generation. Notwithstanding the numerous inscriptions which now adorn the tomb +of Voltaire, perhaps, at some future distant period, he may experience the fate +of Mirabeau, and be <i>dispantheonized</i>.</p> +<p>But why meddle with the cold remains of any great genius? Would it not have +been more rational to inscribe the name of Rousseau in this national temple, +and leave his corpse to rot undisturbed, in the <i>Ile des Peupliers</i>, at +Ermenonville.</p> +<p>Though circumstances prevented me from ascending to the dome, you will, no +doubt, expect me to say something of its exterior architecture. It represents a +circular temple, formed by thirty-four pillars, like those of the interior, of +the Corinthian order, and each, base and capital included, thirty-four feet in +height by three feet and one third in diameter. This colonnade is supported by +a circular stylobate, which rests on an octagon base, and is surrounded by a +gallery, bordered by an iron balustrade. The cupola, rising above the attic, +would appear crushed, were not a stranger apprised that the pedestal on the top +is to be surmounted by a bronze figure of Fame, twenty-eight feet in height, +and weighing fifty-two thousand pounds. The pedestal is encircled by a second +gallery at an elevation of one hundred and sixty-six feet, to reach which you +ascend a flight of four hundred and sixty stone steps. As the Pantheon itself +stands on a considerable eminence, the prospect from this gallery is extensive +and commanding.</p> +<p>This sumptuous edifice may truly be said to exhibit a monument of the +weakness of man. Like him, before arrived at maturity, it is attacked by +indisposition. The architects, like so many physicians, were not for some time +agreed as to the seat of the evil. Each proposed his means of cure as the most +infallible; But all coincided in one opinion, that the danger was imminent. +Their skill has been exerted, and, no doubt, with effect; for all apprehension +of further mischief is now removed.</p> +<p>When I was taking a last look at this proud temple, I could not help +regretting that one half of the money already expended on it, had not been +appropriated to the erection of airy hospitals in the different quarters of +this populous city. Any one who had formerly visited the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i> in +Paris would, I am confident, have participated in this sentiment.</p> +<p>What strange fatality impels men to persevere in such unprofitable +erections? This was the first question which suggested itself to me, on getting +fairly out of the Pantheon. Is it to gratify an excess of national vanity, or +create a superior degree of admiration in the mind of foreigners? If so, the +aim is missed: for, as majesty, fallen from the pinnacle of power, becomes more +interesting, so do ruins inspire greater veneration than the most pompous +structure, towering in the splendour of its perfection. Experience tells us +that every truncated pillar, every remnant, in short, of past grandeur, rouses +attention, and speaks home to the contemplative mind; while these modern +edifices, however firmly erect on their base, excite, comparatively speaking, +but a feeble interest. In future ages, perhaps, when the Pantheon of Paris +shall be prostrate on the ground, and the wreck of its stately dome be overrun +with moss and ivy, it may, probably, attract as much notice as the far-tamed +temple of Jupiter-Ammon.</p> +<p>P.S. On the evening of the 8th, BONAPARTE left Paris for Lyons, where +TALLEYRAND, Minister for foreign affairs, has been for some days preparing for +the great event which is expected to take place. When a public measure is in +agitation, the result is generally anticipated by the eagerness of mankind; and +whispers the least audible are magnified into authentic information. Those even +who may be presumed to derive their intelligence from the best sources, not +unfrequently misconceive what they have heard, and consequently mislead others. +I will not, however, mislead you, by repeating any of the rumours in +circulation here: in a short time, the <i>Moniteur</i> will, no doubt, explain +the real object of this journey.</p> +<h2><a name="let49">LETTER XLIX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 12,1802.</i></p> +<p>As no city in Europe presents so many advantages as this for the cultivation +of literature, arts, and sciences, it is not surprising that it should contain +great numbers of literati, artists, and men of science, who form themselves +into different associations. Independently of the National Institute, Paris can +boast of several other</p> +<p class="center">SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.</p> +<p>The following are the names of those held in most esteem.</p> +<p>SOCIÉTÉ PHILOTECHNIQUE.<br /> +SOCIÉTÉ LIBRE DES SCIENCES, LETTRES, ET ARTS.<br /> +ATHÉNÉE (<i>ci-devant</i> LYCÉE) DES ARTS.<br /> +SOCIÉTÉ PHILOMATIQUE.<br /> +SOCIÉTÉ ACADÉMIQUE DES SCIENCES.<br /> +SOCIÉTÉ GALVANIQUE.<br /> +SOCIÉTÉ DES BELLES-LETTRES.<br /> +ACADÉMIE DE LÉGISLATION.<br /> +OBSERVATEURS DE L'HOMME.<br /> +ATHÉNÉE DE PARIS, <i>ci-devant</i> LYCÉE RÉPUBLICAIN.</p> +<p>Though, in all these societies, you may meet with a great number of +estimable men, many of whose names may be found in the major part of them, yet +that which holds the first rank in the public esteem, as well from the +respectability of the members of whom it is composed, as from the proofs of +talents which are necessary in order to be admitted into it, is the</p> +<p class="center">SOCIÉTÉ PHILOTECHNIQUE.</p> +<p>Indeed, almost all its members are men whose works hove rendered them +celebrated throughout Europe. Hitherto, with the exception of the National +Institute, this is the only society to which the government has granted the +honour of receiving it as a body, or by deputation, on solemn occasions; and by +that alone, it has <i>nationalized</i>, at least tacitly, its institution. It +is also the only one which, to the present moment, has preserved the right of +holding its public and private sittings in the <i>Louvre</i>, since that palace +has been ordered to be wholly evacuated. A report has been spread that the hall +of the <i>ci-devant</i> French Academy is destined for it; but as yet nothing +is determined in this respect.</p> +<p>Its number is confined to sixty resident members, and twenty free associates +or veterans. It is necessary to have been ten years among the resident members, +in order to have a right to be admitted into the number of the twenty free +associates, who enjoy prerogatives, without being bound to take a part in the +labours of the society. This favour, however, may be granted to those who are +for a time called from Paris by public functions, such as embassies, +prefectures, &c.</p> +<p>This society meets on the 2nd, 12th and 22nd of every month at seven o'clock +in the evening. Its various committees have their particular days for +assembling. Its officers consist of a President, a Vice-President, a general +and perpetual Secretary, a temporary Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Keeper of +the records.</p> +<p>It holds its public sittings at noon on the last Sunday of the second month +of every <i>trimestre</i>, or quarter of the republican year, namely, Brumaire, +Pluviôse, Floréal, and Thermidor.</p> +<p>It is composed of men of science, literati, and artists; but, resembling a +family rather than a society, its principles of friendship admit of no classes. +On the 19th of every month, it celebrates its foundation by an entertainment, +at which its members have the liberty of introducing their friends.</p> +<p>It reckons among its members, in the Sciences, LACÉPÈDE, FOURCROY, CUVIER, +GEOFFROY, ROTROU, RUEL, LE CLERC, GAUTHEROT, GINGEMBRE, &c.</p> +<p>In Literature, BOUFFLERS, LEGOUVÉ, ANDRIEUX, JOSEPH LAVALLÉE, MARIUS ARNAUD, +SICARD, GUILLARD, GUICHARD, FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHÂTEAU, MARGOURIT, RENAUD DE ST. +JEAN-D'ANGELY, AMAURY and ALEXANDRE DUVAL, SAY, DESPRÉS, MARSOLIER, BROUSSE, +DES FAUCHERETS, PIGAULT LE BRUN, POUGENS, FRAMERY, COLIN D'HARLEVILLE, LA +CHABEAUSSIÈRE, &c.</p> +<p>In the Arts, viz. Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, Declamation, and +Dancing, REGNAULT, VALENCIENNES, SILVESTRE the Father, BARBIER the elder, +BARTHELEMY, SAUVAGE, LETHIERS, PAJOU, CHAUDET, NORRY, LEGRAND, BIENAIMÉ, +DECOTTE, director of the medals, FOUBERT, honorary administrator of the Central +Museum, LA RIVE the tragedian, GOSSEC, MARTINI, LE SUEUR, GAVAUX, KALKBRUMER, +ADRIEN the elder, GARDEL, &c.</p> +<p>The general and perpetual Secretary is JOSEPH LAVALLÉE.</p> +<p class="center">SOCIÉTÉ, LIBRE DES. SCIENCES, LETTRES, ET ARTS.</p> +<p>It is composed of the junction of the old <i>Museum of Paris</i> and of the +Society called that of the <i>Nine Sisters</i>. It is divided into classes, is +unlimited in the number of its members, admits associated correspondents and +foreigners, holds its private sittings at the <i>Oratoire</i> in the <i>Rue St. +Honoré</i>, every Thursday, and its public ones at six o'clock in the evening +on the 9th of the first months of the <i>trimestre</i>; namely, Vendémiaire, +Nivôse, Germinal, and Messidor. Its officers consist of a President, taken +alternately from the three classes, of two temporary Secretaries, a Treasurer, +and a Keeper of the records.</p> +<p>This Society is modelled a little too much after the Institute, and it is +easy to see that the former aims at rivaling the latter. This <i>esprit de +corps</i>, which cannot well be perceived but by nice observers, has this +advantage; it inspires a sort of emulation. But the society having neglected to +limit the number of its members, and having thereby deprived itself of the +means of appearing difficult as to admission, it thence results that its +labours are not equally stamped with the impression of real talent; and if, in +fact, it be ambitious, that is a great obstacle to its views.</p> +<p class="center"><a name="let49fr1"></a>ATHENÉE (<i>ci-devant</i> LYCÉE) DES +ARTS.[<a href="#let49f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>In imitation of our Royal Society, it comprises not only the sciences, +literature, and the arts, but also arts and trades, mechanics, inventions, +&c. Its members are not idle, and they are a useful body, as they excite +emulation by medals, civic crowns, premiums, and rewards. Their number is +considerable and unlimited; a condition which is an evil in the last-mentioned +society, and a good in this, whose nature is not so much to shine as to +encourage industry.</p> +<p>It was for a while in disrepute, because DESAUDRAY, the director who founded +it, exercised over it a tyrannic sway; it has succeeded in getting rid of him, +and, since then, several persons of merit, who had before kept aloof, aspire to +the honour of being admitted into it.</p> +<p>For some time past it has adopted a custom, too obsequious and absurd, of +choosing none but ministers for its Presidents. By this, it exposes its liberty +and its opinion, and gives itself chains, the weight of which it will feel some +day, when too late to shake them off.</p> +<p>It holds its general sittings at the <i>Oratoire</i> every Monday, when it +hears the reports of its numerous committees, who have their particular days +for meeting. Its public sittings are held at the same place, but at no fixed +periods.</p> +<p>Its officers consist of a President, a Vice-President, two Secretaries, +three Conservators, a Treasurer, and a Keeper of the records.</p> +<p>It has associated correspondents throughout Europe.</p> +<p class="center">SOCIÉTÉ PHILOMATIQUE.</p> +<p>It is wholly devoted to natural, physical, and mathematical sciences. It +assembles on Fridays, in the <i>Rue d'Anjou</i>, <i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>. +It has no public sittings; but is merely a private meeting of men of learning, +who publish once a month a <i>bulletin</i> very important to the sciences, and +to be commended, besides, for its composition, perspicuity, and conciseness. +This publication is of a 4to size, consists of a single sheet of print, and has +for its title <i>Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomatique</i>.</p> +<p class="center">SOCIÉTÉ ACADÉMIQUE DES SCIENCES.</p> +<p>This Society is recently formed: It employs itself on the Sciences only; has +not yet held any public sittings, nor published any memoirs. Consequently, +nothing can yet be said of its labours, or interior regulation.</p> +<p class="center">SOCIÉTÉ GALVANIQUE.</p> +<p>Its name indicates the sole object of its labours. It is newly formed, and +composed of men eminently distinguished in Medicine and Physics. It has called +in a few literati. Its officers are the same in the other Societies. It holds +its sittings at the <i>Oratoire</i> every Tuesday at eleven o'clock in the +morning. Its labours are pursued with ardour and it has already made several +important experiments. It announces zeal, and talents, as well as-great +defects, and aspires to fame, perhaps, a little too much; but it may still +maintain its ground.</p> +<p class="center">SOCIÉTÉ DES BELLES-LETTRES.</p> +<p>It is somewhat frivolous. Public sittings every month. Half poetry, half +music. It meets at the <i>Oratoire</i> every Wednesday at seven o'clock in the +evening. It arose from a small emigration of the <i>Lycée des Arts</i>, at this +day <i>l'Athénée</i>, during the tyranny of DESAUDRAY, and originally bore the +title of <i>Rosati</i>. A few men of merit, a great number of youths, and some +useless members. Too many futile readings, too many fugitive verses, too many +little rivalships. It is faulty on account of its regulations, the basis of +which is weak, and it exhibits too much parsimony in its expenses. It has not +enough of that public consideration which perpetuates establishments of this +description. Under such circumstances, it is to be apprehended that it will not +support itself.</p> +<p class="center">ACADÉMIE DE LÉGISLATION.</p> +<p>This is a fine institution, recently founded. It is composed of the most +celebrated lawyers, and a few distinguished literati. It meets on the first of +every month, gives every day courses of lectures on all the branches of +jurisprudence to a great number of pupils; has established conferences, where +these pupils form themselves to the art of speaking, by pleading on given +points of law. It publishes two periodical works every month, the one entitled, +<i>Bulletin de Jurisprudence</i> and the other, <i>Annales de +Jurisprudence.</i> The preliminary discourse of the first volume of the latter +is by JOSEPH LAVALLÉE, and has done him considerable credit. He is, however, a +literary character, and not a lawyer.</p> +<p>This academy has officers of the same description as those of the other +Societies. Senator LANJUINAIS is the President at this moment. It occupies the +<i>Hôtel de la Briffe</i>, <i>Quai Voltaire</i>.</p> +<p class="center">SOCIÉTÉ DES OBSERVATEURS DE L'HOMME.</p> +<p>It assembles at the <i>Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld</i>, <i>Rue de Seine</i>, +<i>Faubourg St. Germain,</i> and is composed of very estimable men. Its +labours, readings, and discussions are too metaphysical. In point of officers, +it is formed like the other Societies. Citizen JUAFFRET is perpetual +Secretary.</p> +<p class="center">ATHÉNÉE DE PARIS, <i>ci-devant</i> LYCÉE RÉPUBLICAIN.</p> +<p>This society has survived the revolutionary storm, having been established +as far back as the year 1787. According to the <i>programme</i> published for +the present year 1802, its object is to propagate the culture of the sciences +and literature; to make known the useful improvements in the arts; to afford +pleasure to persons of all ages, by presenting to every one such attractions as +may suit his taste, and to unite in literary conferences the charms of the +mildest of human occupations.</p> +<p>To strangers, the <i>Athénée</i> holds out many advantages. On being +presented by one of the founders or a subscriber, and paying the annual +subscription of 96 francs, you receive an admission-ticket, which, however, is +not transferrable. This entitles you to attend several courses of lectures by +some of the most eminent professors, such as FOURCROY, CUVIER, LA HARPE, +DÉGÉRANDO, SUË, HASSENFRATZ, LEGRAND, &c. The subjects for the year are as +follows:</p> +<p>Experimental Physics, Chymistry, Natural History, Anatomy and Physiology, +Botany, Technology or the application of sciences to arts and trades, +Literature, Moral Philosophy, Architecture, together with the English, Italian, +and German languages.</p> +<p>The lectures are always delivered twice, and not unfrequently thrice a day, +in a commodious room, provided with all the apparatus necessary for +experiments. On a Sunday, an account of the order in which they are to be given +in the course of the following week, is sent to every subscriber. There is no +half-subscription, nor any admission <i>gratis</i>; but ladies pay no more than +48 francs for their annual ticket.</p> +<p>Independently of so many sources of instruction, the <i>Athénée</i>, as is +expressed in the <i>programme</i>, really affords to subscribers the resources +and charms of a numerous and select society. The apartments, which are situated +near the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, in the <i>Rue du Lycée</i>, are open to +them from nine o'clock in the morning to eleven at night. Several rooms are +appropriated to conversation; one of which, provided with a piano-forte and +music, serves as a rendezvous for the ladies. The subscribers have free access +to the library, where they find the principal literary and political journals +and papers, both French and others, as well as every new publication of +importance. A particular room, in which silence is duly observed, is set apart +for reading.</p> +<p><a name="let49f1">Footnote 1</a>: This Society has laid aside the title of +<i>Lyceum</i> since the decree of the government, which declares that this +denomination is to be applied only to the establishments for public +instruction. <a href="#let49fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let50">LETTER L.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 13, 1802.</i></p> +<p>I have spoken to you of palaces, museum, churches, bridges, public gardens, +playhouses, &c. as they have chanced to fall under my observation; but +there still remain houses of more than one description which I have not yet +noticed, though they are certainly more numerous here than in any other city in +Europe. I shall now speak of</p> +<p class="center">COFFEEHOUSES.</p> +<p>Their number in Paris has been reckoned to exceed seven hundred; but they +are very far from enjoying a comparative degree of reputation. Celebrity is +said to be confined to about a dozen only, which have risen into superior +consequence from various causes. Except a few resorted to by the literati or +wits of the day, or by military officers, they are, in general, the rendezvous +of the idle, and the refuge of the needy. This is so true, that a frequenter of +a coffeehouse scarcely ever lights a fire in his own lodging during the whole +winter. No sooner has he quitted his bed, and equipped himself for the day, +than he repairs to his accustomed haunt, where he arrives about ten o'clock in +the morning, and remains till eleven at night, the hour at which coffeehouses +are shut up, according to the regulation of the police. Not unfrequently +persons of this description make a cup of coffee, mixed with milk, with the +addition of a penny-roll, serve for dinner; and, be their merit what it may, +they are seldom so fortunate as to be consoled by the offer of a rich man's +table.</p> +<p>Here, no person who wishes to be respected, thinks of lounging in a +coffeehouse, because it not only shews him to be at a loss to spend his time, +which may fairly be construed into a deficiency of education or knowledge, but +also implies an absolute want of acquaintance with what is termed good company. +Certain it is that, with the exceptions before-mentioned, a stranger must not +look for good company in a coffee-house in Paris; if he does, he will find +himself egregiously disappointed.</p> +<p>Having occasion to see an advertisement in an English newspaper, I went a +few evenings ago to one of the most distinguished places of this sort in the +<i>Palais du Tribunat</i>: the room was extremely crowded. In five minutes, one +of the company whom I had seen taking out his watch on my entrance, missed it; +and though many of the by-standers afterwards said they had no doubt that a +person of gentlemanly exterior, who stood near him, had taken it, still it +would have been useless to charge that person with the fact, as the watch had +instantly gone through many hands, and the supposed accomplices had been +observed to decamp with uncommon expedition. What diverted me not a little, was +that the person suspected coolly descanted on the imprudence of taking out a +valuable watch in a crowd of strangers; and, after declaiming the most virulent +terms against the dishonesty of mankind; he walked away very quietly. +Notwithstanding his appearance and manner were so much in his favour, he had no +sooner affected his retreat than some subalterns of the police, not +thief-takers, but <i>mouchards</i> or spies, some of whom are to be met with in +every principal coffeehouse, cautioned the master of the house against +suffering his presence in future, as he was a notorious adventurer.</p> +<p>You must not, however, imagine from this incident, that a man cannot enter a +coffeehouse in Paris, without being a sufferer from the depredations of the +nimble-fingered gentry. Such instances are not, I believe, very frequent here; +and though it is universally allowed that this capital abounds with adventurers +and pickpockets of every description, I am of opinion that there is far less +danger to be apprehended from them than from their archetypes in London. +Everyone knows that, in our refined metropolis, a lady of fashion cannot give a +ball or a rout, without engaging Mr. Townsend, or some other Bow street +officer, to attend in her ball, in order that his presence may operate as a +check on the audacity of knavish intruders.</p> +<p>The principle coffeehouses here are fitted up with taste and elegance. Large +mirrors form no inconsiderable part of their decoration. There are no +partitions to divide them into boxes. The tables are of marble; the benches and +stools are covered with Utrecht velvet. In winter, an equal degree of warmth is +preserved in them by means of a large stove in the centre, which, from its +figure, is an ornamental piece of furniture; while, in summer, the draught of +air which it maintains, contributes not a little to cool the room. In the +evening, they are lighted by <i>quinquets</i> in a brilliant manner.</p> +<p>Formerly, every coffeehouse in Paris used to have its chief orator; in those +of the more remote part of the suburbs you might, I am informed, hear a +journeyman tailor or shoemaker hold forth on various topics. With the +revolution, politics were introduced; but, at the present day, that is a +subject which seems to be entirely out of the question.</p> +<p>In some coffeehouses, where literati and critics assemble, authors and their +works are passed in review, and to each is assigned his rank and estimation. +When one of these happens to have been checked in his dramatic career by an +<i>undiscerning</i> public, he becomes, in his turn, the most merciless of +critics.</p> +<p>In many of these places, the "busy hum" is extremely tiresome; German, +Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Russ, together with English and French, all +spoken at the same time and in the same room, make a confusion of tongues as +great almost as that which reigned at Babel. In addition to the French +newspapers, those of England and Germany may be read; but as they are often +bespoke by half a dozen persons in succession, it requires no small degree of +patience to wait while these quidnuncs are conning over every paragraph.</p> +<p>Independently of coffee, tea, and chocolate, ices, punch and liqueurs may be +had in the principal coffeehouses; but nothing in the way of dinner or supper, +except at the subterraneous ones in the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, though there +are many of a rather inferior order where substantial breakfasts in the French +style are provided. Whether Voltaire's idea be just, that coffee clears the +brain, and stimulates the genius, I will not pretend to determine: but if this +be really the case, it is no wonder that the French are so lively and full of +invention; for coffee is an article of which they make an uncommon consumption. +Indeed, if Fame may be credited, the prior of a monastery in Arabia, on the +word of a shepherd who had remarked that his goats were particularly frisky +when they had eaten the berries of the coffee-tree, first made a trial of their +virtue on the monks of his convent, in order to prevent them from sleeping +during divine service.</p> +<p>Be this as it may, Soliman Aga, ambassador of the Porte to Lewis XIV, in +1669, was the first who introduced the use of coffee in Paris. During a +residence of ten years in the French capital, he had conciliated the friendship +of many persons of distinction, and the ladies in particular took a pleasure in +visiting him. According to the custom of his country, he presented them with +coffee; and this beverage, however disgusting from its colour and bitterness, +was well received, because it was offered by a foreigner, in beautiful china +cups, on napkins ornamented with gold fringe. On leaving the ambassador's +parties, each of the guests, in the enthusiasm of novelty, cried up coffee, and +took means to procure it. A few years after, (in 1672) one Paschal, an +Armenian, first opened, at the <i>Foire St. Germain</i>, and, afterwards on the +<i>Quai de l'École</i>, a shop similar to those which he had seen in the +Levant, and called his new establishment <i>café</i>. Other Levantines followed +his example; but, to fix the fickle Parisian, required a coffeeroom handsomely +decorated. PROCOPE acted on this plan, and his house was successively +frequented by Voltaire, Piron, Fontenelle, and St. Foix.</p> +<p>As drinking, which was then in vogue, was pursued less on account of the +pleasure which it afforded, than for the sake of society, the French made no +hesitation in deserting the tavern for the coffeehouse. But, in making this +exchange, it has been remarked, by the observers of the day, that they have not +only lost their taste for conviviality, but are become more reserved and +insincere than their forefathers, whose hearts expanded by the free use of the +generous juice of the grape; thus verifying the old maxim, <i>in vino +veritas.</i></p> +<p>No small attraction to a Parisian coffeehouse is a pretty female to preside +in the bar, and in a few I have seen very handsome women; though this post is +commonly assigned to the mistress or some confidential female relation. Beset +as they are from morn to night by an endless variety of flatterers, the virtue +of a Lucretia could scarcely resist such incessant temptation. In general, they +are coquetish; but, without coquetry, would they be deemed qualified for their +employment?</p> +<p>Before the revolution, I remember, in the <i>ci-devant Palais Royal</i>, a +coffeehouse called <i>Le café mécanique</i>. The mechanical contrivance, whence +it derived its name, was of the most simple nature. The tables stood on hollow +cylinders, the tops of which, resembling a salver with its border, were level +with the plane of the table, but connected with the kitchen underneath. In the +bar sat a fine, showy lady, who repeated your order to the attendants below, by +means of a speaking-trumpet. Presently the superficial part of the salver, +descended through the cylinder, and reascending immediately, the article called +for made its appearance. This <i>café méchanique</i> did not long remain in +being, as it was not found to answer the expectation of the projector. But +besides six or seven coffeehouses on the ground-floor of the <i>Palais du +Tribunat</i>, there are also several subterraneous ones now open.</p> +<p>In one of these, near the <i>Théâtre Français,</i> is a little stage, on +which farces, composed for the purpose, are represented <i>gratis</i>. In +another, is an orchestra consisting entirely of performers belonging to the +National Institution of the Blind. In a third, on the north side of the garden, +are a set of musicians, both vocal and instrumental, who apparently never tire; +for I am told they never cease to play and sing, except to retune their +instruments. Here a female now and then entertains the company with a solo on +the French horn. To complete the sweet melody, a merry-andrew habited <i>à la +sauvage</i>, "struts his hour" on a place about six feet in length, and +performs a thousand ridiculous antics, at the same time flogging and beating +alternately a large drum, the thunder-like sound of which is almost loud enough +to give every auditor's brain a momentary concussion.</p> +<p>A fourth subterraneous coffeehouse in the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i> is kept +by a ventriloquist, and here many a party are amused by one of their number +being repeatedly led into a mistake, in consequence of being ignorant of the +faculty possessed by the master of the house. This man seems to have no small +share of humour, and exercises it apparently much to his advantage. In three +visits which I paid to his cellar, the crowd was so great that it was extremely +difficult to approach the scene of action, so as to be able to enjoy the effect +of his ludicrous deceptions.</p> +<p>A friend of mine, well acquainted with the proper time for visiting every +place of public resort in Paris, conducted me to all these subterraneous +coffeehouses on a Sunday evening, when they were so full that we had some +difficulty to find room to stand, for to find a seat was quite impossible. Such +a diversity of character I never before witnessed in the compass of so small a +space. However, all was mirth and good-humour. I know not how they contrive to +keep these places cool in summer; for, in the depth of winter, a more than +genial warmth prevails in them, arising from the confined breath of such a +concourse. On approaching the stair-case, if the orchestra be silent, the +entrance of these regions of harmony is announced by a heat which can be +compared only to the true Sirocco blast such as you have experienced at +Naples.</p> +<h2><a name="let51">LETTER LI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 15, 1802.</i></p> +<p>As after one of those awful and violent convulsions of nature which rend the +bosom of the earth, and overthrow the edifices standing on its surface, men +gradually repair the mischief it has occasioned, so the French, on the ruins of +the ancient colleges and universities, which fell in the shock of the +revolution, have from time to time reared new seminaries of learning, and +endeavoured to organize, on a more liberal and patriotic scale, institutions +for</p> +<p class="center">PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.</p> +<p>The vast field which the organization of public instruction presents to the +imagination has, as may be, supposed, given birth to a great number of systems +more or less practicable; but, hitherto, it should seem that political +oscillations have imprinted on all the new institutions a character of weakness +which, if it did not absolutely threaten speedy ruin, announced at least that +they would not be lasting. When the germs of discord prevailed, it was not +likely that men's minds should be in that tranquil state necessary for the +reestablishment of public seminaries, to lay the foundations of which, in a +solid and durable manner, required the calm of peace and the forgetfulness of +misfortune.</p> +<p>After the suppression of the colleges and universities existing under the +monarchy, and to which the <i>Collège de France</i> in Paris is the sole +exception, the National Convention, by a decree of the 24th of Nivôse, year III +(14th of January 1795) established <i>Normal</i> Schools throughout the +Republic. Professors and teachers were appointed to them; and it was intended +that, in these nurseries, youth should be prepared for the higher schools, +according to the new plan of instruction. However, in less than a year, these +<i>Normal</i> Schools were shut up; and, by a law of the 3d of Brumaire, year +IV (25th of October, 1796) Primary, Secondary, and Central Schools were ordered +to be established in every department.</p> +<p>In the Primary Schools, reading, writing, and arithmetic formed the chief +part of the instruction. Owing to various causes, the Secondary Schools, I +understand, were never established. In the Central Schools, the internal +regulation was to be as follows.</p> +<p>The whole of the instruction was divided into three classes or sections. In +the first, were taught drawing, natural history, and ancient and modern +languages. In the second, mathematics, physics, and chymistry. In the third, +universal grammar, the fine arts, history, and legislation. Into the first +class the pupils were to be received at the age of twelve; into the second, at +fourteen; and into the third, at sixteen. In each Central School were to be a +public library, a botanic garden, and an apparatus of chymical and physical +instruments. The professors were to be examined and chosen by a <i>Jury of +Instruction</i>, and that choice confirmed by the administration of the +department.</p> +<p>The government, in turning its attention to the present state of the public +schools, and comparing them with the wants and wishes of the inhabitants of the +Republic, has found that the Primary Schools have been greatly neglected, and +that the Central Schools have not been of so much utility as was expected. +Alarmed at the consequences likely to be produced by a state of things which +leaves a great part of the present generation destitute of the first rudiments +of knowledge, the government has felt that the reorganization of these schools +is become an urgent duty, and that it is impossible to delay longer to carry it +into execution.</p> +<p>The <i>Special</i> Schools of Arts and Sciences are mostly confined to +Paris. The other rich and populous cities of the Republic have undoubtedly a +claim to similar institutions. There is at present no School of Jurisprudence, +and but one of Medicine.</p> +<p><a name="let51fr1"></a>The celebrated FOURCROY[<a href="#let51f1">1</a>] has +been some time engaged in drawing up a plan for the improvement of public +instruction. In seeking a new mode of teaching appropriate to the present state +of knowledge and to the genius of the French nation, he has thought it +necessary to depart from the beaten track. Enlightened by the past, he has +rejected the ancient forms of the universities, whose philosophy and +acquirements, for half a century past, called for reformation, and no longer +kept pace with the progress of reason. In the Central Schools he saw +institutions few in number, and too uniformly organized for departments varying +in population, resources, and means. He has, nevertheless, taken what was good +in each of these two systems successively adopted, and removed their abuses. +Without losing sight of the success due to good masters and skilful professors, +he has, above all, thought of the means of insuring the success of the new +schools by the competition of the scholars. He is of opinion that to found +literary and scientific institutions on a solid basis, it is necessary to begin +by attaching to them pupils, and filling the classes with students, in order +not to run the risk of filling them with professors. Such is the object which +FOURCROY wishes to attain, by creating a number of national pensions, so +considerable that their funds, when distributed in the Lyceums, may be +sufficient for their support.</p> +<p>Agreeably to these ideas, the following is said to be the outline of the new +organization of public instruction. It is to be divided into four classes; viz. +Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Lyceums, and Special Schools.</p> +<p class="center">PRIMARY SCHOOLS.</p> +<p>A Primary School may belong to several <i>communes</i> at a time, according +to the population and the locality of these <i>communes</i>.</p> +<p>The teachers are to be chosen by the mayors and municipal councils.</p> +<p>The under-prefects are to be specially charged with the organization of +these schools, and give an account of their state, once a month, to the +prefects.</p> +<p class="center">SECONDARY SCHOOLS.</p> +<p>Every school established in the <i>commune</i> or kept by private +individuals, in which are taught the Latin and French languages, the first +principles of geography, history and mathematics, is to be considered as a +Secondary School.</p> +<p>The government promises to encourage the establishment of Secondary Schools, +and reward the good instruction that shall be given in them, either by granting +a spot for keeping them, or by the distribution of gratuitous places in the +Lyceums, to such of the pupils as shall have distinguished themselves most, and +by gratifications to the fifty masters who shall have qualified most pupils for +the Lyceums.</p> +<p>No Secondary School is to be established without the authority of the +government. The Secondary Schools and private schools, whose instruction is +found superior to that of the Primary Schools, are to be placed under the +superintendance and particular inspection of the prefects.</p> +<p class="center">LYCEUMS.</p> +<p>There is to be one Lyceum at least in the district of every tribunal of +appeal.</p> +<p>Here are to be taught ancient languages, rhetoric, logic, morality, and the +elements of the mathematical and physical sciences. To these are to be added +drawing, military exercises and the agreeable arts.</p> +<p>Instruction is to be given to the pupils placed here by the government, to +those of the Secondary Schools admitted through competition, to those whose +parents may put them here as boarders, and also to day-scholars.</p> +<p>In each Lyceum is to be a director, who is to have immediately under him a +censor of studies, and an administrator who are all to be nominated by the +First Consul.</p> +<p>In the former institutions, which are to be replaced by these new ones, a +vigilant eye was not constantly kept on the state of the schools themselves, +nor on that of the studies pursued in them. According to the new plan, three +inspectors-general, appointed by the First Consul, are to visit them carefully, +and report to the government their situation, success, and defects. This new +supervisorship is to be, as it were, the key-stone of the arch, and to keep all +the parts connected.</p> +<p>The fourth and highest degree of public instruction is to be acquired in +the</p> +<p class="center">SPECIAL SCHOOLS.</p> +<p>This is the name to be applied to those of the upper schools, where are +particularly taught, and in the most profound manner, the useful sciences, +jurisprudence, medicine, natural history, &c. But schools of this kind must +not be confounded with the Schools for Engineers, Artillery, Bridges and +Highways, Hydrography, &c. which, <i>special</i> as they are essentially, +in proportion to the sciences particularly taught in them, are better +described, however, by the name of <i>Schools for Public Services</i>, on +account of the immediate utility derived from them by the government.</p> +<p>In addition to the <i>Special</i> Schools now in existence, which are to be +kept up, new ones are to be established in the following proportion:</p> +<p>Ten Schools of Jurisprudence. These useful institutions, which have been +abolished during the last ten years, are, by a new organization, to resume the +importance that they had lost long before the revolution. The pupils are to be +examined in a manner more certain for determining their capacity, and better +calculated for securing the degree of confidence to be reposed in those men to +whose knowledge and integrity individuals are sometimes forced to intrust their +character and fortune.</p> +<p>Three new Schools of Medicine, in addition to the three at present in being. +These also are to be newly organized in the most perfect manner.</p> +<p>The mathematical and physical sciences have made too great a progress in +France, their application to the useful arts, to the public service, and to the +general prosperity, has been too direct, says FOURCROY, for it not to be +necessary to diffuse the taste for them, and to open new asylums where the +advantages resulting from them may be extended, and their progress promoted. +There are therefore to be four new <i>Special</i> Schools of Natural History, +Physics, and Chymistry, and also a <i>Special</i> School devoted to +transcendent Mathematics.</p> +<p>The mechanical and chymical arts, so long taught in several universities in +Germany under the name of <i>technology</i>, are to have two <i>Special</i> +Schools, placed in the cities most rich in industry and manufactures. These +schools, generally wished for, are intended to contribute to the national +prosperity by the new methods which they will make known, the new instruments +and processes which they will bring into use, the good models of machines which +they will introduce, in a word, by every means that mechanics and chymistry can +furnish to the arts.</p> +<p>A School of Public Economy, enlightened by Geography and History, is to be +opened for those who may be desirous to investigate the principles of +governments, and the art of ascertaining their respective interests. In this +school it is proposed to unite such an assemblage of knowledge as has not yet +existed in France.</p> +<p>To the three principal schools of the arts dependent on design, which are at +present open, is to be added a fourth, become necessary since those arts bring +back to France the pure taste of the beautiful forms, of which Greece has left +such perfect models.</p> +<p>In each of the observatories now in use is to be a professor of astronomy, +and the art of navigation is expected to derive new succour from these schools, +most of which are placed in the principal sea-ports. A knowledge of the heavens +and the study of the movements of the celestial bodies, which every year +receives very remarkable augmentations from the united efforts of the most +renowned geometricians and the most indefatigable observers, may have a great +influence on the progress of civilization. On which account the French +government is extremely eager to promote the science of astronomy.</p> +<p>The language of neighbouring nations, with whom the French have such +frequent intercourse, is to be taught in several Lyceums, as being a useful +introduction to commerce.</p> +<p>The art of war, of which modern times have given such great examples and +such brilliant lessons, is to have its <i>special</i> school, and this school, +on the plan which it is intended to be established by receiving as soldiers +youths from the Lyceums, will form for the French armies officers equally +skilful in theory as in practice.</p> +<p>This new Military School must not be confounded with the old <i>école +militaire</i>. Independently of its not being destined for a particular class, +which no longer exists in this country, the mode of instruction to be +introduced there will render it totally different from the establishment which +bore the same name.</p> +<p>It is to be composed of five hundred pupils, forming a battalion, and who +are to be accustomed to military duty and discipline; it is to have at least +ten professors, charged to teach all the theoretical, practical, and +administrative parts of the art of war, as well as the history of wars and of +great captains.</p> +<p>Of the five hundred pupils of the Special Military School, two hundred are +to be taken from among the national pupils of the Lyceums, in proportion to +their number in each of those schools, and three hundred from among the +boarders and day-scholars, according to the examination which they must undergo +at the end of their studies. Every year one hundred of the former are to be +admitted, and two hundred of the latter. They are to be maintained two years in +the Special Military School, at the expense of the Republic. These two years +are to be considered as part of their military service.</p> +<p>According to the report made of the behaviour and talents of the pupils of +the Military School, the government is to provide them with appointments in the +army.</p> +<p class="center">NATIONAL PUPILS.</p> +<p>There are to be maintained at the expense of the Republic six thousand four +hundred pupils, as boarders in the Lyceums and Special Schools.</p> +<p>Out of these six thousand four hundred boarders, two thousand four hundred +are to be chosen by the government from among the sons of officers and public +functionaries of the judicial, administrative, or municipal order, who shall +have served the Republic with fidelity, and for ten years only from among the +children of citizens belonging to the departments united to France, although +they have neither been military men nor public functionaries.</p> +<p>These two thousand four hundred pupils are to be at least nine years of age, +and able to read and write.</p> +<p>The other four thousand are to be taken from double the number of pupils of +the Secondary Schools, who, according to an examination where their talents are +put in competition, are to be presented to the government.</p> +<p>The pupils, maintained in the Lyceums, are not to remain there more than six +years at the expense of the nation. At the end of their studies, they are to +undergo an examination, after which a fifth of them are to be placed in the +different Special Schools according to their disposition, in order to be +maintained there from two to four years at the expense of the Republic.</p> +<p>The annual cost of all these establishments is estimated at near eight +millions of francs, (<i>circa</i> £336,000 sterling) which exceeds by at least +two millions the amount of the charges of the public instruction for the few +preceding years; but this augmentation, which will only take place by degrees, +and at soonest in eighteen months, appears trifling, compared to the advantages +likely to result from the new system.</p> +<p>Whenever this plan is carried into execution, what hopes may not France +conceive from the youth of the rising generation, who, chosen from among those +inclined to study, will, in all probability, rise to every degree of fame! The +surest pledge of the success of the measure seems to consist in the spirit of +emulation which is to be maintained, not only among the pupils, but even among +the professors in the different schools; for emulation, in the career of +literature, arts and sciences, leads to fame, and never fails to turn to the +benefit of society; whereas jealousy, in the road of ambition and fortune, +produces nothing but hatred and discord.</p> +<p class="bq">"Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave,<br /> +Is emulation in the learn'd and brave."</p> +<p><a name="let51fr2"></a>So much for the plan.[<a href="#let51f2">2</a>] In +your last letter, you desire that I will afford you some means of appreciating +the essential difference between the old system of education pursued in France, +and the basis on which public instruction is now on the point of being +reorganised and established. You must be sensible that the comparison of the +two modes, were I to enter deeply into the question, would far exceed the +limits of a letter. But, though I have already extended this to a certain +length, I can, in a few more lines, enable you to compare and judge, by +informing you, from the best authority, what has been the spirit which has +dictated the new organization.</p> +<p>There are very few men who know how to confine themselves within just +bounds. Some yield to the mania of innovation, and imagine that they create +only because they destroy and change. Others bend under the yoke of old habits. +Some, solely because they have remained strangers to the sciences, would wish +that youth should be employed only in the study of languages and literature. +Others who, no doubt, forget that every learned man, who aims at a solid +reputation, ought to sacrifice to the Muses, before he penetrates into the +sanctuary of science, would wish education to be confined to the study of the +exact sciences, and that youth should be occupied on things, before they are +acquainted with words.</p> +<p>For the sole reason that the old system of instruction bore too exclusively +on the study of the learned languages, it was to be feared that the new one, +through a contrary excess, would proscribe the Greek and Latin. The study of +these two languages, as FOURCROY has observed to me, is not merely useful to +those who wish to acquire a thorough knowledge of the French, which has +borrowed from them no small number of words, but it is only from the perusal of +the great writers of antiquity, on whom the best among the moderns have formed +themselves, that we can imbibe the sentiment of the beautiful, the taste, and +the rectitude of mind equally necessary, whether we feel ourselves attracted +towards eloquence or poetry, or raise ourselves to the highest conceptions of +the physical or mathematical sciences.</p> +<p>At no time can the instruction given to a youth be otherwise considered than +as a preparatory mean, whose object is to anticipate his taste and disposition, +and enable him to enter with more firmness into the career which he is intended +to follow.</p> +<p>From an attentive perusal of the plan, of which I have traced you the +leading features, you will be convinced that the study of the sciences will +gain by the new system, without that of literature being in danger of losing. +The number of professors is increased, and yet the period of education is not +prolonged. A pupil will always be at liberty to apply himself more intensely to +the branch to which he is impelled by his particular inclination. He may +confine himself to one course of lectures, or attend to several, according to +his intellectual means. He will not be compelled to stop in his career, merely +because the pupils of his class do not advance. In short, neither limits nor +check have been put to the progress that may be made by talent.</p> +<p>I here give you only a principal idea, but the application of it, improved +by your sagacity and knowledge, will be sufficient to answer all the objections +which may be started against the new plan of instruction, and which, when +carefully investigated, may be reduced to a single one; namely, that literature +is sacrificed to the sciences.</p> +<p><a name="let51f1">Footnote 1</a>: Counsellor of State, now charged with the +direction and superintendance of public +instruction. <a href="#let51fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p><a name="let51f2">Footnote 2</a>: The new organization of public instruction +was decreed by the government on the 11th of Floréal, year +X. <a href="#let51fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let52">LETTER LII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 18, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Of all the private lodgings in Paris, none certainly can be more convenient +for the residence of a single man than those of</p> +<p class="center">MILLINERS.</p> +<p>I have already said that such is the profession of my landlady. Whenever I +am disposed for a little lively chitchat, I have only to step to the next door +but one into her <i>magazin de modes</i>, where, like a favourite courtier, +under the old <i>régime</i>, I have both <i>les grandes et les petites +entrées</i>, or, in plain English, I may either introduce myself by the public +front entrance, or slip in by the private back-door.</p> +<p>Here, twenty damsels are employed in making up head-dresses which are hourly +produced and varied by fashion. Closely confined to the counter, with a needle +in their hand, they are continually throwing their eyes towards the street. Not +a passenger escapes their notice. The place the nearest to the window is in the +greatest request, as being most favourable for catching the transient homages +of the crowds of men continually passing and repassing. It is generally +occupied by the beauty of the <i>magazin</i> or warehouse; for it would be +resented as an almost unpardonable offence to term this emporium of taste a +<i>boutique</i> or shop.</p> +<p>Before each of them is a block, on which they form and adjust the gallant +trophy destined to heighten the loveliness of some ambitious fair who has set +her heart on surpassing all her rivals at an approaching ball. Montesquieu +observes, in his Persian letters, that "if a lady has taken it into her head to +appear at an assembly in a particular dress, from that moment fifty persons of +the working class must no longer sleep, or have time to eat and drink. She +commands, and is obeyed more expeditiously than the king of Persia, because +interest has greater sway than the most powerful monarch on earth."</p> +<p>In the morning, some of these damsels wait on the ladies with bandboxes of +millinery. Obliged by their profession to adorn the heads of other women, they +must stifle the secret jealousy of their sex, and contribute to set off the +person of those who not unfrequently treat them with hauteur. However, they are +now and then amply revenged: sometimes the proud rich lady is eclipsed by the +humble little milliner. The unadorned beauty of the latter destroys the made up +charms of the coquette: 'tis the triumph of nature over art.</p> +<p>If, perchance, the lover drops in, fatal consequences ensue. His belle +cannot but lose by the comparison: her complexion appears still more artificial +beside the natural bloom of the youthful <i>marchande</i>. In a word, the +silent admirer all at once becomes faithless.</p> +<p>Many a young Parisian milliner has made a jump from behind the counter into +a fashionable carriage, even into that of an English peer. Strange revolution +of fortune! In the course of a few days, she returns to the same shop to make +purchases, holding high her head; and exulting in her success. Her former +mistress, sacrificing her rage to her interest, assumes a forced complaisance; +while her once-dear companions are ready to burst with envy.</p> +<p>Millinery here constitutes a very extensive branch of trade. Nothing short +of the creative genius of the French could contrive to give, again and again, a +new form to things the most common. In vain do females of other countries +attempt to vie with them; in articles of tasteful fancy they still remain +unrivaled.</p> +<p>From Paris, these studious mistresses of invention give laws to the polished +world. After passing to London, Berlin, Hamburg, and Vienna, their models of +fashion are disseminated all over Europe. These models alike travel to the +banks of the Neva and the shores of the Propontis. At Constantinople, they find +their way into the seraglio of the Grand Signior; while, at Petersburg, they +are servilely copied to grace the Empress of Russia. Thus, the fold given to a +piece of muslin or velvet, the form impressed on a ribband, by the hand of an +ingenious French milliner, is repeated among all nations.</p> +<p>A fashion here does not last a week, before it is succeeded by another +novelty; for a French woman of <i>bon ton</i>, instead of wearing what is +commonly worn by others, always aims at appearing in something new. It is +unfortunately too true, that the changeableness of taste and inconstancy of +fashion in France furnish an aliment to the luxury of other countries; but the +principle of this communication is in the luxury of this gay and volatile +people.</p> +<p>You reproach me with being silent respecting the <i>bals masqués</i> or +masquerades, mentioned in my enumeration of the amusements of Paris. The fact +is that a description of them will scarcely furnish matter for a few lines, +still less a subject for a letter. However, in compliance with custom, I have +been more than once to the</p> +<p class="center">BAL DE L'OPÉRA.</p> +<p>This is a masquerade frequently given in the winter, at the theatre of the +grand French opera, where the pit is covered over, as that is of our +opera-house in the Haymarket. From the powerful draught of air, which, coming +from behind the scenes, may well be termed <i>vent de coulisse</i>, the room is +as cold as the season.</p> +<p>Since the revolution, masquerades were strictly forbidden, and this +prohibition continued under the directorial government. It is only since +BONAPARTE'S accession to the post of Chief Magistrate, that the Parisians have +been indulged with the liberty of wearing disguises during the carnival.</p> +<p>Of all the amusements in Paris, I have ever thought this the most tiresome +and insipid. But it is the same at the <i>Bal de l'Opéra</i> as at +<i>Frascati</i>, <i>Longchamp</i>, and other points of attraction here; every +one is soon tired of them, and yet every one flocks thither. In fact, what can +well be more tiresome than a place where you find persons masked, without wit +or humour? Though, according to the old French saying, "<i>I faut avoir bien +peu d'esprit pour ne pas en avoir sous le masque?</i>"</p> +<p>The men, who at a masquerade here generally go unmasked, think it not worth +while to be even complaisant to the women, who are elbowed, squeezed, and +carried by the tide from one end of the room to the other, before they are well +aware of it. Dominos are the general dress. The music is excellent; but it is +not the fashion to dance; and <i>les femmes de bonne compagnie</i>, that is, +well-bred women, are condemned to content themselves with the dust they inhale; +for they dare not quit their mask to take any refreshment. But, notwithstanding +these inconveniences, it is here reckoned a fine thing to have been at a <i>bal +masqué</i> when the crowd was great, and the pressure violent; as the more the +ladies have shared in it, the more they congratulate themselves on the +occasion.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, the <i>grand ton</i> was for gentlemen to go to the +<i>Bal de l'Opéra</i> in a full-dress suit of black, and unmasked. Swords were +here prohibited, as at Bath. This etiquette of dress, however, rendered not the +company more select.</p> +<p>I remember well that at a masked ball at the Parisian opera, in the year +1785, the very first beau I recognized in the room, parading in a <i>habit de +cour</i>, was my own <i>perruquier</i>. As at present, the amusement of the +women then consisted in teazing the men; and those who had a disposition for +intrigue, gave full scope to the impulse of their nature. The <i>fille +entretenue</i>, the <i>duchesse</i>, and the <i>bourgeoise</i>, disguised under +a similar domino, were not always distinguishable; and I have heard of a +certain French marquis, who was here laid under heavy contribution for the +momentary gratification of his caprice, though the object of it proved to be no +other than his own <i>cara sposa</i>.</p> +<h2><a name="let53">LETTER LIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 19, 1802.</i></p> +<p>When you expressed your impatience to be informed of the dramatic amusements +in Paris, I promised to satisfy you as soon as I was able; for I knew that you +would not be contented with a superficial examination. Therefore, in reviewing +the principal scenic establishments, I shall, as I have done before, exert my +endeavours not only to make you acquainted with the <i>best</i> performers in +every department, but also with the <i>best</i> stock-pieces, in order that, by +casting your eye on the <i>Affiches des Spectacles</i>, when you visit this +capital, you may at once form a judgment of the quality and quantity of the +entertainment you are likely to enjoy at the representation of a particular +piece, in which certain performers make their appearance. Since the revolution, +the custom of printing the names of the actors and dancers in each piece, has +been introduced. Formerly, amateurs often paid their money only to experience a +disappointment; for, instead of seeing the hero or heroine that excited their +curiosity, they had a bad duplicate, or, as the French term it, a +<i>double</i>, imposed on them, more frequently through caprice than any other +motive. This is now obviated; and, except in cases of sudden and unforeseen +indisposition, you may be certain of seeing the best performers whenever their +name is announced.</p> +<p>In speaking of the theatres, the pieces represented, and the merits of the +performers, I cannot be supposed to be actuated by any prejudice or partiality +whatever. I have, it is true, been favoured with the oral criticism of a man of +taste, who, as a very old acquaintance, has generally accompanied me to the +different <i>spectacles</i>; but still I have never adopted his sentiments, +unless the truth of them had been confirmed by my own observation. From him I +have been favoured with a communication of such circumstances respecting them +as occurred during the revolution, when I was absent from Paris. You may +therefore confidently rely on the candour and impartiality of my general sketch +of the theatres; and if the stage be considered as a mirror which reflects the +public mind, you will thence be enabled to appreciate the taste of the +Parisians. Without forgetting that</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>La critique est aisée, mais l'art est difficile</i>,"</p> +<p>I shall indulge the hope that you will be persuaded that truth alone has +guided my pen in this attempt to trace the attractions of the</p> +<p class="center">THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE.</p> +<p>The house, now occupied by the performers of this theatre, was built at the +beginning of the revolution by the late duke of Orleans, who, according to the +opinion of those best acquainted with his schemes of profit, intended it for +the representation of the grand French opera, for which, nevertheless, it is +not sufficiently spacious.</p> +<p>It stands adjoining to the south-west angle of the <i>Palais du +Tribunat</i>, with its front entrance in the <i>Rue de la Loi</i>. Its façade +presents a row of twelve Doric columns, surmounted by as many Corinthian +pilasters, crowned by their entablature. On the first story is an exterior +gallery; ornamented by an iron balustrade, which runs the whole length of the +façade, and communicates with the lobby. On the north side, and at the back of +the theatre, on the ground-floor, are several covered galleries, bordered by +shops, which communicate with the <i>Rue St. Honoré</i> and the <i>Palais du +Tribunat</i>.</p> +<p>The vestibule, where four stair-cases terminate, is of an elliptic form, +surrounded by three rows of Doric pillars. Above the vestibule, which is on the +ground-floor, are the pit and lobby. The inside of the house, which is +immoderately lofty, presents seven tiers of boxes, and, in the circumference, +six Corinthian pillars. The ornaments, numerously scattered, are in relief. At +a certain elevation, the plan of the house is changed by a recess made facing +the stage. Two angels, above the stage-boxes, shock the eye by their enormous +size. <a name="let53fr1"></a>The boxes to the number of two hundred and +twenty-two, are said to contain thirteen hundred persons; and the pit, +including the <i>orchestre</i>,[<a href="#let53f1">1</a>] seven hundred and +twenty-four, making in all two thousand and twenty persons. The construction of +this house is remarkable for iron only being employed in lieu of wood. The +architect was LOUIS.</p> +<p>This theatre, which was begun in 1787, was finished in 1790, when, all +privileges having been done away, it was first opened by a company of French +comedians, who played tragedy and comedy. It then took the name of <i>Théâtre +Français de la Rue de Richelieu</i>, which street was afterwards and is now +called <i>Rue de la Loi</i>. Being opened at the commencement of the +revolution, it naturally adopted its principles; and, when the National +Convention had proclaimed the Republic, it assumed the pompous name of +<i>Théâtre de la République</i>. The greater part of the actors who performed +here, rendered themselves remarkable for their <i>revolutionary</i> ardour, +and, during the reign of terror, it became a privileged theatre.</p> +<p>The <i>Comédie Française</i> in the <i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>, which, in +its interior, presented the handsomest playhouse in Paris, was called +<i>l'Odéon</i> a few years ago, and, since then, has been reduced by fire to a +mere shell, the walls only being left standing. In 1789, this theatre appeared +to follow the torrent of the revolution, and changed its name for that of +<i>Théâtre de la Nation</i>. Nevertheless, the actors did not, on that account, +relinquish the title of <i>Comédiens ordinaires du Roi</i>. Shortly after, they +even became, in general, the declared partisans of the old <i>régime</i>, or at +least of the court. Their house was frequently an <i>arena</i> where the two +parties came to blows, particularly on the occasion of the tragedy of +<i>Charles Neuf</i>, by CHÉNIER, and of the comedy of <i>L'Ami des Loix</i>. +The former of these pieces, represented in the first ebullition of the +revolution, was directed against the court; and the comedians refused to bring +it on the stage, at the time of the assemblage of the national guards in Paris, +on the 14th of July, 1790, known by the title of <i>Federation</i>. The latter +was played after the massacres of September 1792, and had been composed with +the laudable view of bringing back the public mind to sentiments of humanity, +justice, and moderation. The maxims which it contained, being diametrically +opposite to those of the plunderers who then reigned, that is, the members of +the <i>commune</i> of Paris, the minority of the National Convention, the +Jacobins, Cordeliers, &c. they interrupted the representation, and, after a +great uproar, the piece was prohibited.</p> +<p>This minority of which I have just spoken, having succeeded in subduing the +majority, nothing now stopped the rage of the revolutionary party. All those +who gave them umbrage were imprisoned, and put to death with the forms of law. +The comedians of the French theatre were thrown into prison; it appears that +they were, both men and women, partly destined for the scaffold, and that if +they escaped, it was through the address of a clerk of one of the Committees of +Public Welfare or of Public Safety, who repeatedly concealed the documents +containing the charges brought against them. <a name="let53fr2"></a>It is said +that the comedians purpose to prove their gratitude, so long delayed, to this +young man, without putting themselves to any expense, by giving for his benefit +an extraordinary representation.[<a href="#let53f2">2</a>]</p> +<p>At length the happy 9th of Thermidor arrived; the prisons were thrown open; +and, as you may well imagine in such a nation as this, the French comedians +were not the last to be set at liberty. However, their theatre was not +immediately restored to them. It was occupied by a sort of bastard +<i>spectacle</i>, with the actors of which they were then obliged to form an +association. This did not last long. The French comedians were received by the +manager of the lyric theatre of the <i>Rue Feydeau</i>, whom they afterwards +ruined. The actors of comedy, properly so called, contrived to expel those of +tragedy, with whom they thought they could dispense; and, shortly, they +themselves, notwithstanding their reputation, were deserted by the public. The +heroes and heroines, with Mademoiselle RAUCOURT at their head, took possession +of the theatre of the <i>Rue de Louvois</i>, and there prospered. But, after +the 18th of Fructidor, (5th of September, 1797) the Directory caused this house +to be shut up: the reason assigned was the representation given here of a +little comedy, of ancient date however, and of no great importance, in which a +knavish valet is called MERLIN, as was the Minister of Justice of that day, who +since became director, not of the theatre, but of the republic. Mademoiselle +RAUCOURT, who was directress of this theatre, returned with her company to the +old theatre of the <i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>, which then took the name of +<i>l'Odéon</i>.</p> +<p>In the mean time, the theatre of the <i>Rue de Richelieu</i> had perceptibly +declined, after the fall of Robespierre, and the public appeared to have come +to a positive determination to frequent it no longer. The manager of the +<i>Théâtre Feydeau</i>, M. SARGENT, formerly a banker, who was rich, and +enjoyed a good reputation, succeeded in uniting all the actors of the +<i>Comédie Française</i> and those of the <i>Théâtre de la République</i>. This +effected his own ruin. When he had relinquished the management of the +undertaking, the government took it in hand, and definitively organized this +tragic and comic association, to superintend which it appointed a special +commissioner.</p> +<p>The <i>repertoire</i> (or list of pieces which are here played habitually, +or have been acted with applause) is amazingly well furnished, and does +infinite honour to French literature. It may be divided into two parts, the +ancient and the modern. It is the former that deserves the encomium which I +have just bestowed. <a name="let53fr3"></a>In the line of Tragedy, it is +composed of the greater part of the pieces of the four principal pillars of the +temple of the French Melpomene: namely CORNEILLE[<a href="#let53f3">3</a>], +RACINE, CRÉBILLON, and VOLTAIRE, to whom may be added DU BELLOY, as well as of +some detached pieces, such as <i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i> by GUIMOND DE LA +TOUCHE, <i>Le Comte de Warwick</i> and <i>Philoctète</i> by LA HARPE. The +modern <i>repertoire</i>, or list of stock-pieces, is formed of the tragedies +of M. M. DUCIS, CHÉNIER, ARNAULT, LEGOUVÉ, and LE MERCIER.</p> +<p>In the line of Comedy, it is also very rich. You know that, at the head of +the French comic authors, stands MOLIÈRE, who, in this country at least, has no +equal, either among the ancients or the moderns. Several of his pieces are +still represented, though they are not numerously attended; as well because +manners are changed, as because the actors are no longer able to perform them. +Next to MOLIÈRE, but at a great interval, comes REGNARD, whom the French +comedians have deserted, for much the same reason: they no longer give any +plays from the pen of this author, who possessed the <i>vis comica</i>, except +<i>Les Folies Amoureuses</i>, a pretty little comedy in three acts. We no +longer hear of his <i>Joueur</i> and his <i>Légataire Universel</i>, which are +<i>chefs d'œuvre</i>. There are likewise the works of DESTOUCHES, who has +written <i>Le Glorieux, Le Dissipateur</i>, and <i>La Fausse Agnès</i>, which +are always played with applause. <i>Le Méchant</i>, by GRESSET, is a +masterpiece in point of style, and <i>La Métromanie</i>, by PIRON, the best of +French comedies, next to those of MOLIÈRE and REGNARD. Then come the works of +LA CHAUSSÉE, who is the father of the <i>drame</i>, and whose pieces are no +longer represented, though he has composed several, such as <i>La +Gouvernante</i>, <i>L'École des Mères</i>, <i>Le Préjugé à la Mode</i>, which, +notwithstanding, their whining style, are not destitute of merit, and those of +DANCOURT, who has written several little comedies, of a very lively cast, which +are still played, and those of MARIVAUX, whose old metaphysical jargon still +pleases such persons as have their head full of love. I might augment this list +by the name of several other old authors, whose productions have more or less +merit.</p> +<p>The number of modern French comic authors is very limited; for it is not +even worthwhile to speak of a few little comedies in one act, the title of +which the public scarcely remember. According to this calculation, there is but +one single comic author now living. That is COLIN D'HARLEVILLE, who has written +<i>L'Inconstant</i>, <i>Les Châteaux en Espagne</i>, <i>Le Vieux +Célibataire</i>, and <i>Les Mœurs du Jour</i>, which are still +represented. <i>Le Vieux Célibataire</i> is always received with much applause. +In general, the pieces of M. COLIN are cold, but his style is frequently +graceful: he writes in verse; and the whole part of <i>L'Inconstant</i> is very +agreeably written. Indeed, that piece is the best of this author.</p> +<p>FABRE D'EGLANTINE is celebrated as an actor in the revolution (I mean on the +political stage), and as the author who has produced the best piece that has +appeared since <i>La Métromanie</i>. It is the <i>Philinte de Molière</i>, +which, in some measure, forms a sequel to the comedy of the <i>Misanthrope</i>. +Nevertheless, this title is ill chosen; for the character of the +<i>Philinte</i> in the piece of MOLIÈRE, and that of FABRE'S piece scarcely +bear any resemblance. We might rather call it the <i>Égoiste</i>. Although the +comic part of it is weak, the piece is strongly conceived, the fable very well +managed, the style nervous but harsh, and the third act is a +<i>chef-d'œuvre</i>.</p> +<p>Since the death of FABRE, another piece of his has been acted, entitled +<i>Le Précepteur</i>. In this piece are to be recognized both his manner and +his affected philosophical opinions. His object is to vaunt the excellence of +the education recommended by J. J. ROUSSEAU, though the revolution has, in a +great measure, proved the fallacy of the principles which it inculcates. As +these, however, are presented with art, the piece had some success, and still +maintains its ground on the stage. It was played for the first time about two +years ago. The surname of EGLANTINE, which FABRE assumed, arose from his having +won the prize at the Floral games at Toulouse. The prize consisted of an +<i>eglantine</i> or wild rose in gold. Before he became a dramatic author, he +was an actor and a very bad actor. Being nominated member of the National +Convention, he distinguished himself in that assembly, not by oratorical +talents, but by a great deal of villainy. <a name="let53fr4"></a>He did not +think as he acted or spoke. When the +<i>montagnards</i>[<a href="#let53f4">4</a>] or mountaineers, that is, those +monsters who were always thirsting for blood, divided, he appeared for some +time to belong to the party of DANTON, who, however, denied him when they were +both in presence of each other at the bar of the revolutionary tribunal. +<a name="let53fr5"></a>DANTON insisted that he who had been brought to trial +for a just cause, if not a just motive, ought not to be confounded with +stealers of port-folios.[<a href="#let53f5">5</a>] They were both sentenced to +die, and accordingly executed.</p> +<p>Among the comic authors of our age, some people would reckon DUMOUSTIER, +whose person was held in esteem, but whose works are below mediocrity. They are +<i>Le Conciliateur</i>, a comedy in five acts, and <i>Les Femmes</i>, a comedy +in three acts. The latter appears to be the picture of a brothel. They are both +still played, and both have much vogue, which announces the total decline of +the art.</p> +<p>There is a third species of dramatic composition, proscribed by the rules of +good taste, and which is neither tragedy nor comedy, but participates of both. +It is here termed <i>drame</i>. Although LA CHAUSSÉE is the father of this +tragi-comic species of writing, he had not, however, written any <i>tragédies +bourgeoises</i>, and the French declare that we have communicated to them this +contagion; for their first <i>drame</i>, <i>Beverley, ou le Joueur Anglais</i> +is a translation in verse from the piece of that name of our theatre. +<a name="let53fr6"></a>The celebrated LEKAIN[<a href="#let53f6">6</a>] opposed +its being acted, and affirmed with reason that this mixture of the two species +of drama hurt them both. MOLÉ, who was fond of applause easily obtained, was +the protector of the piece, and played the part of <i>Beverley</i> with +success; but this <i>drame</i> is no longer performed on the Parisian stage. +Next to this, comes <i>Le Père de Famille</i>, by DIDEROT. It is a long sermon. +However, it presents characters well drawn. <a name="let53fr7"></a>This species +of composition is so easy that the number of <i>drames</i> is considerable; but +scarcely any of them are now performed, except <i>Eugénie</i> and <i>La Mère +Coupable</i>, by BEAUMARCHAIS,[<a href="#let53f7">7</a>] which are frequently +represented. I shall not finish this article without reminding you that MERCIER +has written so many <i>drames</i> that he has been called <i>Le Dramaturge</i>. +All his are become the prey of the little theatres and the aliment of the +provincial departments. This circumstance alone would suffice to prove the +mediocrity of the <i>drame</i>. MONVEL, of whom I shall soon have occasion to +speak, would well deserve the same title.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let53f1">Footnote 1</a>: This is a place, so called in +French theatres, comprising four or five rows of benches, parted off, between +the place where the musicians are seated and the front of the +pit. <a href="#let53fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let53f2">Footnote 2</a>: It is not mentioned whether +these sons and daughters of Thespis, who have since gained a great deal of +money, have offered any <i>private</i> remuneration to their benefactor, rather +to their guardian-angel. [TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The scan of this footnote was +imperfect. Some of the text was +interpolated.] <a href="#let53fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let53f3">Footnote 3</a>: Of course, PIERRE CORNEILLE is +here meant. THOMAS CORNEILLE, who was surnamed the Great, must not, however be +forgotten. THOMAS is the author of <i>Ariane</i> and <i>le Comte d'Essex</i>, a +tragedy much esteemed, and which is deserving of +estimation. <a href="#let53fr3">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let53f4">Footnote 4</a>: Thus called, because they +formed a very close and very elevated group at one of the extremities of the +hall of the National Convention. <a href="#let53fr4">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let53f5">Footnote 5</a>: FABRE D'EGLANTINE was tried +for having, in concert with certain stock-jobbers, proposed and caused the +adoption of decrees concerning the +finances. <a href="#let53fr5">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let53f6">Footnote 6</a>: LEKAIN said humourously that +to play the <i>drame</i> well, it was sufficient to know how to make a +summerset. <a href="#let53fr6">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let53f7">Footnote 7</a>: Every one is acquainted with +the two comedies written by this author, <i>Le Barbier de Seville</i> and <i>Le +Mariage de Figaro</i>. The astonishing run of the latter, which was acted one +hundred and fifty succeeding nights, was greatly owing to BEAUMARCHAIS having +there turned into ridicule several persons of note in the ministry and the +parliament: <i>La Mère Coupable</i>, which is often given, is the sequel to +<i>Le Mariage de Figaro</i>, as that piece is to <i>Le Barbier de +Seville</i>. <a href="#let53fr7">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let54">LETTER LIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 20, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Let us now examine the merits of the principal performers belonging to the +<i>Théâtre Français</i>.</p> +<h3>TRAGEDY.</h3> +<p class="center"><i>Noble Fathers, or characters of Kings</i>.<br /> +VANHOVE, MONVEL, ST. PRIX, and NAUDET.</p> +<p>VANHOVE. This king of the <i>Théâtre Français</i> neither has majesty nor +nobleness of manner. His countenance is mean, and his make common. His +monotonous and heavy utterance is sometimes intermingled with yelping sounds. +He possesses no sensibility, and substitutes noise for expression. His +mediocrity caused him to be received at the old <i>Comédie Française</i>; for +the first or principal actors of that theatre were rather fond of receiving +persons of weak talents, merely that they might be set off. He <i>doubled</i> +BRIZARD, whom nature had endowed with the happiest gifts for tragedy.</p> +<p>VANHOVE was the first player ever called for by a Parisian audience after +the representation, in order to express to him their satisfaction. However, it +may be proper to observe that, in such cases, it is always some friend of the +author who takes the lead. VANHOVE no longer obtains this favour at present, +and is seldom applauded. He also plays the parts of fathers in comedy.</p> +<p>MONVEL. This actor is not near so old as VANHOVE; but the decay of his +person is such that, when he plays, he seems a skeleton bestirring itself, or +that is set in motion. It is a misfortune for him that his physical means +betray his talents. MONVEL is a man of genius. Thus gifted, it is not +astonishing that he has a just diction, and is not deficient in intelligence. +Some persons doubt whether he has real sensibility; but he at least presents +the appearance of it. He, in some measure, breaks his voice, and vents mournful +accents which produce much effect. With a constitution extremely weak, it is +impossible that he should perform characters which require energy and pride. +<a name="let54fr1"></a>He therefore confines himself to those in which the +pathetic is predominant, or which do not imperiously demand great efforts, such +as <i>Auguste</i> in <i>Cinna</i>, <i>Burrhus</i> in <i>Britannicus</i>, +<i>Brutus</i> in the tragedy of that name (now no longer played), +<i>Lusignan</i> in <i>Zaire</i>, <i>Zopire</i> in <i>Mahomet</i>, +<i>Fénélon</i>[<a href="#let54f1">1</a>] and <i>l'Abbé de l'Epée</i> in the two +pieces of that name. His stock of characters then is by no means extensive. We +may also add to it the part of <i>Ésope à la cour</i>, in the comedy of that +name by BOURSAULT, which he plays or recites in great perfection, because it is +composed of fables only. MONVEL delivers them with neatness and simplicity. +<a name="let54fr2"></a>For this part he has no equal in +France.[<a href="#let54f2">2</a>]</p> +<p>MONVEL is author as well as actor. He has composed several comic operas and +<i>drames</i>; and his pieces, without being good, have always obtained great +applause. His <i>drames</i> are <i>l'Amant Bourru</i>, <i>Clémentine et +Désormes</i>, <i>Les Amours de Bayard</i>, <i>Les Victimes Cloitrées</i>, +&c. You will find in them forced situations, but set off by sentiment. He +is lavish of stage-effect and that always pleases the multitude. <i>L'Amant +Bourru</i> has alone remained as a stock-piece.</p> +<p>By his zeal for the revolution, he alienated from him a great part of the +public. When every principle of religion was trodden under foot, and, under the +name of festivals of reason or of the goddess of reason, orgies of the most +scandalous nature were celebrated in the churches, MONVEL ascended the pulpit +of the parish of St. Roch, and preached <i>atheism</i> before an immense +congregation. Shortly after, Robespierre caused the National Convention to +proclaim the following declaration: "<i>The French people acknowledge the +Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul.</i>" +<a name="let54fr3"></a>MONVEL trembled; and it is probable that, had not that +sanguinary tyrant been overthrown, the atheistical preacher would have +descended from the pulpit only to ascend the +scaffold.[<a href="#let54f3">3</a>]</p> +<p>ST. PRIX. He has no fixed employment. Sometimes he plays the parts of kings, +sometimes those of lovers; but excels in none. He would be a very handsome man, +were it possible to be so with a face void of expression. Nature has given him +a strong but hollow voice; and he recites so coldly, that he makes the public +yawn, and seems sometimes to yawn himself. When he means to display warmth, he +screams and fatigues the ear without mercy.</p> +<p>NAUDET. This man, who is great only in stature, quitted the rank of serjeant +in the <i>Gardes Françaises</i> to become a bad player. In the character of +kings, he scarcely now appears but to personate tyrants. He is very cold, and +speaks through his nose like a Capuchin friar, which has gained him the +appellation of the Reverend Father NAUDET.</p> +<p class="center"><i>First parts or principal lovers, in Tragedy</i>.<br /> +TALMA, and LAFOND.</p> +<p><a name="let54fr4"></a>TALMA. The great reputation which circumstances and +his friends[<a href="#let54f4">4</a>] have given to this actor has, probably, +rendered him celebrated in England. His stature and his voice (which, in +theatrical language, is called <i>organ</i>), should seem to qualify him for +the parts of <i>jeunes premiers</i> only, of which I shall say more hereafter. +Accordingly he made his <i>début</i> in that line about fifteen or sixteen +years ago. Without being brilliant, his first appearances were successful, and +he was received on trial. <a name="let54fr5"></a>He soon caused himself to be +remarked by the correctness of his dress.[<a href="#let54f5">5</a>] +<a name="let54fr6"></a>But what fixed attention on TALMA, was the part of +<i>Charles Neuf</i>, which he plays in the tragedy of that +name.[<a href="#let54f6">6</a>] In the riots to which this piece gave rise in +1790, TALMA figured as a patriot. Having fallen out with the comedians who had +behaved ill to him, and no longer placed him in any other parts than those of +confidants, he was engaged at the new <i>Théâtre Français</i> of the <i>Rue de +Richelieu</i>, where it was proposed to him to perform the characters which +pleased him best, that is, the best in each piece. Thus he was seen alternately +personating young princes, heroes, and tyrants.</p> +<p>TALMA is now reduced to those of the old stock. The characters he at present +represents are <i>Cinna</i> in the tragedy of that name by CORNEILLE, +<i>Oreste</i> in the <i>Andromaque</i> of RACINE, <i>Néron</i> in the +<i>Britannicus</i> of the same, <i>Œdipe</i> in the tragedy of that name +by VOLTAIRE, and <i>Faïel</i> in <i>Gabrielle du Vergy</i> by DU BELLOY, +<i>Oreste</i> in <i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i> by GUIMOND DE LA TOUCHE, and +<i>Ægisthe</i> in the <i>Agamemnon</i> of LE MERCIER. TALMA also plays many +other parts, but, in these, he makes no great figure. He had a great aversion +to old pieces, and as long as he preserved his sway at the theatre, very few, +if any were performed. In fact, there are many in which he is below +mediocrity.</p> +<p>You will certainly expect that I should tell you what constitutes the talent +of this performer. He is small in stature, thin in person, and rather ill-made; +his arms and legs being bowed, which he takes care to conceal by the fulness of +his garments. He has a fine eye, and his features are regular, but too delicate +for the perspective of the theatre. <a name="let54fr7"></a>He has long since +adopted the antique head-dress,[<a href="#let54f7">7</a>] and has contributed +to bring it into fashion. He distinguished himself formerly in Paris by wearing +clothes of a strange form. As an actor, he has no nobleness of manner, and not +unfrequently his gestures are aukward. His deportment is always ungraceful, +though he often endeavours to imitate the posture of the antique statues; but +even then he presents only a caricature. His countenance has little or no +expression, except in moments of rage or terror. In pourtraying the latter +sentiment, all the faculties of his soul appear absorbed; yet, though his +distraction seems complete, there is a sort of silliness blended with his +stupor, which certain persons take for truth, and which is much more +perceptible in the rest of his characters. In rage, he is a tiger mangling his +prey, and sometimes you might believe that you heard that animal drawing his +breath. TALMA has never expressed well a tender, generous, or noble sentiment. +His soul is neither to be softened nor elevated; and, to produce effect, he +must be in a terror or in a rage; but then he makes a great impression on the +majority of the public. His utterance is slow, minced, and split into +syllables. His voice is hollow; but, in moments of rage, it is strong, yet +without being of a considerable volume. He is generally reproached with being +deficient in sensibility: I think, however, that, by dint of labour, he might +paint feeling; for I have heard him render delicate passages happily enough. He +is accused here of having adopted the English style of acting, though, as far +as my opinion goes, with little or no foundation. Be this as it may, he passed +the early part of his youth in London, where his father resides, and follows +the profession of a dentist. The son may now be about thirty-eight years of +age.</p> +<p>TALMA preserves the reputation of being a zealous partisan of the +revolution; but I am confidently assured that he never injured any one, and +held in horror the assassinations which have left an indelible stain on that +event. He was intimately connected with the deputies, styled <i>Girondists</i> +or <i>Brisotins</i>, who perished on the scaffold, after their party was +overcome, on the 31st of May, 1793, by that of the ferocious mountaineers. The +latter warmly reproached TALMA with having, in the year 1792, after the retreat +of the Prussians, given a <i>fête</i> or grand supper to the famous DUMOURIEZ, +with whom they were beginning to fall out, and whom they accused of treason for +not having taken the king of Prussia prisoner. The hideous MARAT, I am told, +went to call on that general at TALMA'S, where the company received him very +cavalierly, and when he was gone, DUGAZON the actor, hot-headed revolutionist +as he was, by way of pleasantry, pretended to purify the room by burning sugar +in a chaffing-dish. All this amounted to more than was necessary for being +condemned by the revolutionary tribunal; and TALMA, being detested by +ROBESPIERRE, would, in all probability, have been delivered over to that +tribunal, but for the protection of DAVID, the celebrated painter, who was +concerting with him about changing the form of dress of the French people. +During all the reign of terror, TALMA and his wife were in continual fear of +the scaffold.</p> +<p>LAFOND. TALMA reigned, and was in possession of the first cast of parts. Of +these, he played whatever suited him, and rejected what he disliked, when about +a year ago, there appeared in the same line a young actor of a rather tall and +well-proportioned stature, and whom Nature had, besides, gifted with an +agreeable countenance and a tolerably good voice. He had played in the +provincial theatres; but, in order to overcome every obstacle which might be +opposed to his <i>début</i>, he became a pupil of DUGAZON, an actor of comedy, +and what is more singular, of one more frequently a buffoon than a comedian. +The latter, however, is said to possess a knowledge of the style of playing of +the actors who, thirty years ago, graced the French stage, and consequently may +be capable of giving good advice.</p> +<p>By means of this powerful protection, LAFOND got the better of every +difficulty. This actor made his first appearance in the character of +<i>Achille</i> in the tragedy of <i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i> by RACINE. He was +not the Achilles of Homer, nor even that of the piece, or at best he +represented him in miniature. However, his diction generally just, his acting, +some grace, and, above all, the fatigue and <i>ennui</i> which TALMA impressed +on many of the spectators, procured this rival a decisive success. As is +customary in such cases, the newspapers were divided in opinion. The majority +declared for LAFOND, and none of the opposite side spoke unfavourably of him. +It was not so with TALMA. Some judged him harshly, calling him a detestable +actor, while others bestowed on him the epithet of <i>sublime</i>, which, at +the present day, has scarcely any signification; so much is it lavished on the +most indifferent performers. This instance proves the fact; for if TALMA has +reached the <i>sublime</i>, it is <i>le sublime de la Halle</i>.</p> +<p>These two rivals might live in peace; the parts which suit the one, being +absolutely unfit for the talents of the other. TALMA requires only concentered +rage, sentiments of hatred and vengeance, which certainly belong to tragedy, +but which ought not to be expressed as if they came from the mouth of a low +fellow, unworthy of figuring in an action of this kind; and LAFOND is little +qualified for any other than graceful parts, bordering on knight-errantry or +romance. His best character is <i>Achille</i>. I have also seen him perform, if +not in a manner truly tragic, at least highly satisfactory, <i>Rodrigue</i> in +<i>Le Cid</i> of CORNEILLE, and the part of <i>Tancrède</i> in VOLTAIRE'S +tragedy of that name. LAFOND obtains the preference over TALMA in the character +of <i>Orosmane</i> in the tragedy of <i>Zaïre</i>; a character which is the +touchstone of an actor. Not that he excels in it. He has not a marked +countenance, the dignity, the tone of authority, the energy, and the extreme +sensibility which characterize this part. He is not the Sultan who commands. He +is, if you please, a young <i>commis</i> very amorous, a little jealous, who +gets angry, and becomes good-humoured again; but at least he is not a ferocious +being, as TALMA represents <i>Orosmane</i>, in moments of rage and passion, or +an unfeeling one in those which require sensibility.</p> +<p>LAFOND is reproached sometimes with a bombastic and inflated tone. Feeling +that he is deficient in the necessary powers, he swells his voice, which is +prejudicial to truth, and without truth, there is no theatrical illusion. +Nature had intended him for the parts of young lovers, of which I shall +presently speak. His features are too delicate, his countenance not +sufficiently flexible, and his person bespeaks too little of the hero, for +great characters. But when he first appeared, there was a vacancy in this cast +of parts, and none in the other.</p> +<p class="center">Jeunes Premiers, <i>or parts of young Lovers</i>.<br /> +ST. FAL, DAMAS, and DUPONT.</p> +<p>ST. FAL. This performer, who is upwards of forty-five, has never had an +exterior sufficiently striking to turn the brain of young princesses. Every +thing in his person is common, and his acting is really grotesque. However, not +long since he frequently obtained applause by a great affectation of +sensibility and a stage-trick, which consists in uttering loud, harsh, and +hoarse sounds after others faint and scarcely articulated. He has, besides, but +a trivial or burlesque delivery, and no dignity, no grace in his deportment or +gestures.</p> +<p>DAMAS. He is much younger than ST. FAL, but his gait and carriage are +vulgar. He is not deficient in warmth; but all this is spoiled by a manner the +most common. He first played at the theatres on the <i>Boulevard</i>, and will +never be able to forget the lessons he imbibed in that school. It is with him +as with the rabbits of which BOILEAU makes mention, in one of his Satires where +he describes a bad dinner,</p> +<p class="bq">"-------- et qui, nés dans Paris,<br /> +Sentaient encore le chou dont ils furent nourris."</p> +<p>The <i>drame</i> is the style in which DAMAS best succeeds. There is one in +particular, <i>Le Lovelace Français</i>, where he personates an upholsterer of +the <i>Rue St. Antoine</i>, who has just been cornuted by the young Duke of +Richelieu. This part he performs with much truth, and <i>avec rondeur</i>, as +the critics here express it, to signify plain-dealing. But DAMAS is no less +ignoble in comedy than in tragedy.</p> +<p>DUPONT. This young actor, who is of a very delicate constitution, has never +had what we call great powers on the stage; and a complaint in his tongue has +occasioned a great difficulty in his articulation. Without having a noble air, +he has something distinguishing in his manner. His delivery is correct; but the +defect of which I have spoken has rendered him disagreeable to the public, who +manifest it to him rather rudely, though he has sometimes snatched from them +great applause.</p> +<p>After all the actors I have mentioned, come the confidants, a dull and +stupid set, of whom one only deserves mention, not as an actor, but as an +author. This is DUVAL. He has written that pretty comic opera, entitled <i>Le +Prisonnier</i>, as well as <i>Maison à vendre</i>, and several <i>drames</i>, +among which we must not forget <i>Le Lovelace Français, ou la Jeunesse du Duc +de Richelieu</i>, the piece before-mentioned.</p> +<p class="right"><i>January 20, in continuation</i>.</p> +<p>Next follow the daughters of Melpomene, or those heroines who make the most +conspicuous figure in Tragedy.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Characters of Queens</i>.<br /> +Mesdames RAUCOURT and VESTRIS.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle RAUCOURT. Never did <i>début</i> make more noise than that of +this actress, who appeared for the first time on the French stage about thirty +years ago, and might then be sixteen or seventeen years of age. She was a pupil +of Mademoiselle CLAIRON, who had a numerous party, composed of Encyclopædists, +French academicians, and almost all the literati of Paris. The zeal of her +friends, the youth, tall stature, and person of the <i>débutante</i> supplied +the place of talent; and her instructress has recorded in her memoirs that all +her labour was lost. The success, however, of Mademoiselle RAUCOURT was such, +that there were, it is said, several persons squeezed to death at the door of +the playhouse. What increased enthusiasm in favour of the young actress was, +that a reputation for virtue was granted to her as great and as justly merited +as that for talent. Her father declared in the public lobby that he would blow +out her brains if he suspected her of having the smallest intrigue. He kept not +his word. Besides, it is well known that his daughter always took care to +conduct herself in such a manner as to set the foresight even of jealousy at +defiance. Her <i>penchant</i> not leaving her the resource to which women of +her profession generally recur, and her expenses being considerable, her debts +increased; and to avoid the pursuit of her creditors she took refuge in Germany +with her tender friend, Mademoiselle SOUK, who has since been mistress to the +late king of Prussia. They both travelled over that country, and a thousand +reports are circulated to their shame; but the most disgraceful of these are +said to be unfounded. The protection of the queen of France, who paid her debts +repeatedly, at length restored her to the <i>Comédie Française</i>. Such +inconsiderate conduct did no small injury to that unfortunate princess, whom I +mention with concern on such an occasion.</p> +<p>The stature of Mademoiselle RAUCOURT is colossal, and when she presents +herself, she has a very imposing look. Her face, however, is not so noble; she +has small eyes, and her features have not that flexibility necessary for +expressing the movements of the passions. Her voice was formerly very full in +the <i>medium</i> of level-speaking; but it seemed like that of a man. When you +heard it for the first time, you thought that, in impassioned sentences, she +was going to thunder; but, on the contrary, she assumed a very extensive +<i>falsetto</i>, which formed the most singular contrast with the dull sounds +that had preceded it. That defect, perhaps, is somewhat less striking at the +present day; but the voice of this actress is become hoarse, like that of +persons who make a frequent use of strong liquors. The delivery of Mademoiselle +RAUCOURT is, in general, just and correct; for she is allowed to have +understanding; yet, as she neither has warmth nor sensibility, she produces +scarcely any effect. Plaudits most frequently burst forth when she appears; +but, though these are obtained, she never touches the feelings of the +spectator, she never reaches his heart, even in the parts, where she has had +the most vogue. That of <i>Médée</i>, in which she has begun to reestablish her +declining reputation, was neither better felt nor better expressed. She was +indebted for the success she obtained in it only to the magician's robe, to the +wand, and to a stage-trick which consists in stooping and then raising herself +to the utmost height at the moment when she apostrophizes the sun. In the scene +of Medea with her children, a heart-rending and terrible scene, there was +nothing but dryness and a total absence of every maternal feeling.</p> +<p>The characters of queens, which Mademoiselle RAUCOURT performs, are the +first cast of parts at the theatre. It consists of those of mothers and a few +parts of enraged or impassioned lovers. In the works of CORNEILLE, the +principal ones are <i>Cléopatre</i> in <i>Rodogune</i>, and <i>Cornélie</i> in +the <i>Mort de Pompée</i>. In RACINE'S, the parts of <i>Athalie</i> and of +<i>Phèdre</i> in the tragedies of the same name, of <i>Agrippine</i> in +<i>Britannicus</i>, of <i>Clitemnestre</i> in <i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i>, and +of <i>Roxane</i> in <i>Bajazet</i>. In VOLTAIRE'S, those of <i>Mérope</i> and +<i>Sémiramis</i>; and, lastly, that of <i>Médée</i> in the tragedy by +LONGEPIERRE.</p> +<p>Like all the performers belonging to the <i>Théâtre Français</i>, +Mademoiselle RAUCOURT was imprisoned during the reign of terror. The patriots +of that day bore her much ill-will, and it is asserted that Robespierre had a +strong desire to send her to the guillotine. When she reappeared on the stage, +the public compensated her sufferings, and to this circumstance she owes the +rather equivocal reputation she has since enjoyed.</p> +<p>Madame VESTRIS. Although she has been a very long time on the Parisian +stage, this actress is celebrated only from the famous quarrel she had twenty +years ago with Mademoiselle SAINVAL the elder. <a name="let54fr8"></a>Through +the powerful protection of the Marshal de DURAS,[<a href="#let54f8">8</a>] her +lover, she prevailed over her formidable rival, who, however, had on her side +the public, and the sublimity of her talent. This quarrel arose from Madame +VESTRIS wishing to wrest from Mademoiselle SAINVAL the parts for which she was +engaged. A memoir, written by an indiscreet friend, in favour of the latter, +which she scorned to disavow, and in which the court was not spared, caused her +to be banished from the capital by a <i>lettre de cachet</i>. The public, +informed of her exile, called loudly for Mademoiselle SAINVAL. No attention was +paid to this by the higher powers, and the guard at the theatre was tripled, in +order to insure to Madame VESTRIS the possibility of performing her part. +Nevertheless, whenever she made her appearance, the public lavished on her +hisses, groans, and imprecations. All this she braved with an effrontery, which +occasioned them to be redoubled. But, as all commotions subside in time, Madame +VESTRIS remained mistress of the stage; while Mademoiselle SAINVAL travelled +over the provinces, where the injustice of the court towards her caused no less +regret than the superiority of her talent excited admiration.</p> +<p>Madame VESTRIS was rather handsome, and this explains the whole mystery. She +had, above all, a most beautiful arm, and paid no small attention to her +toilet. She delivers her parts with tolerable correctness, but her tone is +heavy and common. The little warmth with which she animates her characters, is +the production of an effort; for she neither possesses energy nor feeling. Her +gestures correspond with her acting, and she has no dignity in her deportment. +She seldom appears on the stage at present, which saves her from the +mortification of being hissed. She is now old, and the political opinion of +those who frequent most the theatres rouses them against her.</p> +<p>Although the court had really committed itself to favour her, Madame VESTRIS +was the first to betray her noble patrons. At the period of the revolution, she +quitted the old <i>Comédie Française</i>, taking with her DUGAZON, her father, +and TALMA, and founded the present theatre, styled <i>Théâtre de la +République</i>. She was also followed by several authors; for not being able to +conceal from herself the mediocrity of her talents, especially in such parts of +the old plays as had been performed by other actresses in a manner far +superior, she facilitated the representation of new pieces, in which she had +not to fear any humiliating comparison. The principal of these authors were LA +HARPE, DUCIS, and CHÉNIER. <a name="let54fr9"></a>The last, who, besides, is +famous as member of the National Convention and other Legislative Assemblies, +composed the tragedy of <i>Charles Neuf</i>, in which Madame VESTRIS, playing +the part of <i>Catherine de Médicis</i>, affected, I am told, to advance her +under-lip, <i>à l'Autrichienne</i>, in order to occasion comparisons injurious +to the ill-fated Marie-Antoinette.[<a href="#let54f9">9</a>] +<p class="center"><i>Characters of Princesses.</i><br /> +Mesdames FLEURY, TALMA, BOURGOIN, and VOLNAIS.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle FLEURY. She has no longer youth nor beauty, and her talents as +an actress are much on a par with her personal attractions. She recites with +judgment, but almost always with languor, and betrays a want of warmth. +Besides, her powers have declined. However, she sometimes displays energetic +flashes of a real tragic truth; but they are borrowed, and it is affirmed, not +without foundation, that Mademoiselle SAINVAL the elder (who is still living) +has been so obliging as to lend them to her.</p> +<p>Madame TALMA. For this name she is indebted to a divorce, having snatched +TALMA from his first wife, an elderly woman who had ruined herself for him, or +whom he had ruined. She quitted her first husband, a dancing-master of the name +of PETIT, to live under the more than friendly protection of Mademoiselle +RAUCOURT.----Madame TALMA is not handsome, and is now on the wane. She plays +tragedy, comedy, and the <i>drame</i>; but has no real talent, except in the +last-mentioned line. In the first, she wants nobleness and energy. Her delivery +is monotonous. It is said in her praise, that she has "<i>tears in her +voice</i>." I believe that it seldom happens to her to have any in her eyes, +and that this sensibility, for which some would give her credit, proceeds not +from her heart. In comedy, she wishes to assume a cavalier and bold manner, +brought into vogue by Mademoiselle CONTAT. This manner by no means suits Madame +TALMA, who neither has elegance in her shape, nor animation in her features. In +the <i>drame</i>, her defects disappear, and her good qualities remain. She +then is really interesting, and her efforts to please are rewarded by the +applause of the public.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle BOURGOIN. With respect to this young lady, a powerful +protection serves her in lieu of talent; for she is handsome. She persists in +playing tragedy, which is not her fort. In comedy, she appears to +advantage.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle VOLNAIS. This is a very young girl. All she says is in a crying +tone, and what is worse, she seems not to comprehend what she says. In the +characters which she first represented she was very successful, but is no +longer so at the present day.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Characters of Confidantes.</i><br /> +Mesdames SUIN and THÉNARD.</p> +<p>There are two only who are deserving of notice. The one is Madame SUIN, who +certainly justifies the character she bears of a woman of judgment; for she has +the most just delivery of all the performers belonging to the <i>Théâtre +Français</i>; but she is advanced in years, and the public often treat her with +rudeness. The other confidante is Mademoiselle THÉNARD, who has played the +parts of princesses at this theatre with a partial success.</p> +<p>There are also other confidantes, whom it is not worth while to mention.</p> +<p>I shall conclude this account of the tragedians belonging to the <i>Théâtre +Français</i>, by observing that the revolution is said to have given a new turn +to the mind and character of the French women; and the success which several +actresses, at this day obtain in the dramatic career, in the line of tragedy, +is quoted in support of this opinion. For a number of years past, as has been +seen, Melpomene seemed to have placed the diadem on the head of Mademoiselle +RAUCOURT, and this tragic queen would probably have grown gray under the +garments of royalty, had not the revolution imparted to her sex a degree of +energy sufficient for them to dispute her empire. <a name="let54fr10"></a>Women +here have seen so many instances of cruelty, during the last ten or twelve +years, they have participated, in a manner more or less direct, in an order of +things so replete with tragical events, that those among them who feel a +<i>penchant</i> for the stage, find themselves, in consequence, disposed to +figure in tragedy.[<a href="#let54f10">10</a>]</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f1">Footnote 1</a>: <i>Fénélon</i> is no longer +performed. It is a very bad tragedy by <i>Chénier</i>. + <a href="#let54fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f2">Footnote 2</a>: There are players members of +the National Institute. MONVEL belongs to the Class of Literature and the Fine +Arts. <a href="#let54fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f3">Footnote 3</a>: Notwithstanding the ill +effects likely to result from such doctrine, far more dangerous to society than +the poniards of a host of assassins, it appears that, when those actors called +terrorists, or partisans of terror, were hunted down, MONVEL was not +molested. <a href="#let54fr3">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f4">Footnote 4</a>: There are a great many +enthusiastic admirers of his talent. <a href="#let54fr4">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f5">Footnote 5</a>: It is really to TALMA that the +French are indebted for the exact truth of costume which is at this day to be +admired on the theatres of Paris, especially in new pieces. An inhabitant of a +country the most remote might believe himself in his native land; and were an +ancient Greek or Roman to come to life again, he might imagine that the fashion +of his day had experienced no alteration. <a href="#let54fr5">Return +to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f6">Footnote 6</a>: The subject of it is the +massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. <a href="#let54fr6">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f7">Footnote 7</a>: He wears his hair cut short, +and without powder. <a href="#let54fr7">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f8">Footnote 8</a>: One evening at the opera, M. +DE DURAS authoritatively took possession of a box hired for the night by +another person. The latter, dreading his power, but at the same time desirous +to stigmatize him, said: "'Tis not he who took Minorca, 'tis not he who took +this place nor that, the man of whom I complain, never took any thing in his +life but my box at the opera!" <a href="#let54fr8">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f9">Footnote 9</a>: All the princes and princesses +of the House of Austria have the under-lip very +prominent. <a href="#let54fr9">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let54f10">Footnote 10</a>: The example of +Mesdemoiselles BOURGOIN and VOLNAIS having proved that first-rate talents were +not necessary for being received at the <i>Théâtre Français</i>, as a tragic +queen or princess, the number of candidates rapidly increased. For several +months past, the merit of these <i>débutantes</i> has been the general concern +of all Paris. Each had her instructor, and, of course, was carefully tutored +for the occasion.</p> +<p class="fnt">M. LEGOUVÉ, the tragic writer, first brought forward on this +stage Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS, a girl about twenty, extremely ill-favoured by +nature. DUGAZON, the actor, next introduced Madame XAVIER, a very handsome and +elegant woman. Lastly, Mademoiselle RAUCOURT presented her pupil, Mademoiselle +GEORGES WEIMER, a young girl of perfect beauty. Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS played +<i>Phèdre</i>, in RACINE'S tragedy of that name, seven successive times. She +certainly displayed a semblance of sensibility, and, notwithstanding the +disadvantages of her person, produced such an effect on the senses of the +debauched Parisian youth by the libidinous manner she adopted in the scene +where <i>Phèdre</i> declares her unconquerable passion for her son-in-law +<i>Hippolyte</i>, that her success was complete. What greater proof can be +adduced of the vitiated taste of the male part of the audience? She also +performed <i>Sémiramis</i>, <i>Didon</i>, and <i>Hermione</i>; but in the first +two characters she betrayed her deficiency. The next who entered the lists was +Madame XAVIER. On her <i>début</i> in <i>Sémiramis</i>, she was favourably +received by the public; but, afterwards, choosing to act <i>Hermione</i>, the +partisans of Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS assembled in such numbers as to constitute +a decided majority in the theatre. Not content with interrupting Madame XAVIER, +and hissing her off the stage, they waited for her at the door of the +play-house, and loaded her with the grossest abuse and imprecations. Lastly +appeared Mademoiselle GEORGES WEIMER. Warned by the disgraceful conduct of the +<i>Duchesnistes</i> (as they are called) towards Madame XAVIER, the comedians, +by issuing a great number of <i>orders</i>, contrived to anticipate them, and +obtain a majority, especially in the pit. Mademoiselle GEORGES made her +<i>début</i> in the character of <i>Clitemnestre</i>, and was well received. +Her beauty excited enthusiasm, and effected a wonderful change in public +opinion. After playing several parts in which Mademoiselle DUCHESNOIS had +either failed, or was afraid to appear, she at last ventured to rival her in +that of <i>Phèdre</i>. At the first representation of the piece, Mademoiselle +GEORGES obtained only a partial success; but, at the second, she was more +fortunate. The consequence, however, had well nigh proved truly tragic. The +<i>Duchesnistes</i> and <i>Georgistes</i> had each taken their posts, the one +on the right side of the pit; the other, on the left. When Mademoiselle GEORGES +was called for after the performance, and came forward, in order to be +applauded, the former party hissed her, when the latter falling on them, a +general battle ensued. The guard was introduced to separate the combatants; but +the <i>Duchesnistes</i> were routed; and, being the aggressors, several of them +were conducted to prison. The First Consul assisted at this representation; yet +his presence had no effect whatever in restraining the violence of these +dramatic factions.</p> +<p class="fnt">Since then, Mesdemoiselles DUCHESNOIS and GEORGES have both been +received into the company of the <i>Théâtre Français</i>. Madame XAVIER has +returned to the provinces. <a href="#let54fr10">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let55">LETTER LV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 22, 1802.</i></p> +<p>The observation with which I concluded my last letter, might explain why the +votaries of Thalia gain so little augmentation to their number; while those of +Melpomene are daily increasing. I shall now proceed to investigate the merits +of the former, at the <i>Théâtre Français</i>.</p> +<h3>COMEDY.</h3> +<p class="center"><i>Parts of noble Fathers.</i><br /> +VANHOVE and NAUDET.</p> +<p>VANHOVE. This actor is rather more sufferable in comedy than tragedy; but in +both he is very monotonous, and justifies the lines applied to him by a modern +satirist, M. DESPAZE:</p> +<p class="bq">"VANHOVE, <i>plus heureux, psalmodie à mon gré;<br /> +Quel succès l'attendait, s'il eût été Curé!</i>"</p> +<p>NAUDET. I have already said that the Reverend Father NAUDET, as he is +called, played the parts of tyrants in tragedy. Never did tyrant appear so +inoffensive. As well as VANHOVE, in comedy, he neither meets with censure nor +applause from the public.</p> +<p class="center"><i>First parts, or principal lovers, in Comedy.</i><br /> +MOLÉ, FLEURY, and BAPTISTE the elder.</p> +<p>MOLÉ. At this name I breathe. Perhaps you have imagined that ill-humour or +caprice had till now guided my pen; but, could I praise the talent of MOLÉ as +he deserves, you would renounce that opinion.</p> +<p>MOLÉ made his <i>début</i> at the <i>Comédie Française</i> about forty-five +years ago. He had some success; but as the Parisian public did not then become +enthusiasts in favour of mere beginners, he was sent into the provinces to +acquire practice. At the expiration of two or three years, he returned, and was +received to play the parts of young lovers in tragedy and comedy. He had not +all the nobleness requisite for the first-mentioned line of acting; but he had +warmth and an exquisite sensibility. In a word, he maintained his ground by the +side of Mademoiselle DUMESNIL and LEKAIN, two of the greatest tragedians that +ever adorned the French stage. For a long time he was famous in the parts of +<i>petits-maîtres</i>, in which he shone by his vivacity, levity, and +grace.</p> +<p>This actor was ambitious in his profession. Although applauded, and perhaps +more so than LEKAIN, he was perfectly sensible that he produced not such great, +such terrible effects; and he favoured the introduction of the <i>drame</i>, +which is a mixture of tragedy and comedy. But those who most detest the whining +style of this species of composition are compelled to acknowledge that MOLÉ was +fascinating in the part of <i>St. Albin</i>, in DIDEROT'S <i>Père de +Famille</i>.</p> +<p>BELLECOURT being dead, MOLÉ took the first parts in comedy, with the +exception of a few of those in which his predecessor excelled, whose greatest +merit, I understand, was an air noble and imposing in the highest degree. As +this was MOLÉ's greatest deficiency, he endeavoured to make amends for it by +some perfection. He had no occasion to have recourse to art. It was sufficient +for him to employ well the gifts lavished on him by nature. Though now verging +on seventy, no one expresses love with more eloquence (for sounds too have +theirs), or with more charm and fire than MOLÉ. In the fourth act of the +<i>Misanthrope</i>, he ravishes and subdues the audience, when, after having +overwhelmed <i>Célimène</i> with reproaches, he paints to her the love with +which he is inflamed. But this sentiment is not the only one in the expression +of which MOLÉ is pre-eminently successful.</p> +<p>In the <i>Philinte de Molière</i>, which also bears the title of <i>La Suite +du Misanthrope</i>, and in which FABRE D'EGLANTINE has presented the contrast +between an egotist and a man who sacrifices his interest to that of his +fellow-creatures, MOLÉ vents all the indignation of virtue with a warmth, a +truth, and even a nobleness which at this day belong only to himself. In short, +he performs this part, in which the word <i>love</i> is not once mentioned, +with a perfection that he maintains from the first line to the last.</p> +<p>In the fifth act of <i>Le Dissipateur</i> (a comedy by DESTOUCHES), when he +sees himself forsaken by his companions of pleasure, and thinks he is so by his +mistress too, the expression of his grief is so natural, that you imagine you +see the tears trickling from his eyes. In moments when he pictures love, his +voice, which at times is somewhat harsh, is softened, lowers its key, and (if I +may so express myself) goes in search of his heart, in order to draw from it +greater flexibility and feeling. The effect which he produces is irresistible +and universal. Throughout the house the most profound silence is rigidly, but +sympathetically enforced; so great is the apprehension of losing a single +monosyllable in these interesting moments, which always appear too short. To +this silence succeed shouts of acclamation and bursts of applause. I never knew +any performer command the like but Mademoiselle SAINVAL the elder.</p> +<p>In no character which MOLÉ performs, does he ever fail to deserve applause; +but there is one, above all, which has infinitely added to his reputation. It +is that of the <i>Vieux Célibataire</i> in the comedy of the same name by COLIN +D'HARLEVILLE, which he personates with a good humoured frankness, an air of +indolence and apathy, and at the same time a grace that will drive to despair +any one who shall venture to take up this part after him. On seeing him in it, +one can scarcely believe that he is the same man who renders with such warmth +and feeling the part of <i>Alceste</i> in the <i>Misanthrope</i>, and in the +<i>Suite de Molière</i>; but MOLÉ, imbibing his talent from nature, is +diversified like her.</p> +<p>Caressed by the women, associating with the most amiable persons both of the +court and the town, and, in short, idolized by the public, till the revolution, +no performer led a more agreeable life than MOLÉ. However, he was not +proscribed through it, and this was his fault. Not having been imprisoned like +the other actors of the old <i>Comédie Française</i>, he had no share in their +triumph on their reappearance, and it even required all his talent to maintain +his ground; but, as it appears that no serious error could be laid to his +charge, and as every thing is forgotten in the progress of events, he resumed +part of his ascendency. <a name="let55fr1"></a>I shall terminate this article +or panegyric, call it which you please, by observing that whenever MOLÉ shall +retire from the <i>Théâtre Français</i>, and his age precludes a contrary hope, +the best stock-pieces can no longer be acted.[<a href="#let55f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>FLEURY. A man can no more be a comedian in spite of Thalia than a poet in +spite of Minerva. Of this FLEURY affords a proof. This actor is indebted to the +revolution for the reputation he now enjoys; but what is singular, it is not +for having shewn himself the friend of that great political convulsion. Nature +has done little for him. His appearance is common; his countenance, stern; his +voice, hoarse; and his delivery, embarrassed; so much so that he speaks only by +splitting his syllables. A stammering lover! MOLÉ, it is true, sometimes +indulged in a sort of stammer, but it was suited to the moment, and not when he +had to express the ardour of love. A lover, such as is represented to us in all +French comedies, is a being highly favoured by Nature, and FLEURY shews him +only as much neglected by her. A great deal of assurance and a habit of the +stage, a warmth which proceeds from the head only, and a sort of art to +disguise his defects, with him supply the place of talent. Although naturally +very heavy, he strives to appear light and airy in the parts of +<i>petits-maîtres</i>, and his great means of success consist in turning round +on his heel. He was calculated for playing <i>grims</i> (which I shall soon +explain), and he proves this truth in the little comedy of <i>Les Deux +Pages</i>, taken from the life of the king of Prussia, the great Frederic, of +whose caricature he is the living model. He wished to play capital parts, the +parts of MOLÉ, and he completely failed. He ventured to appear in the +<i>Inconstant</i>, in which MOLÉ is captivating, and it was only to his +disgrace. Being compelled to relinquish this absurd pretension, he now confines +himself to new or secondary parts, in the former of which he has to dread no +humiliating comparison, and the latter are not worthy to be mentioned.</p> +<p>Friends within and without the theatre, and the spirit of party, have, +however, brought FLEURY into fashion. He will, doubtless, preserve his vogue; +for, in Paris, when a man has once got a name, he may dispense with talent:</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>Des réputations; on ne sait pourquoi!</i>"</p> +<p>says GRESSET, the poet, in his comedy of <i>Le Méchant</i>, speaking of +those which are acquired in the capital of France.</p> +<p>BAPTISTE the elder. But for the revolution, he too would, in all +probability, never have figured on the <i>Théâtre Français</i>. When all +privileges were abolished, a theatre was opened in the <i>Rue Culture St. +Catherine</i> in Paris, and BAPTISTE was sent for from Rouen to perform the +first parts. In <i>Robert Chef des Brigands</i> and <i>La Mère Coupable</i>, +two <i>drames</i>, the one almost as full of improbabilities as the other, he +had great success; but in <i>Le Glorieux</i> he acquired a reputation almost as +gigantic as his stature, and as brilliant as his coat covered with spangles. +This was the part in which BELLECOURT excelled, and which had been respected +even by MOLÉ. The latter at length appeared in it; but irony, which is the +basis of this character, was not his talent: yet MOLÉ having seen the court, +and knowing in what manner noblemen conducted themselves, BAPTISTE had an +opportunity of correcting himself by him in the part of <i>Le Glorieux</i>.</p> +<p>The <i>Théâtre Français</i> being in want of a performer for such +characters, BAPTISTE was called in. Figure to yourself the person of Don +Quixote, and you will have an idea of that of this actor, whose countenance, +however, is unmeaning, and whose voice seems to issue from the mouth of a +speaking-trumpet.</p> +<p class="center">Jeunes premiers, <i>or young lovers, in Comedy</i>.<br /> +ST. FAL, DUPONT, DAMAS, and ARMAND.</p> +<p>One might assemble what is best in these four actors, without making one +perfect <i>lover</i>. I have already spoken of the first three, who, in comedy, +have nearly the same defects as in tragedy. As for the fourth, he is young; but +unfortunately for him, he has no other recommendation.</p> +<p class="center"><a name="let55fr2"></a><i>Characters of</i> Grims, <i>or</i> +Rôles à manteau.[<a href="#let55f2">2</a>]<br /> +GRANDMÉNIL and CAUMONT.</p> +<p>GRANDMÉNIL. This performer is, perhaps, the only one who has preserved what +the French critics call <i>la tradition</i>, that is, a traditionary knowledge +of the old school, or of the style in which players formerly acted, and +especially in the time of MOLIÈRE. This would be an advantage for him, but for +a defect which it is not in his power to remedy; for what avails justness of +diction when a speaker can no longer make himself heard? And this is the case +with GRANDMÉNIL. However, I would advise you to see him in the character of the +<i>Avare</i> (in MOLIÈRE'S comedy of that name) which suits him perfectly. By +placing yourself near the stage, you might lose nothing of the truth and +variety of his delivery, as well as of the play of his countenance, which is +facilitated by his excessive meagreness, and to which his sharp black eyes give +much vivacity.</p> +<p>GRANDMÉNIL is member of the National Institute.</p> +<p>CAUMONT. He possesses that in which his principal in this cast of parts is +deficient, and little more. One continually sees the efforts he makes to be +comic, which sufficiently announces that he is not naturally so. However, he +has a sort of art, which consists in straining his acting a little without +overcharging it.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Parts of Valets</i>.<br /> +DUGAZON, DAZINCOURT, and LAROCHELLE.</p> +<p>DUGAZON. One may say much good and much ill of this actor, and yet be +perfectly correct. He has no small share of warmth and comic humour. He plays +sometimes as if by inspiration; but more frequently too he charges his parts +immoderately. PRÉVILLE, who is no common authority, said of DUGAZON: "How well +he can play, if he is in the humour!" He is but seldom in the humour, and when +he is requested not to overcharge his parts, 'tis then that he charges them +most. Not that he is a spoiled child of the public; for they even treat him +sometimes with severity. True it is that he is reproached for his conduct +during the storms of the revolution. Although advanced in years, he became +Aide-de-camp to SANTERRE.----SANTERRE! An execrable name, and almost generally +execrated! Is then a mixture of horror and ridicule one of the characteristics +of the revolution? And must a painful remembrance come to interrupt a recital +which ought to recall cheerful ideas only? In his quality of Aide-de-camp to +the Commandant of the national guard of Paris, DUGAZON was directed to +superintend the interment of the unfortunate Lewis XVI, and in order to consume +in an instant the body of that prince, whose pensioner he had been, he caused +it to be placed in a bed of quick lime. No doubt, DUGAZON did no more than +execute the orders he received; but he was to blame in putting himself in a +situation to receive them.</p> +<p>Not to return too abruptly to the tone which suits an article wherein I am +speaking of actors playing comic parts, I shall relate a circumstance which had +well nigh become tragic, in regard to DUGAZON, and which paints the temper of +the time when it took place. Being an author as well as an actor, DUGAZON had +written a little comedy, entitled <i>Le Modéré</i>. It was his intention to +depress the quality indicated by the title. However, he was thought to have +treated his subject ill, and, after all, to have made his <i>modéré</i> an +honest man. In consequence of this opinion, at the very moment when he was +coming off the stage, after having personated that character in his piece, he +was apprehended and taken to prison.</p> +<p>DAZINCOURT. In no respect can the same reproaches be addressed to him as to +DUGAZON; but as to what concerns the art, it may be said that if DUGAZON goes +beyond the mark, DAZINCOURT falls short of it. PRÉVILLE said of the latter as a +comedian: "Leaving pleasantry out of the question, DAZINCOURT is well enough." +Nothing can be added to the opinion of that great master.</p> +<p>LAROCHELLE. He has warmth, truth, and much comic humour; but is sometimes a +little inclined to charge his parts. He has a good stage face. It appears that +he can only perform parts not overlong, as his voice easily becomes hoarse. +This is a misfortune both for himself and the public; for he really might make +a good comedian.</p> +<p>There are a few secondary actors in the comic line, such as BAPTISTE the +younger, who performs in much too silly a manner his parts of simpletons, and +one DUBLIN, who is the ostensible courier; not to speak of some others, whose +parts are of little importance.</p> +<p class="right"><i>January 22, in continuation,</i></p> +<p class="center"><i>Principal female Characters, in Comedy.</i><br /> +Mesdemoiselles CONTAT, and MÉZERAY.—Madame TALMA.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle CONTAT. This actress has really brought about a revolution in +the theatre. Before her time, the essential requisites for the parts which she +performs, were sensibility, decorum, nobleness, and dignity, even in diction, +as well as in gestures, and deportment. Those qualities are not incompatible +with the grace, the elegance of manners, and the playfulness also required by +those characters, the principal object of which is to interest and please, +which ought only to touch lightly on comic humour, and not be assimilated to +that of chambermaids, as is done by Mademoiselle CONTAT. A great coquette, for +instance, like <i>Célimène</i> in the <i>Misanthrope</i>, ought not to be +represented as a girl of the town, nor <i>Madame de Clainville</i>, in the +pretty little comedy of <i>La Gageure</i>, as a shopkeeper's wife.</p> +<p>The innovation made by Mademoiselle CONTAT was not passed over without +remonstrance. Those strict judges, those conservators of rules, those arbiters +of taste, in short, who had been long in the habit of frequenting the theatre, +protested loudly against this new manner of playing the principal characters. +"That is not becoming!" exclaimed they incessantly: which signified "that is +not the truth!" But what could the feeble remonstrances of the old against the +warm applause of the young?</p> +<p>Mademoiselle CONTAT had a charming person, of which you may still be +convinced. She was not then, as she is now, overloaded with <i>embonpoint</i>, +and, though rather inclined to stoop, could avail herself of the advantages of +an elevated stature. None of the resources of the toilet were neglected by her, +and for a long time the most elegant women in Paris took the <i>ton</i> for +dress from Mademoiselle CONTAT. Besides, she always had a delicacy of +discrimination in her delivery, and a varied sprightliness in the +<i>minutiæ</i> of her acting. Her voice, though sometimes rather shrill, is not +deficient in agreeableness, but is easily modulated, except when it is +necessary for her to express feeling. The inferiority of Mademoiselle CONTAT on +this head is particularly remarkable when she plays with MOLÉ. In a very +indifferent comedy, called <i>Le Jaloux sans amour</i>, at the conclusion of +which the husband entreats his wife to pardon his faults, MOLÉ contrives to +find accents so tender, so affecting; he envelops his voice, as it were, with +sounds so soft, so mellow, and at the same time so delicate, that the audience, +fearing to lose the most trifling intonation, dare not draw their breath. +Mademoiselle CONTAT replies, and, although she has to express the same degree +of feeling, the charm is broken.</p> +<p>Being aware that the want of nobleness and sensibility was a great obstacle +to her success, this actress endeavoured to insure it by performing characters +which require not those two qualities. The first she selected for her purpose +was <i>Susanne</i> in the <i>Mariage de Figaro</i>. <i>Susanne</i> is an +elegant and artful chambermaid; and Mademoiselle CONTAT possessed every +requisite for representing well the part. She had resigned the principal +character in the piece to Mademoiselle SAINVAL the younger, an actress who was +celebrated in tragedy, but had never before appeared in comedy. On this +occasion, I saw Mademoiselle SAINVAL play that ungracious part with a truth, a +grace, a nobleness, a dignity, a perfection in short, of which no idea had yet +been entertained in Paris.</p> +<p>Another part in which Mademoiselle CONTAT also rendered herself famous, is +that of <i>Madame Evrard</i>, in the <i>Vieux Célibataire</i>.—<i>Madame +Evrard</i> is an imperious, cunning, and roguish housekeeper; and this actress +has no difficulty in seizing the <i>ton</i> suitable to such a character. This +could not be done by one habituated to a more noble manner. Mademoiselle CONTAT +has not followed the impulse of Nature, who intended her for the characters of +<i>soubrettes</i>; but, when she made her <i>début</i>, there were in that cast +of parts three or four women not deficient in merit, and it would have taken +her a long time to make her way through them.</p> +<p>The parts which Mademoiselle CONTAT plays at present with the greatest +success are those in the pieces of MARIVAUX, which all bear a strong +resemblance, and the nature of which she alters; for it is also one of her +defects to change always the character drawn by the author. The reputation +enjoyed by this actress is prodigious; and such a <i>critique</i> as the one I +am now writing would raise in Paris a general clamour. Her defects, it is true, +are less prominent at this day, when hereditary rank is annihilated; and merit, +more than manners, raises men to the highest stations. Besides, it is a +presumption inherent in the Parisians to believe that they never can be +mistaken. To reason with them on taste is useless; it is impossible to compel +them to retract when they have once said "<i>Cela est charmant</i>."</p> +<p>Before I take leave of Mademoiselle CONTAT, I shall observe that there +exists in the <i>Théâtre Français</i> a little league, of which she is the +head. Besides herself, it is composed of Mademoiselle DEVIENNE, DAZINCOURT, and +FLEURY. I am confidently assured that the choice and reception of pieces, and +the <i>début</i> of performers depend entirely on them. As none of them possess +all the requisites for their several casts of parts, they take care to play no +other than pieces of an equivocal kind, in which neither <i>bon ton</i>, nor +<i>vis comica</i> is to be found. They avoid, above all, those of MOLIÈRE and +REGNARD, and are extremely fond of the comedies of MARIVAUX, in which masters +and lackies express themselves and act much alike. The unison is then perfect, +and some people call this <i>de l'ensemble</i>, as if any could result from +such a confusion of parts of an opposite nature. As for new pieces, the members +of the league must have nothing but <i>papillotage</i> (as the French call it), +interspersed with allusions to their own talent, which the public never fail to +applaud. When an author has inserted such compliments in his piece, he is sure +of its being received, but not always of its being successful; for when the +ground is bad, the tissue is good for nothing.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle MÉZERAY. She is of the school of Mademoiselle CONTAT, whence +have issued only feeble pupils. But she is very pretty, and has the finest eyes +imaginable. She plays the parts of young coquettes, in which her principal +dares no longer appear. Without being vulgar in her manner, one cannot say that +she has dignity. As for sensibility, she expresses it still less than +Mademoiselle CONTAT. However, the absence of this sentiment is a defect which +is said to be now common among the French. Indeed, if it be true that they are +fickle, and this few will deny, the feeling they possess cannot be lasting.</p> +<p>Madame TALMA. I have already spoken of her merits as a comic actress, when I +mentioned her as a tragedian.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Parts of young Lovers.</i><br /> +Mesdemoiselles MARS, BOURGOIN, and GROS.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle MARS. She delivers in an ingenuous manner innocent parts, and +those of lovers. She has modest graces, an interesting countenance, and appears +exceedingly handsome on the stage. But she will never be a true actress.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle BOURGOIN. She has some disposition for comedy, which she +neglects, and has none for tragedy, in which she is ambitious to figure. I have +already alluded to her beauty, which is that of a pretty <i>grisette</i>.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle GROS. She is the pupil of DUGAZON, and made her <i>début</i> in +tragedy. The newspaper-writers transformed her into Melpomene, yet so rapid was +her decline, that presently she was scarcely more than a waiting woman to +Thalia.</p> +<p class="center">Characters, <i>or foolish Mothers</i>.<br /> +Mesdemoiselles LACHAISSAIGNE and THÉNARD.</p> +<p>The latter of these titles explains the former. In fact, this cast of parts +consists of <i>characters</i>, that is, foolish or crabbed old women, +antiquated dowagers in love, &c. Commonly, these parts are taken up by +actresses grown too old for playing <i>soubrettes</i>; but to perform them +well, requires no trifling share of comic humour; for, in general, they are +charged with it. At the present day, this department may be considered as +vacant. Mademoiselle LACHAISSAIGNE, who is at the head of it, is very old, and +never had the requisites for performing in it to advantage. Mademoiselle +THÉNARD begins to <i>double</i> her in this line of acting, but in a manner +neither more sprightly nor more captivating.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Parts of</i> Soubrettes <i>or Chambermaids</i>.<br /> +Mesdemoiselles DEVIENNE and DESBROSSES.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle DEVIENNE. If Mademoiselle CONTAT changes the principal +characters in comedy into those of chambermaids, Mademoiselle DEVIENNE does the +contrary, and from the same motive, namely, because she is deficient in the +requisites for her cast of parts, such as warmth, comic truth, and vivacity. +Yet, while she assumes the airs of a fine lady, she takes care to dwell on the +slightest <i>équivoque</i>; so that what would be no more than gay in the mouth +of another woman, in hers becomes indecent. As she is a mannerist in her +acting, some think it perfect, and they say too that she is charming. However, +she must have been very handsome.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle DESBROSSES. The public say nothing of her, and I think this is +all she can wish for.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p>I have now passed in review before you those who are charged to display to +advantage the dramatic riches bequeathed to the French nation by CORNEILLE, +RACINE, MOLIÈRE, CRÉBILLON, VOLTAIRE, REGNARD, &c. &c. &c. If it be +impossible to squander them, at least they may at present be considered as no +more than a buried treasure. Although the <i>chefs d'œuvre</i> of those +masters of the stage are still frequently represented, and the public even +appear to see them with greater pleasure than new pieces, they no longer +communicate that electric fire which inflames genius, and (if I may use the +expression) renders it productive. A great man can, it is true, create every +thing himself; but there are minds which require an impulse to be set in +motion. Without a CORNEILLE, perhaps the French nation would not have had a +RACINE.</p> +<p>Formerly, people went to the <i>Théâtre Français</i> in order to hear, as it +were, a continual course of eloquence, elocution, and pronunciation. It even +had the advantage over the pulpit and the bar, where vivacity of expression was +prohibited or restricted. Many a sacred or profane orator came hither, either +privately or publicly, to study the art by which great actors, at pleasure, +worked on the feelings of the audience, and charmed their very soul. It was, +above all, at the <i>Théâtre Français</i> that foreigners might have learned to +pronounce well the French language. The audience shuddered at the smallest +fault of pronunciation committed by a performer, and a thousand voices +instantly corrected him. At the present day, the comedians insist that it +belongs to them alone to form rules on this point, and they now and then seem +to vie with each other in despising those already established. The audience +being perhaps too indulgent, they stand uncorrected.</p> +<p>Whether or not the <i>Théâtre Français</i> will recover its former fame, is +a question which Time alone can determine. Undoubtedly, many persons of a true +taste and an experienced ear have disappeared, and no one now seems inclined to +say to the performers: "That is the point which you must attain, and at which +you must stop, if you wish not to appear deficient, or to overact your part." +But the fact is, they are without a good model, and the spectators, in general, +are strangers to the <i>minutiæ</i> of dramatic excellence. In tragedy, indeed, +I am inclined to think that there never existed at the <i>Théâtre Français</i> +such a deficiency of superior talents. When LEKAIN rose into fame, there were +not, I have been told, any male performers who went as far as himself, though +several possessed separately the qualifications necessary for that line. +However, there was Mademoiselle DUMESNIL, a pupil of nature, from whom he might +learn to express all the passions; while from Mademoiselle CLAIRON he might +snatch all the secrets of art.</p> +<p>As for Comedy, it is almost in as desperate a situation. The <i>ton</i> of +society and that of comedians may have a reciprocal influence, and the +revolution having tended to degrade the performance of the latter, the +consequences may recoil on the former. But here I must stop.—I shall only +add that it is not to the revolution that the decline of the art, either in +tragedy or comedy, is to be imputed. It is, I understand, owing to intrigue, +which has, for a long time past, introduced pitiful performers on the stage of +the <i>Théâtre Français</i>, and to a multiplicity of other causes which it +would be too tedious to discuss, or even to mention. Notwithstanding the +encomiums daily lavished on the performers by the venal pen of newspaper +writers, the truth is well known here on this subject. Endeavours are made by +the government to repair the mischief by forming pupils; but how are they to be +formed without good masters or good models?</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let55f1">Footnote 1</a>: It must grieve every admirer +of worth and talent to hear that MOLÉ is now no more. Not long since he paid +the debt of nature. As an actor, it is more than probable that "we ne'er shall +look on his like again." <a href="#let55fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let55f2">Footnote 2</a>: The word <i>Grim</i>, in +French theatrical language, is probably derived from <i>grimace</i>, and the +expression of <i>Rôles à manteau</i> arises from the personages which they +represent being old men, who generally appear on the stage with a +cloak. <a href="#let55fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let56">LETTER LVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 24, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Among the customs introduced here since the revolution, that of women +appearing in public in male attire is very prevalent. The more the Police +endeavours to put a stop to this extravagant whim, the more some females seek +excuses for persisting in it: the one makes a pretext of business which obliges +her to travel frequently, and thinks she is authorized to wear men's clothes as +being more convenient on a journey; another, of truly-elegant form, dresses +herself in this manner, because she wishes to attract more notice by +singularity, without reflecting that, in laying aside her proper garb, she +loses those feminine graces, the all-seductive accompaniments of beauty. +Formerly, indeed, nothing could tend more to disguise the real shape of a woman +than the</p> +<p class="center">COSTUME OF THE FRENCH LADIES.</p> +<p>A head-dress, rising upwards of half a yard in height, seemed to place her +face near the middle of her body; her stomach was compressed into a stiff case +of whalebone, which checked respiration, and deprived her almost of the power +of eating; while a pair of cumbersome hoops, placed on her hips, gave to her +petticoats the amplitude of a small elliptical, inflated balloon. Under these +strange accoutrements, it would, at first sight, almost have puzzled BUFFON +himself to decide in what species such a female animal should be classed. +However, this is no longer an enigma.</p> +<p>With the parade of a court, all etiquette of dress disappeared. Divested of +their uncouth and unbecoming habiliments, the women presently adopted a style +of toilet not only more advantageous to the display of their charms, but also +more analogous to modern manners.</p> +<p>No sooner was France proclaimed a republic, than the annals of republican +antiquity were ransacked for models of female attire: the Roman tunic and Greek +<i>cothurnus</i> soon adorned the shoulders of the Parisian <i>élégantes</i>; +and every antique statue or picture, relating to those periods of history, was, +in some shape or another, rendered tributary to the ornament of their +person.</p> +<p>This revolution in their dress has evidently tended to strengthen their +constitution, and give them a pectoral <i>embonpoint</i>, very agreeable, no +doubt, to the amateur of female proportion, but the too open exposure of which +cannot, in a moral point of view, be altogether approved. These treasures are, +in consequence, now as plentiful as they were before uncommon. You can scarcely +move a step in Paris without seeing something of this kind to exercise your +admiration. Many of those domains of love, which, under the old-fashioned +dress, would have been considered as a flat country, now present, through a +transparent crape, the perfect rotundity of two sweetly-rising hillocks. As +prisoners, wan and disfigured by confinement, recover their health and fulness +on being restored to liberty, so has the bosom of the Parisian belles, released +from the busk and corset, experienced a salutary expansion.</p> +<p>In a political light, this must afford no small satisfaction to him who +takes an interest in the physical improvement of the human species, as it tends +to qualify them better for that maternal office, dictated by Nature, and which, +in this country, has too long and too frequently been intrusted to the +uncertain discharge of a mercenary hireling. Another advantage too arises from +the established fashion. Thanks to the ease of their dress, the French ladies +can now satisfy all the capacity of their appetite. Nothing prevents the +stomach from performing its functions; nothing paralyzes the spring of that +essential organ. Nor, indeed, can they be reproached with fastidiousness on +that score. From the soup to the desert, they are not one moment idle: they eat +of every thing on the table, and drink in due proportion. Not that I would by +any means insinuate that they drink more than is necessary or proper. On the +contrary, no women on earth are more temperate, in this respect, than the +French; they, for the most part, mix water even with their weakest wine; but +they also swallow two or three glasses of <i>vin de dessert</i>, without making +an affected grimace, and what is better, they eat at this rate without any ill +consequence, Now, a good appetite and good digestion must strengthen health, +and, in general, tend to produce pectoral <i>embonpoint</i>.</p> +<p>In this capital, you no longer find among the fair sex those over-delicate +constitutions, whose artificial existence could be maintained only by salts, +essences, and distilled waters. Charms as fresh as those of Hebe, beauties +which might rival the feminine softness of those of Venus, while they bespeak +the vigour of Diana, and the bloom of Hygëia, are the advantages which +distinguish many of the Parisian belles of the present day, and for which they +are, in a great measure, indebted to the freedom they enjoy under the antique +costume.</p> +<p>In no part of the world, perhaps, do women pay a more rigid attention to +cleanliness in their person than in Paris. The frequent use of the tepid bath, +and of every thing tending to preserve the beauty of their fine forms, employ +their constant solicitude. So much care is not thrown away. No where, I +believe, are women now to be seen more uniformly healthy, no where do they +possess more the art of assisting nature; no where, in a word, are they better +skilled in concealing and repairing the ravages of Time, not so much by the use +of cosmetics, as by the tasteful manner in which they vary the decoration of +their person.</p> +<h2><a name="let57">LETTER LVII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 25, 1802.</i></p> +<p>I have already observed that the general effervescence to which the +revolution gave birth, soon extended to the seminaries of learning. The +alarm-bell resounded even in the most silent of those retreats. Bands of +insurgents, intermixed with women, children, and men of every condition, came +each moment to interrupt the studies, and, forcing the students to range +themselves under their filthy banner, presented to them the spectacle of every +excess. <a name="let57fr1"></a>It required not all this violence to disorganize +institutions already become antiquated,[<a href="#let57f1">1</a>] and few of +which any longer enjoyed much consideration in the public opinion. The colleges +and universities were deserted, and their exercises ceased. Not long after, +they were suppressed. The only establishment of this description which has +survived the storms of the revolution, and which is no less important from its +utility than extensive in its object, is the</p> +<p class="center">COLLÈGE DE FRANCE.</p> +<p>It neither owed this exemption to its ancient celebrity, nor to the talents +of its professors; but having no rich collections which could attract notice, +no particular estates which could tempt cupidity, it was merely forgotten by +the revolutionists, and their ignorance insured its preservation.</p> +<p>The <i>Collège de France</i> is, at the present day, in this country, and +perhaps in the rest of Europe, the only establishment where every branch of +human knowledge is taught in its fullest extent. The object of this institution +is to spread the most elevated notions of the sciences, to maintain and pave +the way to the progress of literature, either by preserving the taste and +purity of the ancient authors, or by exhibiting the order, lustre, and richness +of the modern. Its duty is to be continually at the head of all the +establishments of public instruction, in order to guide them, lead them on, +and, as it were, light them with the torch of knowledge.</p> +<p>This college, which is situated in the <i>Place de Cambray</i>, <i>Rue St. +Jacques</i>, was founded by Francis I. That monarch, distinguished from all +cotemporaries by his genius, amiableness, and magnificence, saw in literature +the source of the glory of princes, and of the civilization of the people. He +loved and honoured it, not only in the writings of the learned, but in the +learned themselves, whom he called about his person, at the same time loading +them with encouragement and favours. It is singular that those times, so rude +in many respects, were, nevertheless, productive of sentiments the most +delicate and noble.</p> +<p>Truth never shuns princes who welcome it. Francis I was not suffered to +remain ignorant of the deplorable state in which literature then was in France, +and, though very young, he disdained not this information. Nothing, in fact, +could approach nearer to barbarism. The impulse Charlemagne had given to study +was checked. The torches he had lighted were on the point of being +extinguished. That famous university which he had created had fallen into +decline. A prey to all the cavils of pedantry, it substituted dispute and +quibble to true philosophy.</p> +<p>Nothing was any longer talked of but the <i>five universals</i>, +<i>substance</i>, and <i>accident</i>. All the fury of argument was manifested +to know whether those were simple figures, or beings really existing, all +things equally useful to the revival of knowledge and the happiness of mankind. +The Hebrew and Greek tongues were scarcely, if at all, known; the living +languages, little cultivated; Latin itself, then almost common, was taught in +the most rude and imperfect manner. In short, the most learned body of the +State had fallen into the most profound ignorance: a striking example of the +necessity of renewing continually and maintaining the life of those bodies +employed in instruction.</p> +<p>I am not speaking of the sciences, then entirely unknown. The languages were +every thing at this period, on account of their connexion with religion.</p> +<p>The small number of men of merit whom the bad taste of the age had not +reached, were striving to restore to literature its lustre, and to men's minds +their true direction; but, in order to revive the taste for good studies, it +was necessary to create a new establishment for public instruction, which +should be sufficiently extensive for acquiring a great influence. It was +necessary to assemble men the most celebrated for their talent and reputation, +in order that, being thus placed in full view, and presented to public +attention, they might rectify the minds of men by their authority, as well as +enlighten them by their knowledge.</p> +<p>This undertaking, difficult in itself, became much less so through the +circumstances which then existed. Taste seemed to have taken refuge at the +court, and the king easily yielded to the reasons of the learned who approached +him; but no one took a greater share in this project than the celebrated +Erasmus. Remote from it as he was, he accelerated its execution by the +disinterested praises which he lavished on it. The king sent to invite him, in +the most flattering terms, to take the direction of it and to settle in France; +but Erasmus, jealous of liberty, retained besides by the gratitude he owed to +Charles V, and by the care he bestowed on the College of Louvain which he had +founded, refused this task, equally honourable and useful. He manifested not +the less, in his letters, the joy he felt to see studies re-established by the +only means which could reanimate them. It is pleasing to the true friends of +the sciences to find among those who cultivate them similar traits of +generosity and nobleness.</p> +<p>At length peace having restored to France repose and the means of repairing +her losses, the king gave himself up without reserve to the desire he had of +making the sciences flourish, and realized the grand project of public +instruction which had for a long time occupied his mind. The new college took +the name of <i>Collège Royal</i>. It had professors for the Hebrew and Greek +tongues, and some even for the mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and the +living languages.</p> +<p>The formation of the <i>Collège Royal</i> gave great displeasure to the +University. After having held so long without a rival the sceptre of the +sciences and literature, it was grating to its members to relinquish it. They +could ill bear to see set above it an establishment evidently intended to +direct and guide it. Self-love offended seldom forgives, especially when it is +animated by the <i>esprit de corps</i>. The University depreciated the new +college, and endeavoured to fetter it in a thousand ways. At last, those dark +intrigues being constantly smothered by the applause which the professors +received, the University finished by bringing them before a court of justice. +From, envy to persecution there is but one step, and that step was soon +taken.</p> +<p>Religion served as a pretext and a cloak for this accusation. It was +affirmed that the new professors could not, without danger to the faith, +explain the Hebrew and Greek tongues, if they had not been presented to the +University to be examined by it, and received from it their mission. To this it +was answered, that if the theologians of the University understood Greek and +Hebrew, it must be easy for them to denounce the passages in which the new +professors had erred, and that if, on the contrary, they did not understand +those languages, they ought not to pretend to judge those who taught them. +After long debates, things were left in the state in which they were before the +trial. Each party continued quietly its lessons, and, as it almost always +happens in such cases, reason ended by having its due weight: true it is that +it was then supported by royal authority.</p> +<p>The <i>Collège de France</i> has not since ceased to make an increasing +progress. It even had the valuable advantage of reforming itself successively, +and of following new ideas, the necessary result of its constitution and of the +lustre that has always surrounded it; two causes which have occasioned its +chairs to be sought by the most celebrated men of every description. It is this +successive reform which constitutes the distinctive character of the <i>Collège +de France</i>, and which has always enabled it to fulfil its real object.</p> +<p>Thus, to quote but one example. The chair of Greek philosophy was, in the +beginning, intended to make known the writings of the ancient philosophers on +the nature of things and the organization of the universe. These were, at that +time, the only repositories of human knowledge for mathematics and physics; +but, in proportion as the sciences, more advanced, substituted rational +theories for hazardous conjectures, the modern discoveries of astronomy were +taught, together with the writings of the ancients. The object of this chair, +which at the present day bears the name of general physics and mathematics, is +to disseminate the most elevated notions of mechanics and the theory of the +system of the world. The works taught by its occupier are analytical mechanics +and celestial mechanics, that is, those works which form the limits of our +knowledge for mathematical analysis, and consequently those of which it is most +important to increase the very small number of readers.</p> +<p>By a consequence of that spirit of amelioration which animates this College, +some time before the revolution, a chair and a cabinet of experimental physics +were added to it.</p> +<p>As for the natural sciences, which are taught here with much depth and +detail in several establishments, they have, in the <i>Collège de France</i>, a +sort of regulator which directs them, as it were, by their generalities. It is, +in fact, to this only that an establishment which, by its nature, contains no +collection, ought to attach itself, and the philosophy of the sciences, the +result and completion of their study, here constitutes the object of all the +lectures.</p> +<p>Thus the improvements which the sciences have successively experienced, have +always been spread by the instruction of the <i>Collège Royal</i>; and among +the professors who have occupied its chairs, none can be quoted who have been +strangers to their progress.</p> +<p>The revolution, which overthrew in France the ancient universities, +suspended for some time the exercises of this establishment; but, under the +name of <i>Collège de France</i>, it has since resumed a new lustre. It then +found itself compelled to new efforts, in order to maintain its place among the +scientific institutions, which have emulously risen in every branch of human +knowledge. Nevertheless, those different sciences, even natural history, and +the curative art, taught with so much perfection in private establishments, +have hence derived great advantages, and here it is that public instruction +comes at once to be resumed, investigated, and extended.</p> +<p>The present government appears to be perfectly sensible of the importance of +such an establishment. The enlightened men, the celebrated <i>savans</i>, who +approach it, have pointed out in the <i>Collège de France</i> a <i>normal</i> +school, completely formed, and which unites to the extent of its object the +ever-powerful ascendant of seniority. The similarity between the circumstances +in which this institution is at the present day and those when it was founded, +affords the most certain hope of its progress being maintained and +accelerated.</p> +<p>This is what appears to me the most interesting in the history of this +ancient college. I say nothing of its present professors; their zeal is proved +by their assiduous and uninterrupted lessons; their merit is before the +judgment of the public; and as for their names, these are indifferent to the +results of their labours. If any other motive than that of the interest of the +sciences were blended with the information I now communicate, I should not +think that, in this letter, I was fulfilling the object of your wishes.</p> +<p>P.S. It may not be useless to mention that no students are attached to the +<i>Collège de France</i>. The lectures are public; and every one who is +desirous of improving his mind in any branch of science, may attend them free +of expense or trouble. It is impossible for the friend of learning to withhold +his admiration from so noble an institution. What, in fact, can be more liberal +than this gratuitous diffusion of knowledge?</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let57f1">Footnote 1</a>: Whatever sentiment may have +been preserved respecting the ancient University of Paris, every impartial +person must acknowledge that it was several centuries in arrear in regard to +every thing which concerns the Arts and Sciences. Peripatetic, when the learned +had, with Descartes, renounced the philosophy of Aristotle, it became +Cartesian, when they were Newtonians. Such is the too general custom of bodies, +engaged in instruction, who make no discoveries. Invested at their formation +with great influence over scientific opinions, because they are composed of the +best informed men of the day, they wish constantly to preserve those +advantages. They with reluctance suffer that there should be formed, elsewhere +than in their own bosom, new opinions which might balance theirs; and if the +progress of the sciences at last obliges them to abandon their doctrine, they +never adopt the most modern theories, were they, in other respects, preferable; +but embrace those which existed for some time anterior to them, and which they +themselves had before combated. This inertness of bodies, employed in +instruction, is an unavoidable evil; because it is the effect of self-love, the +most invariable of passions. <a href="#let57fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let58">LETTER LVIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 17, 1802.</i></p> +<p>If we do not consider the <i>Opera Buffa</i> as a national theatre, then the +next in rank, after the Grand French Opera and the <i>Théâtre Français</i>, is +the</p> +<p class="center">THÉÂTRE DE L'OPÉRA COMIQUE.</p> +<p>This house, which is situated in the <i>Rue Feydeau</i>, near the <i>Rue de +la Loi</i>, was opened for the first time in January 1791. The entrance to it +is by a circular vestibule, externally decorated with caryatides, and +sufficiently spacious for one carriage to enter while another drives off by an +adjoining outlet. At the end of this vestibule is a long gallery, bordered by +shops on both sides, which forms a second entrance by the <i>Rue Filles St. +Thomas</i>.</p> +<p>The interior form of this theatre is a semi-circle, extended in a right line +at its extremities, which places the orchestra in a central position, and +renders the house one of the fittest in Paris for a concert. Two rows of Gothic +pillars, one above the other, occupy nearly all its height; and though it +contains eight tiers of boxes, five only are in sight. The same distribution +repeated in regard to the stage-boxes, presents a very projecting pavilion, +which seems to support a large triumphal arch. However grand this style of +architecture may be in appearance, in effect it renders the seats very +inconvenient to two-thirds of the spectators. The ornaments consist of a +strange mixture of the Greek, Gothic, and Oriental. The house is said to +contain two thousand persons.</p> +<p>In the beginning, this theatre united the performers of the original +<i>Opéra Buffa</i> and some of those belonging to the old French Comic Opera, +who played alternately. The former retiring from Paris in 1792, the latter for +some time attracted full houses by the excellence of their style of singing, +tasteful decorations, and one of the best composed orchestras in the +capital.</p> +<p>Since then, it has experienced the changes and vicissitudes attendant on the +revolution. At present, the company is composed of a selection from the +performers of the <i>Opéra Comique</i> of the <i>Théâtre Favart</i> (formerly +known by the name of <i>Théâtre Italien</i>), and those of the lyric theatre of +which I am now speaking. This junction has not long been effected. Previously +to its taking place, the <i>Comédie Italienne</i>, where French comic operas +only were represented, was still constituted as it was under the old +<i>régime</i>, of which it was remarked as being the sole remnant.</p> +<p><a name="let58fr1"></a>Formerly, the French Comic Opera was very rich in +stock-pieces, chiefly written by FAVART, SÉDAINE, MARMONTEL, +HÈLE,[<a href="#let58f1">1</a>] MONVEL, MARSOLIER, HOFFMAN, and others. Their +productions were set to music by GRÉTRY, MONSIGNY, PHILIDOR, DÉSAÏDES, +DALEYRAC, &c. These pieces are now seldom played, the music of them being +antiquated; though for energy and truth of expression some of it surpasses that +of many of the more modern compositions. The new authors are little known. The +composers of the music are MÉHUL, DALEYRAC before-mentioned, BOYELDIEU, TARCHI, +&c. The modern pieces the most in vogue and most attractive are <i>Le +Prisonnier</i>, <i>l'Opéra Comique</i>, a piece so called, <i>Le Calife de +Bagdad</i>, <i>Maison à vendre</i>, <i>D'Auberge en Auberge</i>, and a few +others of the same description. All these are really pleasing comedies.</p> +<p>The <i>Théâtre Feydeau</i> itself was also in possession of a great number +of stock-pieces, among which were some in the style of the Grand French Opera. +A considerable change seems to have taken place, as the latter are now no +longer represented.</p> +<p>In surveying the <i>Opéra Comique</i>, one would imagine that, in lieu of +one company, two separate ones had been formed to play in the same theatre. The +former is the weaker in number, but the stronger in talent. The latter, though +weaker, has some good performers, in the long list of those of whom it is +composed; but, in general, they are either no longer in their pristine lustre, +or have not yet attained a competent degree of perfection.</p> +<p>Seldom are the two companies mixed. Pieces in the style of the modern +<i>Opéra Comique</i>, in which easy mirth is replaced by quaint jests, are +played exclusively by the former. They draw crowded houses, as the public are +extremely partial to them. Lyric <i>drames</i> are abandoned to the latter, and +the old stock-pieces to such of the performers as choose to act in them for a +small number of spectators who are so obliging as to enter the house with +<i>orders</i> or <i>free</i> admission. OF all the repositories of old pieces +that of the <i>Comédie Italienne</i> is the one which is the most entirely +neglected. This is rather the fault of the actors than that of the public. +There are many old productions which would attract a crowd, were the best +performers to play them; but who likes to pay for seeing a master-piece +murdered?—We now come to speak of the qualifications of these +performers.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Principal Characters and parts of Lovers.</i><br /> +Counter-Tenors.<br /> +ELLEVIOU, GAVAUDAN, PHILIPPE, and GAVEAUX.</p> +<p>ELLEVIOU. He is the first singer at the <i>Opéra Comique</i>. Nor will this +opinion be contradicted by any of the elegant and pretty women who, slaves to +the custom of shewing themselves at the first representation of a new piece, +never begin to applaud till ELLEVIOU makes his appearance.</p> +<p>This performer is, in fact, gifted with a handsome person, an easy manner, +an expressive countenance, and a voice, which, when he modulates it, is +charming. His delivery is tolerably good, and in some parts, he is not +deficient in warmth and feeling. As a singer, ELLEVIOU leaves behind all those +destined to second him. After having begun by singing bass, he has taken the +parts of counter-tenor, for which, however, his voice is not suited, but he +makes up for this deficiency by a very flexible tenor. He displays much art and +a very modern taste. His method too is good; he makes no improper use of his +facility by lavishing graces, but his manner is too uniform. This is the +greatest objection that can be made to him, in the double capacity of singer +and comedian.</p> +<p>GAVAUDAN. This young actor, with a well-proportioned stature and a very +agreeable countenance, ranks, at the <i>Opéra Comique</i>, next in merit to +ELLEVIOU. His voice, as a counter-tenor, is not very brilliant, nor his means +extensive; but his taste is good, and his method that of the modern school. As +a player, he has a certain repution in lyric <i>drames</i>, and especially in +those melancholy parts, the characteristic of which is a concentrated passion. +He imitates TALMA, and, like him, "outsteps the modesty of Nature."</p> +<p>PHILIPPE. His reputation was begun by the advantages of his person, and he +consolidated it by his performance in the line of knight-errantry. <i>Richard, +cœur de lion</i>, was the part which secured him the public favour. His +voice is still an agreeable counter-tenor; but he declines through age. As an +actor, he is deficient in nobleness, and his gestures are not dignified; but, +being used to the stage, and possessing some feeling, he often produces happy +effects.</p> +<p>GAVEAUX. He has been a good singer in his youth, and is a very agreeable +composer. He always acquits himself of any part he undertakes, if not in a +brilliant manner, at least with credit. Two of his musical productions are +stock-pieces, and well worth seeing. <i>L'Amour Filial</i> is a happy imitation +of the Italian school, and <i>Sophie et Moncars</i> is always heard with +pleasure.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Characters of Fathers, Valets, or Comic Parts</i>.<br /> +Bass-voices.<br /> +CHENARD, MARTIN, RÉZICOURT, JULIET, and MOREAU.</p> +<p>CHENARD. Owing to an advantageous person, this actor once stood as high in +the favour of the ladies as ELLEVIOU does at present. He still possesses a fine +voice, as a bass, but it is not very flexible. In the part of <i>Monsieur de la +France</i>, in <i>l'Épreuve Villageoise</i>, he established his fame as a +singer; yet his style is not sufficiently modelled after the modern taste, +which is the Italian. As an actor, he is very useful; but, having always been +treated by the public like a spoiled child, he is too apt to introduce his own +sallies into his parts, which he sometimes charges with vulgarisms of the +lowest description.</p> +<p>MARTIN. In the parts of valets, MARTIN cannot be better placed than near +ELLEVIOU, whom he seconds with skill and taste. This has led the composers here +to an innovation. Formerly, duets in the graceful style between men were seldom +heard; but the voices of ELLEVIOU and MARTIN being perfectly adapted to each +other, almost all the composers have written for them duets in which the +<i>cantabile</i> prevails, and concerted cadences are very conspicuous. This, I +understand, is unprecedented in Paris.</p> +<p>MARTIN made his <i>début</i> in 1783 at the <i>Théâtre de Monsieur</i> in +the company of Italian buffoons. In this school he acquired that taste which he +has since propagated with zeal, if not with success. At the present day, he is +accused of loading his singing with superfluous embellishments, or of placing +them without judgment in passages or situations where they are ill-suited. +However, in <i>morceaux d'ensemble</i> he is quite at home, and, of course, +shews himself to great advantage. As an actor, he is by no means remarkable, +though he sometimes displays intelligence.</p> +<p>RÉZICOURT. He may justly be called a good comedian, without examining his +merits as a singer.</p> +<p>JULIET. In the newspapers, this performer is called <i>inimitable</i>. His +manner is his own; yet, perhaps, it would be very dangerous to advise any one +to imitate it. He is not deficient in intelligence, and has the habit of the +stage; but his first quality is to be extremely natural, particularly in the +parts of Peasants, which he performs with much truth. He seems to be born a +player, and though he is not a musician, he always sings in tune and in +time.</p> +<p>MOREAU. An agreeable person, open countenance, animation, an ingenuous +manner, and an unerring memory. He is very well placed in young Peasants, such +as <i>Le Bon André</i> and <i>Lubin</i> of FAVART, as well as in the parts of +Valets.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Mixed characters of every sort</i>.—Tenors.<br /> +SOLIÉ, and ST. AUBIN. </p> +<p>SOLIÉ. He first appeared in the parts of young lovers with a tall stature +and a handsome face, but neither of them being fashioned for such characters, +he met with no applause. His voice was not very brilliant, but his method of +singing was replete with grace and taste. For this, however, he obtained no +credit; the Parisian public not being yet accustomed to the modern or Italian +style. CLAIRVAL, the first singer at the old <i>Opéra Comique</i>, happening to +be taken suddenly ill one night, SOLIÉ undertook his part at a moment's +warning. Success crowned his temerity, and from that moment his merit was +appreciated. His best character is <i>Micheli</i> in <i>Les deux Savoyards</i>, +in which he established his reputation. In the pieces of which MÉHUL has +composed the music, he shines by the finished manner in which he executes it; +the <i>cantabile</i> is his fort. As an actor, his declamation is not natural, +and his deportment is too much that of a mannerist. However, these defects are +compensated by his singing. To the music of others, he does every justice, and +that which he composes himself is extremely agreeable.</p> +<p>ST. AUBIN. This performer once had a good voice as a counter-tenor; but as +he now plays no other than secondary parts, one might imagine that he is +retained at the theatre only in consideration of his wife's talents.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Caricatures and Simpletons</i>.<br> +DOZAINVILLE, and LESAGE.</p> +<p>DOZAINVILLE. The person of this actor is very favourable for caricatures and +the characters of simpletons, which he fills. The meagreness of his countenance +renders it very flexible; but not unfrequently he carries this flexibility to +grimace. As a singer, he must not be mentioned.</p> +<p>LESAGE. He is a musician, but has little voice. He performs the parts of +simple peasants in a natural manner, but with too much uniformity. This is is a +general defect attached to those characters.—Let me next introduce the +female performers. </p> +<p class="center"><i>First female Singers and Parts of Lovers</i>.<br /> +Mesdames ST. AUBIN, SCIO, LESAGE, CRÉTU,<br /> +PHILIS the elder, GAVAUDAN, and PINGENET.</p> +<p>Madame ST. AUBIN. She is a capital actress, though chiefly in the parts of +young girls; yet she is the main pillar of the <i>Opéra Comique</i>. She never +has been handsome, at least when closely viewed, and is now on the wane, being +turned of forty-five; but her graceful little figure and delicate features make +her appear pretty on the stage. Neatness and <i>naïveté</i> characterise her +acting. She has scarcely any voice, but no other songs than romances or ballads +are assigned to her. She formerly played at the Grand French Opera, where she +was applauded in noble and impassioned parts, though they are not, in general, +suited to her manner. But an actress, high in favour with the public, is always +applauded in whatever character she appears. The pieces in which Madame ST. +AUBIN excels are <i>Le Prisonnier, Adolphe et Clara</i>, and <i>L'Opéra +Comique</i>, which is the title of a piece, as I have already mentioned.</p> +<p>Madame SCIO. Although she is said not to be well versed in music, she has a +very extensive and powerful voice, but its tones have little variety. As an +actress, she is very indifferent. Without being mean, she has no nobleness of +manner. Like almost all the performers belonging to the <i>Opéra Comique</i>, +she delivers ill the dialogue, or such sentences as are not set to music. As +she frequently strains her acting, persons deficient in taste are pleased to +bestow on her the epithet of <i>great</i> as an actress. However, she played +<i>Médée</i> in a lyric tragedy of that name; but such a Medea was never seen! +As a singer, Madame Scio is a valuable acquisition to this theatre. In point of +person, she is neither ordinary nor handsome.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle LESAGE. Her singing is chaste, but destitute of that musical +energy which distinguishes great singers. She plays <i>les ingénuités</i> or +innocent characters; but is rather a mannerist, instead of being childish. She +then employs a false voice, not at all suited to this line of acting, in which +every thing should be natural.</p> +<p>Madame CRÉTU. This actress came to Paris from Bourdeaux, preceded by a great +reputation. She has been handsome: a clear voice, a good method of singing, a +becoming manner of acting, insured her success. She is very useful at this +theatre, in pieces where the <i>vis comica</i> does not predominate.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle PHILIS the elder. This is a pretty pupil of the famous GARAT. +She has a clear pipe, a charming countenance, a quick eye, an agreeable person, +and some taste. <a name="let58fr2"></a>She possesses as much merit as an +actress as a singer.[<a href="#let58f2">2</a>]</p> +<p>Madame GAVAUDAN. She is admired for her pretty person, pretty voice, and +pretty carriage. No wonder then that she has greatly contributed to the success +of the little pieces in the style of <i>Vaudeville</i>, which have been +performed at this theatre.</p> +<p>Mesdemoiselles PINGENET. These two sisters are nothing as actresses; but +seem to aspire to the title of singers, especially the elder, who begins to +distinguish herself.</p> +<p class="center"><i>Noble Mothers and Duennas</i>.<br /> +Mesdames DUGAZON, PHILIPPE, and GONTHIER.</p> +<p>Madame DUGAZON. Twenty years ago she enjoyed a great name, for which she was +indebted to the bad taste that then prevailed. With large prominent eyes, and a +broad flat nose, she could not be really handsome; but she had a very animated +countenance. In lyric <i>drames</i>, she personated country-girls, +chambermaids, and princesses. In the first-named cast of parts, she had an +ingenuous, open, but rustic manner. She played chambermaids in a style +bordering on effrontery. Lastly, she represented princesses, but without any +dignity, and also women bereft of their reason. The part in which she had the +most vogue was that of <i>Nina</i> in <i>La Folle par amour</i>. Her madness, +however, appeared not to be occasioned by the sensibility of her heart. It was +too much inclined to the sentimental cast of Sterne's Maria.</p> +<p>Madame DUGAZON, who ought to have been in possession of a considerable +fortune, from the vast sums of money lavished on her by Englishmen, is at this +day reduced to perform the parts of mothers, in which she acquits herself so as +to deserve neither praise nor censure.</p> +<p>Madame PHILIPPE. Under the name of DESFORGES, she shone formerly in the part +of <i>Marguerite</i> in <i>Richard, cœur de lion</i>. Without being a +superior singer, she executes her songs with feeling.</p> +<p>Madame GONTHIER. This actress still enjoys the benefit of her former +reputation. She is excellent in a cast of parts become hacknied on the stage; +namely, gossips and nurses.</p> +<p>I have said nothing of the <i>doubles</i> or duplicates of all these ladies, +as they are, in general, bad copies of the originals.</p> +<p>The choruses of the <i>Opéra Comique</i> are not very numerous, and have not +the strength and correctness which distinguish those of the Grand French Opera. +Nor could this be expected. The orchestra has been lately recomposed, and at +present consists of a selection of excellent performers. +<a name="let58fr3"></a>The scenery, decorations, and dresses are deserving of +commendation.[<a href="#let58f3">3</a>]</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let58f1">Footnote 1</a>: Or HALE, an Englishman, who +wrote <i>Le Jugement de Midas</i>, <i>l'Amant Jaloux</i>, and <i>Les Évenemens +Imprevus</i>, pretty lyric comedies, especially the last. Notwithstanding the +success of his pieces, this author is said to have died in the greatest +distress. <a href="#let58fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let58f2">Footnote 2</a>: Not long since she set off for +Russia, without apprizing any one of her +intention. <a href="#let58fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let58f3"></a>Footnote 3: The commissioner, appointed by +the government to superintend the proceedings of this theatre, has since been +replaced by a <i>Prefect of the Palace</i>, whose authority is much the same as +that exercised when each of the principal theatres in Paris was under the +inspection of a <i>Lord of the Bedchamber</i>. +<a href="#let58fr3">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let59">LETTER LIX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 29, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Whenever the pen of an impartial writer shall trace the history of the +French revolution, through all its accompanying vicissitudes, it will be seen +that this country owed its salvation to the <i>savans</i> or men of science. +The arts and sciences, which were revived by their zeal and courage, united +with unceasing activity to pave the way to victories abroad, and repair +mischiefs at home. Nor can it be denied, that every thing which genius, labour, +and perseverance could create, in point of resources, was employed in such a +manner that France was enabled, by land, to make head against almost all +Europe, and supply her own wants, as long as the war lasted.</p> +<p>The <i>savans</i> who had effected such great things, for some time enjoyed +unlimited influence. It was well known that to them the Republic was indebted +for its safety and very existence. They availed themselves of this favourable +moment for insuring to France that superiority of knowledge which had caused +her to triumph over her enemies. Such was the origin of the</p> +<p class="center">POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL.</p> +<p>This establishment had a triple object; namely, to form engineers for the +different services; to spread in civil society enlightened men, and to excite +talents which might promote the sciences. Nothing was neglected that could tend +to the accomplishment of a destination so important.</p> +<p>It was, in fact, time to reorganize the instruction of corps destined for +public services, the greater part of which were wholly deficient in this +respect. Some of them, it is true, had particular schools; but instruction +there was feeble and incomplete. That for military engineers at +<i>Mézieres</i>, the best conducted of all, and which admitted twenty pupils +only, had suspended its exercises, in consequence of the revolution. Necessity +had occasioned the formation of a provisionary school, where the pupils +received rapidly the first notions of the attack and defence of places, after +which they were sent to the armies.</p> +<p>Such institutions neither answered the exigencies of the State, nor conduced +to its glory. Their weakness was, above all, likely to be felt by men +habituated to general ideas, and whose minds were still more exalted, and views +enlarged, by the revolution. Those men wished that the new <i>School for Public +Works</i> should be worthy of the nation. Their plan was extensive in its +object, but simple in its execution, and certain in its results.</p> +<p>The first law concerning the <i>Central School for Public Works</i>, since +called the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, was made on the 20th of Ventôse year II. +(10th of March 1794). From that moment, much zeal was manifested in making the +necessary arrangements for its formation. On the report made to the National +Convention respecting the measures taken on this subject, on the 7th of +Vendémiaire year III (28th of September 1794) a decree was passed, directing a +competition to be opened for the admission of four hundred pupils into this +school. The examination was appointed to take place in twenty-two of the +principal towns. The candidates were to answer in arithmetic and the elements +of algebra and geometry. Those admitted received the allowance of military +officers for their travelling expenses to Paris. They were to have annually +twelve hundred francs, and to remain in the school three years, after which +they were to be called to the different Public Services, when they were judged +capable of performing them; and priority was to depend on merit. These services +were the duty of military engineers, naval engineers, or ship-builders, +artillerists, both military and naval, engineers of bridges and highways, +geographical engineers, and engineers of mines, and to them were added the +service of the pupils of the school of aërostation, which GUYTON MORVEAU had +caused to be established at Meudon, for the purpose of forming the aërostatic +company destined for manœuvring air-balloons, applied to the art of war, +as was seen at <i>Maubeuge</i>, <i>Fleurus</i>, <i>Aix-la-Chapelle</i>, +&c.</p> +<p>However, the conception of this project was far more easy than its +execution. It was doing little to choose professors from among the first men of +science in Europe, if their lessons were not fixed in the mind of the pupils. +Being unable to communicate them to each pupil in private, they stood in need +of agents who should transmit them to this numerous assemblage of youth, and +be, as it were, the nerves of the body. To form these was the first object.</p> +<p>Among the young men who had presented themselves at the competition, twenty +of the most distinguished were selected. Philosophical instruments and a +chemical laboratory were provided for them, and they were unremittingly +exercised in every part of the plan which it was resolved to execute. These +pupils, the greater part of whom had come from the schools for Public Service, +felt the insufficiency of the instruction which they had there received. Eager +to learn, their mind became inflamed by the presence of the celebrated men who +were incessantly with them. The days sufficed not for their zeal; and in three +months they were capable of discharging the functions for which they were +intended.</p> +<p>Nor was this all. At a time when opinion and power might change from one +moment to another, much risk was incurred if a definitive form was not at once +given to the <i>Polytechnic School</i>. The authors of this vast project had +seen the revolution too near not to be sensible of that truth. But they wished +first, by a trial made on a grand scale, to insure their method, class the +pupils, and shew what might be expected from them. They therefore developed to +them, in rapid lectures, the general plan of instruction. </p> +<p>This plan had been drawn up agreeably to the views of men the best informed, +amongst whom MONGE must be particularly mentioned. He had been professor at +<i>Mezières</i>, and had there given the first lessons of descriptive geometry, +that science so useful to the engineer. The enumeration of the various parts of +instruction was reduced to a table, printed by order of the Committee of Public +Safety. It comprehends mathematics, analysis applied to descriptive geometry +and to the mechanism of solids and fluids, stereotomy, drawing, civil +architecture, fortification, general physics, chymistry, mineralogy, and their +application to the arts.</p> +<p>In three months, the work of three years was explained. A real enthusiasm +was excited in these youths on finding themselves occupied by the sublimest +ideas which had employed the mind of man. Amidst the divisions and animosities +of political party, it was an interesting sight, to behold four hundred young +men, full of confidence and friendship, listening with profound attention to +the lectures of the celebrated <i>savans</i> who had been spared by the +guillotine. </p> +<p>The results of so great an experiment surpassed the most sanguine +expectations. After this preliminary instruction, the pupils were divided into +brigades, and education took the course it was intended should follow.</p> +<p>What particularly distinguishes this establishment, is that the pupils not +only receive oral lessons, but they must give in written solutions, present +drawings, models, or plans for the different parts, and themselves operate in +the laboratories. </p> +<p>On the 1st of Germinal year III (22d of March 1795) the annual courses were +commenced. They were then distributed for three years, but at this day they +last two only. At the same time a decree was passed, regulating the number of +professors, adjuncts, ushers, the holding of the meetings of the council of +instruction and administration, the functions of the director, administrator, +inspector of the studies, secretary of the council, librarian, keepers of the +collection of drawings, models, &c.</p> +<p>Since that epoch, the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, often attacked, even in the +discussions of the <i>Legislative Body</i>, has maintained its ground by the +impression of the reputation of the men who act there as professors, of the +depth of the knowledge which makes the object of their lessons, and of the +youths of superior talent who issue from it every year. The law which after +many adjournments, has fixed its existence is dated the 25th of Frimaire year +VIII (16th of December 1799.)</p> +<p>The most important changes introduced, are the determination of the age to +be received into this school, which is from sixteen to twenty, the reduction of +the pupils to the number of three hundred, the rank which is given them of +serjeant of artillery of the first class, their pay fixed on the same footing, +together with a fund of assistance for those labouring under difficulties, the +obligation to wear a uniform, the establishment of a council of improvement, +composed of three members of the National Institute, of examiners, of a +general-officer or superior agent of each of the branches of the Public +Service, of the director, and four commissioners taken from the council of +instruction.</p> +<p>This council assembles every year, inquires into the state of the school, +proposes its views of amelioration, respecting every department, and makes a +report to the government. One of its principal functions is to harmonise the +instruction with that of the Schools of Engineers, Artillery, &c. into +which the pupils enter after the final examination they undergo previously to +their departure.</p> +<p>After this, to judge of the advantages of the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, it +is sufficient to cast an eye on the printed reports, which present an account +of the persons it furnishes to the different services, of those who have been +taken from it for the expedition to Egypt, for the corps of <i>aspirans de la +marine</i> or midshipmen, for entering into the line vith the rank of officers, +or into the department of commissaries of war, (into which they are admitted +after their examination if no places are vacant in the Schools for Public +Service), of those who have been called on to profess the sciences in the +central schools (Lyceums) of the departments, some to fill the first +professors' chairs in Paris, such as at the <i>Collège de France</i> and the +<i>École Polytechnique</i>, of those, in short, who have quitted this school to +introduce into the manufactories the knowledge which they had acquired. The +last-mentioned circumstance has always been a consideration for carrying the +number of pupils beyond the presumable wants of the different Public +Services.</p> +<p>You see that this is no more than a summary of what might be said and +collected from the journals of the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, (which already +form four volumes in 4to. independently of the classic works published by the +professors), for giving a complete history of this interesting establishment, +which attracts the notice of foreigners of all nations. BONAPARTE takes no +small interest in the labours of the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, and has often +said that it would be difficult to calculate the effects of the impulse which +it has given towards the mathematical sciences, and of the aggregate of the +knowledge imparted to the pupils.</p> +<p>The <i>Polytechnic School</i>, which is under the authority of the Minister +of the Interior, occupies an extensive range of building, formerly known by the +name of <i>Le petit Palais Bourbon</i>, contiguous to the <i>Palais du Corps +Legislatif</i>. The different apartments contain every thing necessary for the +elucidation of the arts and sciences here taught; but the pupils reside not at +the school: they lodge and board with their friends, on the salary allowed them +by the nation, and repair thither only for the prosecution of their +studies.</p> +<h2><a name="let60">LETTER LX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, January 30, 1802.</i></p> +<p>To judge from the records of the Old Bailey, one would conclude that, in +proportion to the number of its inhabitants, London must contain a greater +number of dishonest persons of both sexes than any metropolis in Europe. But, +though more notorious thieves and daring robbers may perhaps, be found in +London than in many other great cities, yet I will venture to affirm that Paris +contains more</p> +<p class="center">PICKPOCKETS AND SHARPERS.</p> +<p>However superior too our rogues may be in boldness, I apprehend that, in +dexterity, they are far inferior to those to be met with among our neighbours. +To elude a more vigilant inspection, the latter are compelled to exert more art +and cunning. In this dissipated capital, which is a grand theatre where they +can display all their talent, and find a greater number of dupes, adventurers +and swindlers of every description have long been famous; but it should seem +that the females here of that stamp deserve to be no less celebrated.</p> +<p>Not many years ago, I heard of an English lady of quality being detected in +the very act of secreting a quantity of valuable lace, to which she had taken a +particular fancy at a great haberdasher's in Pall-Mall. It was said that she +endeavoured to exculpate herself for this inadvertency on the ground of being +in a pregnant state, which had produced an irrisistible longing. However this +may be, she might here have got a lesson, as will appear from the following +instance of ingenuity very lately practised by one of her own sex.</p> +<p>In the <i>ci-devant Palais Royal</i>, a haberdasher of note keeps a shop +where the highest-priced articles of female wear are exhibited, immediately on +coming from the hands of the manufacturer or inventor. The other day, a lady +somewhat turned of thirty, of genteel appearance and engaging address, entered +this shop, and asked to see some white lace veils. Several were shewn to her at +the price of from twenty-five to fifty louis each. These not being sufficiently +rich to please her taste, others more costly were produced, and she fixed on +one of eighty louis in value. Standing before a glass, she immediately put on +this veil <i>à la réligieuse</i>, that is, in the form of the hood of a nun's +dress. Then taking from her bosom her little purse, she found it to contain no +more than twenty louis in bankpaper, which she paid to the haberdasher as a +deposit for the veil, at the same time desiring him to send one of his men with +her to her <i>homme d'affaires</i> or agent, in order that he might bring back +the other sixty.</p> +<p>As a Parisian tradesman is always extremely glad to get rid of his goods, +she had no difficulty in carrying her point; and, having selected from among +the shopmen a shamefaced youth of eighteen, took him with her in the +hackney-coach which she had kept in waiting. She gave the coachman her orders, +and away he drove to a famous apothecary's, in the <i>Rue St. Honoré</i>. +"This," said she to the shopman, "is the residence of my <i>homme +d'affaires</i>: follow me, and you shall have your money." She accordingly +alighted, and, after saying a few words in the ear of the doctor, on whose +credulity she had already exercised her genius, desired him to take the young +man to his private room, and settle the business, while she remained to chat +with his wife.</p> +<p>The unsuspecting youth, seeing the lady on such terms of intimacy in the +family, made no hesitation to follow the doctor to a back-parlour, where, to +his extreme surprise, he was closely questioned as to his present state of +health, and the rise and progress of the disorder which he had caught through +his own imprudence. The more he denied the circumstance, the more the doctor +persisted in his endeavours to procure ocular demonstration. The latter had +previously locked the door, having been apprized by the lady that her son was +exceedingly bashful, and that stratagem, and even a certain degree of violence, +perhaps, must be employed to obtain evidence of a complaint, which, as it +injured her <i>dear boy's</i> constitution, disturbed her own happiness and +peace of mind. The doctor was proceeding to act on this information, when the +young shopman, finding his retreat cut off, vociferously demanded the sixty +louis which he was come to receive in payment for the veil. "Sixty louis in +payment for a veil!" re-echoed the doctor. "Your mother begged me to examine +you for a complaint which you have inconsiderately contracted in the pursuit of +pleasure." The <i>dénouement</i> now taking place, the two dupes hastened back +to the shop, when they found that the lady had decamped, having previously +discharged the coach, in order that she might not be traced by the number.</p> +<p>The art of purloining a watch, a snuff-box, or a purse, unperceived by the +owner, may, no doubt, be acquired by constant practice, till the novice becomes +expert in his profession: but the admirable presence of mind displayed by +Parisian sharpers must, in a great measure, be inherited from nature. What can +well surpass an example of this kind mentioned by a celebrated French +writer?</p> +<p>A certain person who had been to receive a sum of money at a banker's, was +returning home with it in a hired carriage. The coachman, not remembering the +name of the street whither he had been ordered to drive, got off his box, and +opened the coach-door to ask it. He found the person dead and cold. At his +first exclamation, several people collected. A sharper who was passing by, +suddenly forced his way through the crowd, and, in a lamentable and pathetic +voice, called out: "'Tis my father! What a miserable wretch am I!" Then, +exhibiting every mark of the most poignant grief, he got into the coach, and, +crying and sobbing, kissed the dead man's face. The bystanders were affected, +and dispersed, saying, one to another, "What an affectionate son!" The sharper +drove on in the coach, where he found the bags of money, which were an +unexpected booty, and, stopping it at a door, told the coachman that he wished +to apprize his sister of the melancholy accident that had just happened. He +alighted, and shut the coach-door, leaving the corpse as naked as it came into +the world. The coachman, having waited a long time, inquired in vain at the +house for the young man and his sister; no one had any knowledge of her, him, +or the deceased.</p> +<p>I remember when I was last in Paris, at the beginning of the revolution, +being shewn a silversmith's shop, whence a few articles having been stolen, the +master was induced to examine in what manner the thieves gained admittance. +Discovering an aperture where he conjectured that a man's hand might be +introduced, he prepared a noose with a proper cord, and remained in waiting the +following night to see if they would repeat their visit. At a late hour, when +all was quiet, he perceived a man's hand thrust through the aperture; instantly +he drew tight the noose, and thought he had effectually secured the culprit; +but he was mistaken. The fellow's accomplices, fearing that the apprehension of +one of them would lead to the discovery of all, on finding it impossible to +extricate him by any other means, cut off his wrist. When the patrole arrived +at the spot, on the call of the silversmith, he was not a little astonished to +find that his prisoner had escaped, though with the loss of a hand, which +remained fast in the noose.</p> +<p>With respect to these more daring classes of rogues, every year almost +produces some new race of them. Since the revolution, the criminal code having +condemned to death none but those guilty of murder, housebreakers, to avoid the +penalty of the law, had recourse to a practice, which put the persons whom they +subjected to it to the most severe pain. This was to hold their feet to the +fire till they declared where all their moveable property was to be found. +Hence these villains obtained the name of <i>chauffeurs</i>. Notwithstanding +the vigilance of the Police, they still occasionally exercise their cruelties +in some of the departments, as may be seen by the proceedings of the criminal +tribunals. I have also heard of another species of assassins, who trained +blood-hounds to seize a man by the throat in certain solitary places, and then +came afterwards, and plundered him at their ease. When apprehended, they coolly +said: "We did not kill the man, but found him dead."</p> +<p>As in former times, all sentences passed on criminals, tried in Paris, +whether condemned to die or not, are put into execution on the</p> +<p class="center">PLACE DE GRÈVE.</p> +<p>The first sentence executed here was that passed on <i>Marguerite +Porette</i>, a female heretic, who was burnt alive in the year 1310.</p> +<p>Among the punishments which it has been found necessary to re-establish is +that of marking with a hot iron. Criminals, condemned to imprisonment in irons, +are exposed for two hours on a scaffold in the middle of this square. They are +seated and tied to a post, having above them a label with the words of their +sentence. They are clad in woollen pantaloons and a waistcoat with sleeves, one +half of each of which is white; the other, brown. After being exposed two +hours, they are stripped, and to their shoulder is applied a hot iron, which +there leaves the impression of the letter V, for <i>voleur</i>, thief. Women, +not being condemned to imprisonment in irons; are exempt from the penalty of +being marked. This punishment is said to produce considerable effect on the +culprits, as well as on the spectators. Previously to its being revived, +persons convicted of thieving were insolent beyond all endurance.</p> +<p>The <i>Place de Grève</i> is a parallelogram, one of the long sides of which +is occupied by the <i>ci-devant Hôtel de Ville</i>, a tasteless edifice, begun +in 1533, but not finished till 1605.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, the <i>Place de Grève</i> was alternately the theatre +of punishments and rejoicings. On the same pavement, where scaffolds were +erected for the execution of criminals, rose superb edifices for public +festivals.</p> +<p>Here, when any criminal of note was to suffer, the occupiers of the +adjoining houses made a rich harvest by letting their apartments. Every window +that commanded a view of the horrid scene, was then hired at a most exorbitant +price. Women of the first rank and fashion, decked in all the luxury of dress, +graced even the uppermost stories. These weak-nerved females, who would have +fainted at the sight of a spider mangling a fly, stood crowded together, calmly +viewing the agonies of an expiring malefactor, who, after having been racked on +the wheel, was, perhaps, denied the <i>coup de grace</i> which would, in an +instant, have rid him of his miserable existence.</p> +<p>The death of a regicide was a sort of gala to these belles; while the lead +was melting over the furnace, the iron pinchers heating in the fire, and the +horses disposed for tearing asunder the four quarters of the victim of the +laws, some of them amused themselves with an innocent game at cards, in sight +of all these terrible preparations, from which a man of ordinary feeling would +avert his looks with horror.</p> +<p>How happens it that, in all countries on the continent, ladies flock to +these odious spectacles? Every where, I believe, the populace run to behold +them; but that a female of superior birth and breeding can deliberately seek so +inhuman a gratification is a mystery which I cannot explain, unless, indeed, on +the principle of shewing themselves, as well as that of seeing the show.</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ</i>."</p> +<h2><a name="let61">LETTER LXI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 2, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Independently of the general organization of Public Instruction, according +to the new plan, of which I have before traced you the leading features, there +exist several schools appropriate to different professions, solely devoted to +the Public Service, and which require particular knowledge in the arts and +sciences. Hence they bear the generic name of</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOLS FOR PUBLIC SERVICES.</p> +<p>They are comprised under the following denominations.</p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><td colspan="2">POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL.</td></tr> +<tr><td>SCHOOL OF</td><td>ARTILLERY.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>MILITARY ENGINEERS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>BRIDGES AND HIGHWAYS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>MINES.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>NAVAL ENGINEERS.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>NAVIGATION.</td></tr> +</table> +<p>In order to be admitted into any of the above schools, the candidates must +prove themselves qualified by the preliminary instruction required the +examinations at the competition prescribed for each of them. The pupils of +these schools receive a salary from the nation. At the head of them is the +<i>Polytechnic School</i>, of which I have already spoken. This is the grand +nursery, whence the pupils, when they have attained a sufficient degree of +perfection, are transplanted into the other <i>Schools for Public Services</i>. +Next come the</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOLS OF ARTILLERY.</p> +<p>There are eight of these in the places where the regiments of artillery are +garrisoned. The pupils who are sent thither as officers, after having been +examined, apply their knowledge to the arts, to the construction of works, and +to the manœuvres of war dependent on artillery. Each school, in which the +pupils must remain two years longer, is under the superintendance of a general +of brigade of the corps.</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOL OF MILITARY ENGINEERS.</p> +<p>This school, united to that of Miners, is established at Metz. Its labours +relate to the application of the theoretical knowledge which the pupils have +imbibed at the <i>Polytechnic School</i>. The objects of these labours is the +construction of all sorts of works of fortification, mines and counter-mines, +mock-representations of sieges, attack, and defence, the drawing of plans and +military surveys, in a word, all the details of the duty of engineers in +fortified places and in the field.</p> +<p>The number of pupils is limited to twenty. They have the rank and pay of +second lieutenant. The School of Engineers, as well as the Schools of +Artillery, is under the authority of the Minister at War.</p> +<p>Much as I wish to compress my subject, I must observe that, previously to +leaving the school, the pupils undergo a strict examination respecting the +objects of instruction before-enumerated. This examination is intrusted to a +<i>jury</i> (as the French term it) composed of the commander in chief of the +school, a general or field-officer of the corps, appointed every year by the +Minister at War, and one of the permanent examiners of the Polytechnic School. +<i>This jury forms the list of merit, which regulates the order of +promotion.</i> Can we then wonder that the French have the first military +engineers in Europe?</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOL OF BRIDGES AND HIGHWAYS.</p> +<p>It was founded in 1787, by TRUDAINE, and continued under the direction of +PERRONET, chief engineer of this corps, till his death, which happened in 1794. +He was then 86 years of age. By his will, he bequeathed to this school, for the +instruction of the pupils whom he loved as his children, his library, his +models, his manuscripts, and his portfolios; articles which at this day form an +invaluable collection.</p> +<p>This school, which is at present established in the <i>Hôtel de Chatelet</i> +(formerly belonging to the duke of that name) <i>Rue de Grenelle</i>, <i>St. +Germain</i>, unites the <i>dépôt</i> or repository of plans and models to the +labours relating to roads, canals, and harbours for trade. The number of pupils +admitted is fifty. They are taken from the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, and +retain the salary which they there received.</p> +<p>The instruction given to them chiefly consists in the application of the +principles of physics and mathematics to the art of planning and constructing +works relative to roads, canals, and sea-ports, and the buildings belonging +thereto; the means of execution, and the mode of forming plans and estimates of +the works to be executed, and the order to be observed in keeping the +accounts.</p> +<p>The <i>School of Bridges and Highways</i> is under the authority of the +Minister of the Interior,</p> +<p class="center">PRACTICAL SCHOOLS OF MINES.</p> +<p>One of these schools is established at Geislautern, in the department of La +Sarre; and the other, at Pesay, in the department of Mont-Blanc.</p> +<p>The Director and Professors form a committee for the working of the mines of +Pesay, as well as for the instruction of the pupils. In consequence of the +report of this committee the <i>Council of Mines</i> established in Paris, +proposes to the government the measures necessary to be adopted. Twenty pupils, +who have passed their examination at the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, are +attached to the practical schools, for the purpose of applying the theoretical +part of their instruction. Extra-scholars, with testimonials of good behaviour +and capacity, are admitted to be educated at their own expense. These schools +are also under the authority of the Minister of the Interior.</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOL OF NAVAL ENGINEERS.</p> +<p>The <i>School of Naval Architects</i>, which existed in Paris, has been +removed to Brest, under the name of <i>École des Ingénieurs des Vaisseaux</i>. +No pupils are admitted but such as have been students, at least two years, in +the <i>Polytechnic School</i>. The examination of the candidates takes place +every year, and the preference is given to those who excel in descriptive +geometry, mechanics, and the other branches of knowledge appropriated to the +first year's study at that school. When the pupils have proved, in the repeated +examinations which they must undergo, that they are sufficiently qualified, +they are sent to Brest (as vacancies occur), in order to apply the theory they +have acquired to the different works carried on in that port, where they find +both the example and the precept, and are taught every thing relative to the +construction of ships of war and merchant-vessels.</p> +<p>This school is under the authority of the Minister of the naval department. +The pupils admitted into it, receive a salary of 1800 francs (<i>circa</i> £. +75 sterling) a year.</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOLS OF NAVIGATION.</p> +<p>The Schools of Mathematics and Hydrography, established for the navy of the +State, and the Schools of Hydrography destined for the merchant-service, bear +the name of <i>Écoles de Navigation</i>.</p> +<p>Every year, there is a competition for the admission of candidates for naval +employment. The Hydrographical Examiner makes a general tour to the different +ports, where he interrogates the pupils in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, +statics, and navigation. According to these examinations, they are admitted to +the rank of <i>aspirons de marine</i> or midshipmen, captains of merchant-ships +for long voyages, masters of coasting-vessels, pilots, &c,</p> +<p>By a late decree of the Consuls, no one can be admitted to the examination +prescribed for being received as master in the coasting-trade, unless he is +twenty-four years of age, and has served five years on board the ships of war +belonging to the Republic.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p>In my letter of the 15th of January, I have shewn you that Public +Instruction is to be divided into four classes: 1. In Primary Schools, +established by the <i>Communes</i>. 2. In Secondary Schools, established by the +<i>Communes</i>, and kept by private masters. 3. In Lyceums. 4. In <i>Special +Schools</i>. In the two last-mentioned establishments, the pupils are to be +maintained at the expense of the nation.</p> +<p>Before I particularize the <i>Special Schools</i>, I must mention a national +institution, distinguished by the appellation of</p> +<p class="center">PRYTANÉE FRANÇAIS.</p> +<p>It is divided into four colleges, established at Paris, St. Cyr, St. +Germain-en-Laye, and Compiegne. It was destined for the gratuitous education of +the children of the military killed in the field of honour, and of public +functionaries who might happen to die in the discharge of their office.</p> +<p>By a decree of the Consuls, dated the 1st of Germinal year VIII (22nd of +March 1800) the number of pupils, in each of the Colleges of Paris, St. Cyr, +and St. Germain-en-Laye, is limited to two hundred, and to three hundred, in +that of Compiegne. An augmentation, however, is to be made in favour of the new +departments. The pupils are named by the First Consul. On entering the College, +they bring a stated proportion of necessaries, after which they are wholly +maintained at the expense of the nation till they have finished their studies. +The government provides for the advancement of those who give the greatest +proof of good conduct and talent. The pupils cannot remain in either of these +four colleges beyond the age of eighteen.</p> +<p>As I have before observed, the Central Schools are, in future, to bear the +name of Lyceums, and the highest degree of public instruction is to be acquired +in the</p> +<p class="center">SPECIAL SCHOOLS.</p> +<p>In these upper schools are to be particularly taught, in the most profound +manner, the useful sciences, together with jurisprudence, medicine, natural +history, &c. The Special Schools now in existence are to be continued, +subject to such modifications as the government may think fit to introduce for +the benefit of the Public Service. They are still under the immediate +superintendance of the Minister of the Interior.</p> +<p>The <i>Collège de France</i> I have before described: the Museum of Natural +History, the Special School of docimastic Mineralogy and Chemistry, and that +for Oriental languages, I shall speak of elsewhere; but I shall now proceed to +give you a rapid sketch of the others which I have not yet noticed, beginning +with the</p> +<p class="center">SPECIAL SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.</p> +<p>This institution was founded in 1648, at the instigation of LE BRUN. It was +formerly held in the <i>Place du Louvre</i>, but is now removed to the +<i>ci-devant Collège des Quatre-Nations</i>, which has taken the name of +<i>Palais des Beaux Arts</i>. This is the only school in Paris that has never +indulged in any vacation. Each professor is on duty for two months. During the +first month, he gives his lessons in the school of living models; during the +other, in the school of the antique, called, <i>la bosse</i>. It may not be +uninteresting to give you an idea of the</p> +<p class="center">COMPETITIONS.</p> +<p>Every year there is a competition in Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, +which is to be called <i>National Prize</i>. Its object is to confer on those +who have gained the first prize, at present proposed by the Institute, the +advantage of an allowance of 1200 francs for five years, which is insured to +them at the French School of Fine Arts at Rome. During their stay there, they +are lodged, boarded, and taken care of, in case of illness, at the expense of +the Republic.</p> +<p>A competition takes place every six months for the rank of places in the +schools; and another, every three months for the distribution of medals.</p> +<p>There is also a prize, of 100 francs, founded by M. DE CAYLUS, for a head +expressive of character, painted or drawn from nature; and another prize of 300 +francs, founded by LATOUR, for a half-length, painted after a model, and of the +natural size.</p> +<p>Independently of the competition of the school, there is every year a +general competition followed by a distribution of the works of encouragement, +granted to the artists who have distinguished themselves most in the annual +exhibition of the <i>Salon du Louvre</i>. A jury, named by the competitors +themselves, examines the different pictures, classes them according to the +degree of merit which it finds they possess, and the Minister of the Interior +allots to each of the artists <i>crowned</i> a sum in payment of a new work +which they are bound to furnish to the government.</p> +<p class="center">NATIONAL SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE.</p> +<p>In this school, which is held in the <i>Louvre</i>, the Professor of +Architecture delivers lectures on the history of that art, and the theory of +its different branches, on the orders, and edifices erected by the ancients, +and on the works of Vitruvius, Palladio, Scamozzi, and Vignole. He takes no +small pains to make known the bold style of Grecian architecture, which the +Athenians chiefly employed during the ages when they prided themselves on being +a free people.</p> +<p>The Professor of Mathematics explains the principles of arithmetic and +elementary geometry, which he applies to the different branches of civil and +military architecture, such as levelling, the art of constructing plans, and +perspective.</p> +<p>The Professor of Stereotomy, in his lectures, chiefly comprises masonry and +carpentry; he points out the best methods of employing those arts in civil and +military buildings. His demonstrations relate to the theoretical and practical +part of both branches. All the pupils, and students of architecture are +indiscriminately admitted to the competition for the great prize of +architecture, provided they are not foreigners.</p> +<p class="center">CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC.</p> +<p>This establishment, situated in the <i>Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière</i>, was +founded on the 16th of Thermidor year III, (4th of August 1795) for the +preservation and reproduction of music in all its branches.</p> +<p>It is composed of a director, three inspectors of teaching, a secretary, a +librarian, and thirty-five professors.</p> +<p>The director presides over the whole establishment; the inspectors +superintend the teaching, examine the pupils, and teach the branches of study +attributed to them by the regulation.</p> +<p>In the Conservatory, the instruction is divided as follows: composition, +harmony, solfaing, singing, violin, violincello, harpsicord, organ, flute, +hautboy, clarinette, French-horn, bassoon, trumpet, trombonne, serpent, +preparation for singing, and declamation applicable to the lyric stage.</p> +<p>The completion of the study is effected by a series of lectures, treating +specially of the relations between the sciences and the art of music.</p> +<p>Three hundred pupils of both sexes, taken in equal number from each +department, are instructed gratuitously in the Conservatory. The principal +points towards which their studies are directed, are, to keep up music in +society, to form artists for the execution of public <i>fêtes</i>, for the +armies, and for the theatres.</p> +<p>These pupils are admitted after an examination, which takes place four times +a year. Prizes are distributed annually, in a public meeting of the +Conservatory, to the pupils who distinguish themselves in each branch of +study.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p /><p class="right"><i>February 2, in continuation.</i></p> +<p>To the preceding brief account of the Conservatory, I shall subjoin a few +observations on the</p> +<p class="center">PRESENT STATE OF MUSIC IN FRANCE.</p> +<p>Till the year 1789, this was the country where the greatest expense was +incurred in cultivating music; yet the means which were employed, though very +numerous, produced but little effect, and contributed not to the improvement of +that art. Every thing even announces that its progress would have been still +more retarded, but for the introduction of the Italian Opera, in 1645, by +Cardinal Mazarin.</p> +<p>The brilliant success of <i>Orfeo e Euridice</i>, in 1647, determined the +national taste in favour of this sort of <i>spectacle</i>, and gave birth to +the wish of transplanting it to the French stage. It was in 1659 that the first +opera, with music adapted to a French poem, was performed at Issy.</p> +<p>Since the epoch of the establishment of the French opera, every department +belonging to it, with the sole exception of the singing, has been so much +improved, that it is become the most brilliant <i>spectacle</i> in Europe. But, +as the lyric theatres in France were always obliged to seek recruits among the +pupils formed in the schools maintained by the clergy for the service of public +worship, the influence of the clerical mode of instruction was felt; and this +was, in fact, the source of the bad taste which for a long time characterized +French singing.</p> +<p>Had the grand opera in France been continued an Italian one, as it was first +established, (like those subsequently introduced in the principal cities of +Europe) it would have been supported by performers formed by the Conservatories +of Italy; and the good taste of those schools would have balanced or proscribed +the bad taste of the French cathedrals; but the genius of the seventeenth +century chose that the French language, purified and fixed by the writers who +rendered it illustrious, should also become the language of the lyric theatre. +Musical instruction, remaining entirely subservient to the customs of religion, +was unable to keep pace with the rapid progress of the arts and sciences during +that brilliant period.</p> +<p>Among the defects of the old system of teaching music, must be placed that +of confining it to men; nevertheless, the utility of women in concerts and +plays was as incontestable then as it is at the present day. Public instruction +was therefore due to them in that point of view; but, had no such consideration +existed, they should have been admitted to participate in this instruction, in +order to propagate the art in society. The success of this method would have +been infallible: as soon as women should have cultivated the musical art with +success, its naturalization would have been effected in France, as it has been +in Germany and Italy.</p> +<p>The expense of the musical instruction pursued in the schools belonging to +the cathedrals was immense, compared with its results in every branch of the +art. As to composers, they produced but a very small number, and few of these +distinguished themselves; no instrumental performer of eminence ever issued +from them; and, with few exceptions, the singers they formed were very +indifferent.</p> +<p>The necessity of introducing a better method of singing induced the +government, in 1783, to establish a <i>Special School of Singing and +Declamation.</i> This institution continued in full exercise for ten years; +but, though the celebrated PICCINI was appointed to preside over the vocal +department, the habits of the old school obstructed its progress, and prevented +it from producing the good which was expected from it.</p> +<p>At the epoch of the dissolution of the monarchical institutions, there +remained in France only the School of Music of the Parisian national guard, and +that of Singing and Declamation just mentioned. The republican government +ordered them to be united, and thus was formed the <i>Conservatory of +Music</i>.</p> +<p>Nor let it be imagined that policy has had no share in establishing this +institution. It has furnished the numerous bands of musicians rendered +necessary by the levy of fourteen armies which France had, at one and the same +time, in the field. It is well known that music has done almost wonders in +reviving the courage of the French soldiers, who, when Victory seemed adverse +to them, inclined her in their favour, by rallying to the tune of the +<i>Marseillois</i>. In the heat of action, joining their voice to the +instruments, and raising themselves to a pitch of enthusiasm, they received or +dealt out death, while they kept singing this hymn. The French then are no less +indebted to ROUGET DE LILLE than the Spartans were to TYRTÆUS. At the beginning +of the revolution, they had no songs of the warlike kind, except a few paltry +ballads sung about the streets. ROUGET, who was then an officer of engineers at +Strasburg, was requested to compose a martial hymn. Full of poetic fire, he +shut himself up in his chamber, and, in the course of one night, wrote the +words of the <i>Marseillois</i>, adapting to them music, also of his own +composition. Notwithstanding this patriotic production, and the courage which +the author is said to have displayed during the war, he was twice imprisoned, +at one time on suspicion of royalism; at another, of terrorism.</p> +<p><a name="let61fr1"></a>Independently of the great number of musicians with +which the Conservatory has supplied the armies, it has furnished between two +and three hundred to the theatres, as well in Paris as in the +departments.[<a href="#let61f1">1</a>] The band of the Consular guard was +formed from the pupils of the Conservatory, and sixty of them at present +compose the orchestra, known in Paris by the name of <i>Concert Français</i>, +and the execution of which has been much applauded by many celebrated +composers.</p> +<p>Its members meet to discuss the theories which may improve and extend the +different branches of the musical art. They have already laid the principal +foundations of a body of elementary works for teaching them in perfection. +<i>Les Principes élementaires de Musique</i>, and a <i>Traité d'Harmonie</i>, +which is said to have gained the universal approbation of the composers of the +three schools, assembled to discuss its merits, are already published. A method +of singing, established on the best principles of the Italian school, applied +to French declamation, is now in the press; and these publications are to be +successively followed by other didactic works relative to the history of the +art.</p> +<p>A principal cause of the present scarcity of fine voices in France, is the +war which she has had to maintain for ten years, by armies continually +recruited by young men put in requisition at the period when the voice is +forming, and needs to be cultivated in order to acquire the qualities which +constitute a good singer.</p> +<p>Formerly, French commerce derived but very little advantage from articles +relating to music; but the means employed by the Conservatory may probably turn +the scale in favour of this country, as well as render it, in that respect, +independent of foreign nations.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, England furnished France with <i>piano-fortes</i>, +the common price of which was from three to five hundred francs. Germany mostly +supplied her with wind and string instruments. German French-horns, though +coarsely-made instruments, cost seventy-two francs, and the good violins of the +Tyrol were paid for as high as one hundred and twenty. The consumption of these +instruments was considerable. Nor will this appear surprising, as previously to +the foundation of the Conservatory, the instrumental musicians, employed in the +French regiments and places of public amusement, were mostly Germans.</p> +<p>The French <i>piano-fortes</i> are now in request in most parts of Europe, +and their price has, in consequence, increased from one thousand to two +thousand four hundred francs. The price of French-horns, made in Paris, which, +from being better finished, are preferable to those of Germany, has, in like +manner, risen from three to five hundred francs. Parisian violins have +increased in proportion.</p> +<p>With respect to printed music, the French import none; but, on the contrary, +export a great deal; and the advantages resulting from these two branches of +commerce, together with the stamp-duty attached to the latter, are said to be +sufficient to defray the expenses of the musical establishments now existing, +or those proposed to be created.</p> +<p>Before I close this letter, I must not omit to mention a very useful +institution, for the promotion of the mechanical arts, established in the +<i>Rue de l'École de Médecine</i>, and called the</p> +<p class="center">GRATUITOUS SCHOOL FOR DRAWING.</p> +<p>It was founded in the year 1766, for the instruction of fifteen hundred +children intended for mechanical professions, and was the first beneficent +establishment opened in favour of the common people. Literature, sciences, and +liberal arts had every where public schools; mechanical arts alone were +neglected. The lower orders, by whom they were exercised, had no other means of +learning them, and of developing the faculties of their mind, than the blind +routine of apprenticeship.</p> +<p>The success of this school had progressively caused similar ones to be +instituted in a great number of towns of France, but most of them are buried +under the ruins of the revolution; that of Paris has escaped the general +overthrow; and, though it has lost a considerable portion of its revenue, it +still admits about six hundred pupils. They are taught every thing relative to +the mechanical arts, such as drawing in all its various branches, military, +civil, and naval architecture, hydraulics, arithmetic, land-surveying, +mensuration, perspective, stone-cutting, and in short such parts of mathematics +and practical geometry as relate to those different objects.</p> +<p>The Gratuitous School for Drawing must not be assimilated to establishments +intended for improving the taste of those who follow the career of the liberal +arts. It presents immediately to the children of the lower orders of the people +the instruction that suits them best. Here, every thing is useful. Not only are +the pupils instructed <i>gratis</i>, but the school furnishes to the indigent, +recommended by one of the founders, the paper, pencils, and instruments +necessary for their studies in the classes, and also models for exercising +their talents at home.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p>I shall speak elsewhere of the <i>Special School of Medicine</i> of Paris; +there are two others, one at Montpellier, and one at Strasburg. At Alfort, near +Paris, is established, on a grand scale, a</p> +<p class="center">VETERINARY SCHOOL. </p> +<p>It would lead me too far to particularize every department of this extensive +establishment; but one of these is too useful to be passed over in silence. +Here are spacious hospitals where animals are classed, not only according to +their species, but also according to the species of disorder by which they are +affected. Every person may bring hither sick animals, on paying for their food +and medicaments only, the operations and dressings being performed and applied +<i>gratis</i>.</p> +<p>There are also Veterinary Schools at Lyons, Turin, and Rodez.</p> +<p>In addition to all these schools are to be established, in different parts +of the Republic, the following new <i>Special Schools</i>.</p> +<p>Ten of Jurisprudence.<br /> +Three of Medicine.<br /> +Four of Natural History, Physics, and Chymistry.<br /> +One of Transcendent Mathematics.<br /> +Two of Technology.<br /> +One of Public Economy, enlightened by Geography and History.<br /> +One of the Arts dependent on design, and, lastly,<br /> +A new Military School.</p> +<p>From the foregoing enumeration, it is evident that the government can never +be at a loss for persons duly qualified to perform the duties of every branch +of the Public Service. True it is that the nation is at a considerable expense +in giving to them the instruction which fits them for the employment; but, in +return, what advantages does not the nation derive from the exertion of their +talent?</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let61f1">Footnote 1</a>: In France are reckoned +seventy-fire lyric theatres, exclusively of those in the newly-united +departments.</p> +<h2><a name="let62">LETTER LXII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 5, 1802</i>.</p> +<p>In one of your recent letters, you interrogated me respecting the changes +which the revolution had produced in the ceremonies immediately connected with +the increase and decrease of population. While the subject is fresh in my mind, +I shall present the contrast which I have observed, in the years 1789-90 and +1801-2, in the ceremony of</p> +<p class="center">FUNERALS.</p> +<p>Under the old <i>régime</i>, there was no medium in them; they were either +very indecorous or very expensive. I have been positively assured that eighteen +francs were paid for what was called a parish-funeral, and not unfrequently a +quarrel arose between the agent of the rector and the relations of the +deceased. However, as it was necessary to bury every one, the <i>Commissaire de +police</i> declared the fact, if the relations were unable to pay. Those for +whom eighteen francs were paid, had a coffin in which they were buried; the +others were laid in a common coffin or shell, from which they were taken to be +put into the ground. In a parish-funeral, whether paid or not, several dead +bodies were assembled, that is, they were carried one after the other, but at +the same time to the same ground. They were conducted by a single priest, +reciting by the way the accustomed prayers.</p> +<p>Other funerals were varied without end, according to the fortune or pleasure +of the relations. For persons of the richest class, a flaming chapel was +constructed at the entrance of the house. This chapel was hung with black +cloth, and in it was placed the corpse, surrounded by lighted torches. The +apartments were also hung with black for the reception of the persons who were +to attend the funeral procession. The priests came to conduct the corpse from +the house of the deceased. They were more or less numerous, had or had not wax +tapers, according to the will of those who defrayed the expenses. If the +presentation of the corpse at the parish-church took place in the morning, a +mass was sung; if in the evening, obsequies only were chaunted, and the former +service was deferred till the next morning. The relations and friends, in +mourning, followed the corpse. These persons walked in the procession, +according to their degree of relationship to the deceased, and besides their +complete mourning-suit, wore a black cloak, more or less long, according to the +quality of the persons (or the price paid for it), and a flapped hat, from +which was suspended a very long crape band. Their hair, unpowdered, fell loose +on their back. In lieu of a cloak, lawyers, whether presidents, counsellors, +attornies, or tipstaffs, wore their black gown. On the cuff of their coat, men +wore weepers, consisting of a band of cambric. Every one wore black gloves, and +likewise a long pendent white cravat. People of the highest rank wore <i>cottés +crépés</i>, that is, a sort of crape petticoat, which fell from the waist to +the feet. This was meant to represent the ancient coat of arms.</p> +<p>Servants in mourning, or pages for princes, supported the train of the cloak +or gown of persons above the common rank. Other servants, also in mourning, +surrounded the relations and friends of the deceased, holding torches with his +armorial bearings, if he was a <i>noble</i>. Persons extremely rich or very +elevated in rank, hired a certain number of poor (from fifty to three hundred), +over whom were thrown several ells of coarse iron gray cloth, to which no +particular form was given. They walked before the corpse, holding large lighted +torches. The procession was closed by the carriages of persons belonging to it; +and their owners did not get into them till their return from the funeral. +Sometimes on coming out of the parish-church, where the presentation of the +corpse was indispensable, the rector performing the office of magistrate in +regard to the delivery of the certificate of presentation, the corpse was +carried into a particular church to be buried. This was become uncommon before +the revolution, as to do this it was necessary to possess a vault, or pay +extremely dear, it being prohibited by law, except in such cases, to bury the +dead in churches.</p> +<p>When the deceased belonged to a society or corporation, they sent a +deputation to attend him to the grave, or followed in a body, if he was their +chief. At the funeral of a prince of the blood, all his household, civil and +military, marched in the procession. The <i>corbillard</i>, or sort of hearse, +in which his highness was carried to <i>St. Denis</i>, was almost as large as +the moveable theatre which Mr. Flockton transports from fair to fair in +England. Calculated in appearance for carrying the body of a giant, it was +decorated with escutcheons, and drawn by eight horses, also caparisoned to +correspond with the hearse. These, however, were but the trappings of woe.</p> +<p>While this funereal car moved slowly forward amidst a concourse of mourners, +its three-fold hangings concealed from the eye of the observer the journeymen +coach and harness makers, drinking, and playing at dice on the lid of his +highness's coffin, by way of dispelling the <i>ennui</i> of the journey. These +careless fellows were placed there to be at hand to repair any accident that +might happen on the road; so, while, on the outside of the hearse, all wore the +appearance of sadness; within, all was mirth; no bad image of the reverse of +grandeur and the emptiness of human ostentation.</p> +<p>Such were the ceremonies observed in funerals before the revolution. Passing +over the interval, from its commencement in 1789 to the end of the year 1801, I +shall describe those practised at the present day. It now depends on the +relations to have the corpse presented at the parish-church; but there are many +persons who dispense with this ceremony. The priests receive the corpse at the +door of the church. It is carried thither in a <i>corbillard</i>. Each +municipality has its own, and there are twelve municipalities in Paris. Some of +them have adopted the Egyptian style; some, the Greek; and others, the Roman, +for the fashion of their <i>corbillard</i>, according to the taste of the +municipality who ordered its construction. It is drawn by two horses abreast, +caparisoned somewhat like those of our hearses. The coachman and the four +bearers are clothed in iron gray or black. An officer of the police, also +clothed in black, and holding a cane with an ivory head, walks before the +<i>corbillard</i> or hearse. Each corpse has its particular coffin furnished by +the municipality. Arrangements have been so made that the rich are made to pay +for the poor. The coffin is covered with a black cloth, without a cross, for +fear of scaring philosophers and protestants. The relations follow on foot, or +in carriages, even in town. Few of them are in mourning, and still fewer wear a +cloak.</p> +<p>At the <i>Sainte Chapelle</i>, near the <i>Palais de Justice</i>, is a +private establishment where, mourning is let out for hire. Here are to be had +<i>corbillards</i> on a more elegant plan. These are carriages hung on springs, +and bearing much resemblance to our most fashionable sociables with a standing +awning; so much so, that the first of them I saw I mistook for a +<i>mourning</i> sociable. Some are ornamented with black feathers. Caparisons, +hangings, every thing is in black, as well as the coachman. This speculator +also lets out mourning coaches, black without and within, like those in use in +London. At a few funerals, these are hired for the mourners, and at a recent +one, fifteen of these carriages were counted in the procession. However, this +luxury of burials is not entirely come again into fashion. In the inside of the +church, every thing passes as formerly.</p> +<p>I shall now proceed from the <i>grave</i> to the <i>gay</i>, and conclude +this letter with a concise observation on</p> +<p class="center">MARRIAGES.</p> +<p>The <i>civil</i> act of marriage is entered into at the office of the +municipality. But this civil act must not be coufounded with the contract, +drawn up by the notary, and containing the stipulations, clauses, and +conditions. The former signifies merely that such a man and such a woman take +each other for man and wife. There are few, if any, persons married, who, from +the municipality, do not repair to the parish-church, or go thither the next +morning; the civil act being considered by individuals only as the ceremony of +the betrothing, and till the priest has given the nuptial benediction, the +relations take care that the intended bride and bridegroom shall have no +opportunity of anticipating the duties of marriage.</p> +<p>Political opinions, therefore, prevent but few persons from going to church. +Mass is said in a low voice, during which the priest, or the rector, receives +the promise of the wedded pair. With little exception, the ceremony is the same +for all. Those who pay well are married at the high altar; the rector addresses +to them a speech in which he exhorts them to live happily together; the beadles +perform their duty; and the organist strikes up a voluntary.</p> +<p>In regard to marriages, the present and former times presenting no other +contrast, I have nothing more to add on the subject.</p> +<h2><a name="let63">LETTER LXIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 6, 1803.</i></p> +<p>The mode of life of the persons with whom I chiefly associate here, +precludes me from reading as much as I could wish, either for instruction or +amusement. This, you will say, I ought not to regret; for a traveller visits +foreign countries to study mankind, not books. Unquestionably, the men who, +like splendid folios in a library, make at present the most conspicuous figure +in this metropolis, are worth studying; and, could we lay them open to our +inspection, as we do books of a common description, it would be extremely +entertaining to turn them over every morning, till we had them, in a manner, by +heart. But I rather apprehend that they partake, more or less, of the qualities +of a book just come out of the hands of the binder, which it is difficult to +open. Let us therefore content ourselves with viewing them as we would volumes +of a superbly-bound edition, not to be examined by the general observer, and +direct our eyes to such objects as are fully exposed to investigation.</p> +<p>In Paris, there are several public libraries, the greater part of them open +every day; but that which eclipses all the others, is the</p> +<p class="center">BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE.</p> +<p>Charles V, justly surnamed the <i>Wise</i>, from the encouragement he gave +to learning, may be considered as the first founder of this library. According +to the President Henault, that king had collected nine hundred volumes; whereas +king John, his father, possessed not twenty. This collection was placed in a +tower of the <i>Louvre</i>, called <i>La Tour de la Librairie</i>, which was +lighted up every night, in order that the learned might pursue their studies +there at all hours.</p> +<p>After the death of Charles VI, in 1423, the inventory amounted to no more +than one hundred and twenty volumes, though several works had been added, +because on the other hand, a great number had been lost.</p> +<p>When Paris fell into the power of the English, in 1429, the Duke of Bedford, +then regent of France, purchased these books, for which he paid 1200 livres, +and the library was entirely dispersed. Charles VII, being continually engaged +in war, could not concern himself in its re-estahlishment. Lewis XI collected +the remains scattered in different royal residences, and availed himself of the +resources afforded by the invention of printing, which was discovered at +Strasburg or Mentz in 1440.</p> +<p>Printers, however, were not established in Paris till 1470, and in that same +year, they dedicated to Lewis XI one of the first books which they printed. +Books were, at this time, very scarce and dear, and continued so for several +years, both before and after the discovery of that invention. Twenty thousand +persons then subsisted in France by the sale of the books which they +transcribed. This was the reason why printing was not at first more +encouraged.</p> +<p>Charles VIII added to this literary establishment such works as he was able +to obtain in his conquest of Naples. Lewis XII increased it by the library of +Potrarch. Francis I enriched it with Greek manuscripts; but what most +contributed to augment the collection was the ordinance of Henry II, issued in +1556, which enjoined booksellers to furnish the royal libraries with a copy on +vellum of all the works printed by privilege; and, under the subsequent reigns, +it gradually acquired that richness and abundance which, before the revolution, +had caused it to be considered as one of the first libraries in Europe.</p> +<p>In 1789, the <i>Bibliothèque du Roi</i>, as it was till then called, was +reckoned to contain one hundred and eighty thousand printed volumes, eighty +thousand manuscripts, a prodigious numbcr of medals, antiques, and engraved +stones, six thousand port-folios of prints, and two thousand engraved plates. +But, under its present denomination of <i>Bibliothèque Nationale</i>, it has +been considerably augmented. Agreeably to your desire, I shall point out +whatever is most remarkable in these augmentations.</p> +<p>The buildings, which, since the year 1721, contain this vast collection, +formally made part of the <i>Hôtel Mazarin</i>. The entrance is by the <i>Rue +de la Loi</i>. It is at present divided into four departments, and is managed +by a conservatory, composed of eight members, namely:</p> +<ol class="digital"> +<li>Two conservators for the printed books, M. M. CAPPERONNIER and +VAN-PRAET.</li> +<li>Three for the manuscripts, M. M. LANGLÈS, LAPORTE DUTHEIL, and DACIER.</li> +<li>Two for the antiques, medals, and engraved stones, M. M. MILLIN and +GOSSELIN.</li> +<li>One for the prints and engraved plates, M. JOLY.</li> +</ol> +<p>The first department, containing the printed books, occupies, on the first +floor of the three sides of the court, an extent of about nine hundred feet by +twenty-four in breadth. The rooms, which receive light on one side only, are +equal in height. In the second room to the right is the <i>Parnasse +Français</i>, a little mountain, in bronze, covered with figures a foot high, +and with medals, representing French poets. Lewis XIV here occupies a +distinguished place under the figure of Apollo. It was a present made by TITON +DU TILLET.</p> +<p>In another of these rooms, built on purpose, are a pair of globes of an +extraordinary size, constructed, in 1683, by Father CORONELLI, a Jesuit, for +Cardinal D'ESTRÉES, who presented them to Lewis XIV. The feet of these globes +rest in a lower apartment; while their hemispheres project by two apertures +made in the floor of fhe first story, and are thus placed within reach of the +observer. Their diameter is eleven feet, eleven inches. The celebrated +BUTTERFIELD made for them two brass circles, (the one for the meridian, the +other for the horizon), each eighteen feet in diameter.</p> +<p>Since the year 1789, the department of printed books has received an +augmentation of one hundred and forty thousand volumes, either arising from +private acquisitions, or collected in France, Italy, Holland, Germany, or +Belgium. Among these is a valuable series of works, some more scarce than +others, executed in the XVth century, which has rendered this department one of +the most complete in Europe. I shall abstain from entering into a detail of the +articles assembled in it, several of which deserve particular notice. A great +many ancient specimens of the typographical art are on vellum, and give to this +collection a value which it would be no easy matter to appreciate. All the +classes of it present a great number, the enumeration of which would far exceed +my limits.</p> +<p>The department of manuscripts, which is placed in a gallery one hundred and +forty feet in length, by twenty-two in breadth, has been increased in +proportion to that of the printed books. The library of Versailles, that of +several emigrants, the chapters of various cathedrals, the Sorbonne, the +<i>Collège de Navarre</i> in Paris, and the different suppressed religious +corporations, have enriched it with upwards of twenty thousand volumes; eight +thousand of these belonged to the library of <i>St. Germain-des-Prês</i>, which +was burnt in 1793-4, and was immensely rich in manuscripts and old printed +hooks.</p> +<p>About fifteen hundred volumes have been taken from Italy, Holland, and +Germany. Among those arrived from Italy, we must distinguish the original +manuscript of RUFFIN, a priest of Aquilea, who lived in the IVth century, +containing, on papyrus or Egyptian paper, the Latin tranlation of the Jewish +antiquities of FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS; the grammar of PROBUS or PALÆMON, a manuscript +of the Vth century, on vellum, in uncial characters; a very beautiful volume in +Syriac, containing the Four Evangelists, a manuscript on vellum of the VIth +century; the two celebrated manuscripts of Virgil of the VIIth century, the one +from the Vatican, the other from Florence, both on vellum. A roll, in good +preservation, composed of several skins, sewed together, containing the +Pentateuch in Hebrew, a manuscript of the IXth century. A Terence, with figures +of the time and a representation of the masks introduced on the stage by the +ancients, together with the various poetical works of PRUDENTIUS; manuscripts +on vellum of the IXth century. The Terence is that of the Vatican, in praise of +which Madame DACIER speaks in her translation.</p> +<p>The manuscripts of the ancient Dukes of Burgundy, which had so long +constituted the ornament of the library of Brussels, now increase the fame of +those which the <i>Bibliothèque Nationale</i> already possessed of this +description. Their number is about five hundred volumes; the greater part of +them are remarkable for the beauty and richness of the miniatures by which they +are embellished, and one scarcely inferior in magnificence to the primer of +Anne de Bretagne, wife of Lewis XII, to that of Cardinal Richelieu, to the +primer and battles of Lewis XIV, and to a heap of other manuscripts which +rendered this <i>ci-devant Bibliothèque du Roi</i> so celebrated in foreign +countries.</p> +<p>Five large apartments on the second floor are occupied by titles and +genealogies, which are still preserved here, in about five thousand portfolios +or boxes, for the purpose of verifying the claims to property, and assisting +the historian in his researches.</p> +<p>The department of medals, antiques and engraved stones has, since 1789, also +experienced an abundant augmentation. The medals are in a cabinet at the end of +the Library; the antiques are in another, above it, on the second floor.</p> +<p>In 1790, the engraved stones which had been previously locked up in the +drawers of the council-chamber at Versailles, were conveyed hither, to the +number of eight hundred. It would be too tedious to dwell on the beauty, merit, +and scarceness of these stones, as well as on their finished workmanship and +degree of antiquity. Among them, the beautiful ring, called the <i>seal of +Michael Angelo</i>, claims admiration.</p> +<p>In 1791, some antiquities which constituted part of the treasure of <i>St. +Denis</i>, were brought hither from that abbey. Among these valuable articles, +we must particularly distinguish the chalice of the Abbot SUGER; a vase of +sardonyx, with two handles formed of raised snakes, on which are represented, +with admirable art, ceremonies relating to the worship of Bacchus; a large gold +cup, ornamented with enamel of various colours; a very large urn of porphyry, +which formerly served as a sepulchral monument; several baptismal fonts; the +arm-chair of King Dagobert, a piece of very extraordinary workmanship for the +time in which it was executed. Among the valuable articles removed hither from +<i>La Sainte Chapelle</i> in Paris, in the same year, are to be particularly +remarked a sardonyx, representing the apotheosis of Augustus, and commonly +called <i>l'agathe de la Sainte Chapelle</i>. This stone is the largest and +rarest known of that species. It was brought to France in the year 1383 by king +Charles V.</p> +<p>At the end of 1792 the cabinet of medals of <i>St. Geneviève</i>, forming in +the whole seventeen thousand articles, and its fine collection of antique +monuments, increased the new riches accumulated in the <i>Bibliothèque +Nationale</i>. In 1794, a beautiful series of antiquities, consisting of a +great number of imperial medals, of nations, cities, and kings, of all sizes, +in gold, silver, and bronze, together with little painted figures, busts, +instruments of sacrifices, &c. arrived here from Holland.</p> +<p>In 1796, the department of medals was also enriched by several articles from +the <i>Garde-Meuble</i> or Jewel-Office. Among them were some suits of armour +belonging to several of the kings of France, particularly that of Francis I, +that of Henry IV, and that of Lewis XIV. These were accompanied by a quantity +of arms, helmets, shields, breast-plates, and weapons used in the ancient +tournaments, as well as quivers, bows, arrows, swords, &c.</p> +<p>Towards the end of the year 1798 and in 1799, several valuable articles +arrived here from Italy, among which are two crowns of gold, enriched with +precious stones, worn by the ancient kings of Lombardy, at the time of their +coronation; the engraved stones and medals of the Pope's cabinet; a head of +Jupiter Ægiochus, on a ground of sardonyx, a master-piece of art, which is +above all eulogium; the celebrated Isiac table, in copper incrustated with +silver, a valuable table of Egyptian mythology, which is presumed to have been +executed, either at Alexandria or at Rome, in the first or second century of +the christian era; some oriental weapons; a <i>fetfa</i> or diploma of the +Grand Signior contained in a silk purse, &c.</p> +<p>The department of prints and engraved plates, formed of the celebrated +cabinets of MAHOLLES, BERINGHEN, GAIGNIÈRES, UXELLES, BEGON, GAYLUS, FONTETTE, +MARIETTE, &c. contained, before the revolution the most ample, rich, and +valuable collection in Europe. It is placed in the <i>entresol</i>, and is +divided into twelve classes.</p> +<p>The first class comprehends sculptors, architectural engineers, and +engravers, from the origin of the French nation to the present day, arranged in +schools.</p> +<p>The second, prints, emblems, and devices of piety.</p> +<p>The third, every thing relative to fables and Greek and Roman +antiquities.</p> +<p>The fourth, medals, coins, and heraldry.</p> +<p>The fifth, public festivals, cavalcades, and tournaments.</p> +<p>The sixth, arts and mathematics.</p> +<p>The seventh, prints relating to novels and books of entertainment.</p> +<p>The eighth, natural history in all its branches.</p> +<p>The ninth, geography.</p> +<p>The tenth, plans and elevations of ancient and modern buildings.</p> +<p>The eleventh, portraits of all professions, to the number of upwards of +fifty thousand.</p> +<p>The twelfth, a collection of the fashions and dresses of almost every +country in the world.</p> +<p>Since 1789, the augmentations made to it are considerable. Among these must +be distinguished four hundred and thirty-five volumes brought from the library +of Versailles, and fifty-two others, infinitely valuable, respecting China, +found at the residence of M. BERTIN, Minister, about eight thousand prints +brought from Holland, the greater part of them, very fine impressions; and +about twelve thousand collected by different emigrants, almost all modern, +indeed, but one half of which are select, and remarkable for their fine +preservation.</p> +<p>Among five hundred volumes, obtained from the suppressed religious +corporations, are to be remarked one hundred and nine port-folios from the +abbey of <i>St. Victor</i>, in Paris, containing a beautiful series of +mythological, historical, and typographical subjects. This forms a valuable +addition to the collection of the same kind of which the department of prints +was already in possession.</p> +<p>In one hundred and forty-four volumes brought from Cologne, there are +several scarce and singular engravings.</p> +<p>As for sixty articles sent from Italy, they are, with the exception of the +<i>Museum Pio-Clementinum</i>, in such a state of degradation that they are +scarcely fit for any thing but to mark the place which each composition has to +occupy.</p> +<p>Since 1789, the department of prints has made several acquisitions deserving +of notice, such as the works of LEBAS, MARCENAY, and RODE, all extremely +difficult to find complete, and three hundred and seventeen plates sent from +Germany by FHAUENHOTZ; most of them executed by foreign engravers, and some are +very capital.</p> +<p>A few well-known distinguished artists and amateurs, among whom I must not +omit to name DENON, ST. AUBIN, and LAMOTTE, a merchant at Havre, have +generously enriched the department of prints with a great number of very +valuable ones.</p> +<p>The library is open every day, Sundays, and days of national fêtes excepted, +from ten o'clock till two, to persons who wish to read, study, or take notes; +and for whom every accommodation is provided; but to such as are attracted by +curiosity alone, on the Wednesdays and Fridays of each week, at the same hours. +On those days, you may perambulate in the different rooms of this magnificent +establishment; on the other days, walking is here prohibited, in order that +students may not be interrupted. However, JOHN BULL seems to pay little regard +to this prohibition. <a name="let63fr1"></a>Englishmen are frequently seen +stalking about the rooms at the forbidden time, as if they meant to shew that +they disdained the rules of propriety and +decorum.[<a href="#let63f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>Under the government which succeeded the monarchy, was established, within +the precincts of the <i>Bibliothèque Nationale</i>, a</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOL FOR ORIENTAL LIVING LANGUAGES.</p> +<p>The design of this school, <i>which is of acknowledged utility in politics +and commerce</i>, is to qualify persons to supply the place of the French +droguemans in the East, who, at the beginning of the troubles which distracted +France, abandoned the interests of their country, and deserted their +stations.</p> +<p>LANGLÈS, president of this school, here teaches the Persian and Malay +languages.</p> +<p>SILVESTRE DE SACY, literal and vulgar Arabic.</p> +<p>JAUBERT, Turkish and the Tartarian of the Crimea.</p> +<p>DANSE DE VILLOISON, modern Greek.</p> +<p>In general, very few pupils are instructed here, and the greater part of +those who begin the courses of lectures, do not follow them three months. This +fact I gathered from the professors themselves. When FRANÇOIS DE NEUFCHÂTEAU +was Minister, he had attached to this school an Armenian, named CIREIED, who +gave lessons in his native language, which are now discontinued.</p> +<p>A course of archæology is also delivered here by the learned MILLIN. The +object of this course is to explain antique monuments, and compare them with +passages of the classics. The professor indicates respecting each monument the +opinions of the different learned men who have spoken of it: he also discusses +those opinions, and endeavours to establish that which deserves to be adopted. +Every year he treats on different subjects. The courses which he has already +delivered, related to the study of medals, and that of engraved stones; the +explanation of the ancient monuments still existing in Spain, France, and +England; the history of ancient and modern Egypt; sacred and heroic mythology, +under which head he introduced an explanation of almost every monument of +literature and art deserving to be known.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let63f1">Footnote 1</a>: It is the intention of the +government to remove the <i>Bibliothèque Nationale</i> to the <i>Louvre</i>, or +<i>Palais National des Sciences & des Arts</i>, as soon as apartments can +be prepared for its reception. <a href="#let63fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let64">LETTER LXIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 8, 1803.</i></p> +<p>Having complied with your desire in regard to the <i>Bibliothèque +Nationale</i>, I shall confine myself to a hasty sketch of the other principal +public libraries, beginning with the</p> +<p class="center">BIBLIOTHÈQUE MAZARINE.</p> +<p>By his will, dated the 6th of March 1662, Cardinal MAZARIN bequeathed this +library for the convenience of the literati. It was formed by GABRIEL NAUDÉ of +every thing that could be found most rare and curious, as well in France as in +foreign countries. It occupies one of the pavilions and other apartments of the +<i>ci-devant Collège Mazarin ou des Quatre Nations</i>, at present called +<i>Palais des Beaux Arts</i>.</p> +<p>No valuable additions have been made to this library since the revolution; +but it is kept in excellent order. The Conservators, LE BLOND, COQUILLE, and +PALISSOT, whose complaisance is never tired, are well known in the Republic of +Letters. It is open to the public every day, from ten o'clock to two, Sundays, +Thursdays, and the days of national fêtes excepted.</p> +<p class="center">BIBLIOTHÈQUE DU PANTHÉON.</p> +<p>Next to the <i>Bibliothèque Nationale</i>, this library is said to contain +the most printed books and manuscripts, which are valuable on account of their +antiquity, scarceness, and preservation. It formerly bore the title of +<i>Bibliothèque de St. Geneviève</i>, and belonged to the Canons of that order, +who had enriched it in a particular manner. The acquisitions it has made since +the revolution are not sufficiently important to deserve to be mentioned. With +the exception of the <i>Bibliothèque Nationale</i>, not one of the public +libraries in Paris has enjoyed the advantage of making improvements and +additions. The library of the <i>Pantheon</i> is open to the public on the same +days as the <i>Bibliothèque Mazarine</i>.</p> +<p>The present Conservators are DAUNOU, VENTENAT, and VIALLON. The first two +are members of the National Institute.</p> +<p class="center">BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE L'ARSENAL.</p> +<p>This library, one of the richest in Paris, formerly belonged to the Count +d'Artois. It is destined for the <i>Conservative Senate</i>, in whose palace a +place is preparing for its reception. However, it is thought that this removal +cannot take place in less than a year and a half or two years. It has acquired +little since the revolution, and is frequented less than the other libraries, +because it is rather remote from the fashionable quarters of the town. There +are few inquisitive persons in the vicinity of the Arsenal; and indeed, this +library is open only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays of every week from +ten o'clock till two. AMEILHON, of the Institute, is Administrator; and +SAUGRAIN, Conservator.</p> +<p>Before I quit this library, you will, doubtless expect me to say something +of the place from which it derives its appellation; namely,</p> +<p class="center">THE ARSENAL.</p> +<p>It is a pile of building, forming several courts between the <i>Quai des +Célestins</i> and the <i>Place de la Liberté</i>, formerly the <i>Place de la +Bastille</i>. Charles V had here erected some storehouses for artillery, which +were lent very unwillingly by the Provost of Paris to Francis I, who wanted +them for the purpose of casting cannon. As was foreseen, the king kept +possession of them, and converted them into a royal residence. On the 28th of +January 1562, lightning fell on one of the towers, then used as a magazine, and +set fire to fifteen or twenty thousand barrels of powder. Several lives were +lost, and another effect of this explosion was that it killed all the fishes in +the river. Charles IX, Henry III, and Henry IV rebuilt the Arsenal, and +augmented it considerably. Before the revolution, the founderies served for +casting bronze figures for the embellishment of the royal gardens. The Arsenal +then contained only a few rusty muskets and some mortars unfit for service, +notwithstanding the energetic inscription which decorated the gate on the +<i>Quai des Célestins</i>:</p> +<p class="bq">"Ætnæ hæc Henrico Vulcania tela ministrat,<br /> +Tela gigantæos debellatura furores."</p> +<p>NICOLAS BOURBON was the author of these harmonious lines, which so much +excited the jealousy of the famous poet, SANTEUIL, that he exclaimed in his +enthusiasm, "I would have wished to have made them, and been hanged."</p> +<p>During the course of the revolution, the buildings of the Arsenal have been +appropriated to various purposes: at present even they seem to have no fixed +destination. Here is a garden, advantageously situated, which affords to the +inhabitants of this quarter an agreeable promenade.</p> +<p>The before-mentioned libraries are the most considerable in Paris; but the +<i>National Institute</i>, the <i>Conservative Senate</i>, the <i>Legislative +Body</i>, and the <i>Tribunate</i>, have each their respective library, as well +as the <i>Polytechnic School</i>, the <i>Council of the School of Mines</i>, +the <i>Tribunal of Cassation</i>, the <i>Conservatory of Music</i>, the +<i>Museum of Natural History</i>, &c.</p> +<p>Independently of these libraries, here are also three literary <i>dépôts</i> +or repositories, which were destined to supply the public libraries already +formed or to be formed, particularly those appropriated to public instruction. +When the Constituent Assembly decreed the possessions of the clergy to be +national property, the <i>Committee of Alienation</i> fixed on the monasteries +of the <i>Capucins</i>, <i>Grands Jésuites</i>, and <i>Cordeliers</i>, in +Paris, as <i>dépôts</i>, for the books and manuscripts, which they were +desirous to save from revolutionary destruction.</p> +<h2><a name="let65">LETTER LXV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 9, 1802.</i></p> +<p><i>Vive la danse!</i> <i>Vive la danse!</i> seems now to prevail here +universally over <i>"Vive l'amour!</i> <i>Vive la bagatelle!</i>" which was the +rage in the time of LA FLEUR. I have already informed you that, in moments the +most eventful, the inhabitants of this capital spent the greater part of their +time in</p> +<p class="center">DANCING.</p> +<p>However extraordinary the fact may appear, it is no less true. When the +Prussians were at Châlons, the Austrians at Valenciennes, and Robespierre in +the Convention, they danced. When the young conscripts were in momentary +expectation of quitting their parents, their friends, and their mistresses to +join the armies, they danced. Can we then wonder that, at the present hour, +when the din of arms is no longer heard, and the toils of war are on the point +of being succeeded by the mercantile speculations of peace, dancing should +still be the favourite pursuit of the Parisians?</p> +<p>This is so much the case, that the walls of the metropolis are constantly +covered by advertisements in various colours, blue, red, green, and yellow, +announcing balls of different descriptions. The silence of streets the least +frequented is interrupted by the shrill scraping of the itinerant fiddler; +while by-corners, which might vie with Erebus itself in darkness, are lighted +by transparencies, exhibiting, in large characters, the words "<i>Bal de +Société</i>."—"Happy people!" says Sterne, "who can lay down all your +cares together, and dance and sing and sport away the weights of grievance, +which bow down the spirit of other nations to the earth!"</p> +<p>In summer, people dance here in rural gardens, or delightful bowers, or +under marquees, or in temporary buildings, representing picturesque cottages, +constructed within the limits of the capital: these establishments, which are +rather of recent date, are open only in that gay season.</p> +<p>In winter, the upper classes assemble in magnificent apartments, where +subscription-balls are given; and taste and luxury conspire to produce elegant +entertainments.</p> +<p>However, it is not to the upper circles alone that this amusement is +confined; it is here pursued, and with truer ardour too, by citizens of every +class and description. An Englishman might probably be at a loss to conceive +this truth; I shall therefore enumerate the different gradations of the scale +from the report of an impartial eye-witness, partly corroborated by my own +observation.</p> +<p>Tradesmen dance with their neighbours, at the residence of those who have +the best apartments: and the expense of catgut, rosin, &c. is paid by the +profits of the card-table.</p> +<p>Young clerks in office and others, go to public balls, where the +<i>cavalier</i> pays thirty <i>sous</i> for admission; thither they escort +milliners and mantua-makers of the elegant class, and, in general, the +first-rate order of those engaging belles, known here by the generic name of +<i>grisettes</i>.</p> +<p>Jewellers' apprentices, ladies' hair-dressers, journeymen tailors and +upholsterers dance, at twenty <i>sous</i> a head, with sempstresses and ladies' +maids.</p> +<p>Journeymen shoemakers, cabinet-makers, and workmen of other trades, not very +laborious, assemble in <i>guingettes</i>, where they dance French +country-dances at three <i>sous</i> a ticket, with <i>grisettes</i> of an +inferior order.</p> +<p>Locksmiths, carpenters, and joiners dance at two <i>sous</i> a ticket, with +women who constantly frequent the <i>guinguettes</i>, a species of +dancing-girls, whom the tavern-keepers hire for the day, as they do the +fiddlers.</p> +<p>Water-carriers, porters, and, in general, the Swiss and Auvergnats have +their private balls, where they execute the dances peculiar to their country, +with fruit-girls, stocking-menders, &c.</p> +<p>The porters of the corn-market form assemblies in their own neighbourhood; +but the youngest only go thither, with a few <i>bons vivans</i>, whose +profession it would be no easy matter to determine. Bucksome damsels, proof +against every thing, keep them in countenance, either in drinking brandy or in +fighting, and not unfrequently at the same <i>bal de société</i>, all this goes +on at the same time, and, as it were, in unison.</p> +<p>Those among the porters of the corn-market and charcoal carriers, who have a +little <i>manners</i>, assemble on holidays, in public-houses of a more decent +description, with good, plain-spoken market-women, and nosegay-girls. They +drink unmixed liquor, and the conversation is somewhat more than <i>free</i>; +but, in public, they get tipsy, and nothing farther!</p> +<p>Masons, paviours in wooden shoes, tipped with iron, and other hard-working +men, in short, repair to <i>guingettes</i>, and make the very earth tremble +with their heavy, but picturesque capers, forming groups worthy of the pencil +of Teniers.</p> +<p>Lastly, one more link completes the chain of this nomenclature of caperers. +Beggars, sturdy, or decrepit, dance, as well as their credulous betters: they +not only dance, but drink to excess; and their orgies are more noisy, more +prolonged, and even more expensive. The mendicant, who was apparently lame in +the day, at night lays aside his crutch, and resumes his natural activity; the +idle vagabond, who concealed one arm, now produces both; while the wretch whose +wound excited both horror and pity, covers for a tune the large blister by +which he makes a very comfortable living.</p> +<h2><a name="let66">LETTER LXVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 11, 1802.</i></p> +<p>In order to confer handsome pensions on the men of science who had benefited +mankind by their labours, and who, under the old <i>régime</i>, were poorly +rewarded, in 1795, LAKANAL solicited and obtained the establishment of the</p> +<p class="center">BUREAU DES LONGITUDES.</p> +<p><a name="let66fr1"></a>As members of this Board of Longitude, the first +institution of the kind in France, LAGRANGE, LAPLACE, LALANDE, +CASSINI,[<a href="#let66f1">1</a>] MÉCHAIN, BORDA,[<a href="#let66f1">1</a>] +BOUGAINVILLE, FLEURIEU, MESSIER, BUACHE, and CARROCHÉ, the optician, had each +8,000 francs (<i>circa</i> £. 330 sterling) a year, and the assistant +astronomers, 4,000. Indeed, the professors of that science were in want of +pecuniary assistance for the purpose of forming pupils.</p> +<p>The <i>Bureau des Longitudes</i> is on a more extensive scale, and possesses +greater authority than the Board of Longitude in England. It is charged with +the administration of all the Observatories belonging to the Republic, as well +as with the correspondence with the astronomers of foreign countries. The +government refers to it the examination of memoirs relative to navigation. Such +of its members as more specially cultivate practical astronomy in the National +Observatories of the capital, are charged to make all Observations which may +contribute to the progress of that science, and procure new means for +rectifying the tables of the Sun, as well as those which make known the +position of the stars, and particularly the tables of the Moon, the improvement +of which so essentially concerns the safety of navigation.</p> +<p>The great importance of the last-mentioned tables induced this Board, about +three years ago, to propose a premium of 6,000 francs (<i>circa</i> £. 250 +sterling) for tables of the Moon. LALANDE recommended to BONAPARTE to double +it. <a name="let66fr2"></a>The First Consul took his advice: and the French now +have tables that greatly surpass those which are used in +England.[<a href="#let66f2">2</a>] A copy of these have, I understand, been +sent to Mr. MASKELYNE, our Astronomer-Royal at Greenwich.</p> +<p>The Board of Longitude of France, like that of England, calculates for every +year Tables or <i>Ephemerides</i>, known in Europe under the title of +<i>Connaissance des Tems</i>. The French having at length procured able +calculators, are now able to dispense with the English <i>Ephemeris</i>. Their +observations follow each other in such a manner as to render it unnecessary for +them to recur to those of Greenwich, of which they have hitherto made continual +use. Since the year 1795, the <i>Connaissance des Tems</i> has been compiled by +JÉROME LALANDE. At the end of the tables and their explanation, it contains a +collection of observations, memoirs, and important calculations. The French +astronomers are not a little surprised that we publish no similar work in +London; while Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Gotha, and Milan set us the example. It is +in the last volumes of the <i>Connaissance des Tems</i> that JÉROME LALANDE +gives the history of astronomy, where you will find every thing that has been +done in this science.</p> +<p>The <i>Bureau des Longitudes</i> also publishes for every year, in advance, +the <i>Annuaire de la République</i>, which serves as a rule for all the +almanacks compiled in France. The meetings of the Board are held at the</p> +<p class="center">NATIONAL OBSERVATORY.</p> +<p>This edifice, which is situated at the farther end of the <i>Faubourg St. +Jacques</i>, was constructed in 1664, by order of COLBERT, and under the +direction of PERRAULT, the medical architect, who planned the celebrated façade +of the <i>Louvre</i>.</p> +<p>The form of the building is rectangular. Neither wood nor iron have been +employed in its construction. It is arched throughout, and its four sides stand +exactly in the direction of the four cardinal points of the horizon. Although +its elevation is eighty-five feet, it comprises but two stories, terminated by +a flat roof, whence you command a fine view of Paris. You ascend thither by a +winding staircase which has a hollow newel. This staircase, consisting of three +hundred and sixty steps, extends downward to a similar depth of eighty-five +feet, and forms a sort of well, at the bottom of which you can perceive the +light. From this well have been observed the different degrees of acceleration +in the descent of bodies.</p> +<p>The subterraneous vaults have served for meteorological experiments. In one +of them water is seen to petrify on filtering through the rock above. They lead +to near fifty streets or passages, formed by quarries excavated in procuring +the stones with which great part of the city of Paris is constructed.</p> +<p>Previously to the year 1777, churches, palaces, whole streets of houses, and +the public highway of several quarters of Paris and its environs, were on the +point of being swallowed up in gulfs no less vast in depth than in extent. +Since then, considerable works have been undertaken to consolidate these +subterraneous caverns, and fill up the void, equally dangerous, occasioned by +the working of the plaster-quarries.</p> +<p>An accident of a very alarming nature, which happened in the <i>Rue +d'Enfer</i> in the year 1774; and another, at Montmenil, in 1778, shewed the +necessity of expediting these operations, which were followed up with great +activity from 1777 to 1789, when their progress was relaxed from the +circumstances of the times. These quarries are far more extensive than is +commonly imagined. In the department of the Seine alone, they extend under all +the south part of Paris, and the roads, plains, and <i>communes</i>, to the +distance of several leagues round the circumference of this city. Their roof, +with the edifices standing on the soil that covers it, is either supported by +walls recently built under the foundation of those edifices, or by pillars +constructed at different periods in several places. The government is at the +expense of providing for the safety of the streets, highways, and public +buildings, but that of propping under-ground all private habitations must be +defrayed by the proprietor. These ancient quarries had been much neglected, and +the means of visiting them was equally dangerous and inconvenient. At present, +every precaution is taken to insure the safety of the persons employed in them, +as well as the stability of their roof; and for the better superintendance of +all the subterraneous constructions of Paris, galleries of communication have +been formed of sufficient width to admit the free passage of materials +necessary for keeping them in repair.</p> +<p>Let us now find our way out of these labyrinths, and reascending to the +surface of the soil, pursue our examination of the Observatory.</p> +<p>In a large room on the first floor is traced the meridian line, which +divides this building into two parts. Thence, being extended to the south and +north, it crosses France from Colieure to Dunkirk.</p> +<p>On the pavement of one of the rooms is engraved a universal circular map, by +CHAZELLES and SÉDILLAN. Another room is called the <i>Salle aux secrets</i>, +because on applying the mouth to the groove of a pilaster, and whispering, a +person placed at the opposite pilaster hears what is said, while those in the +middle of the room, hear nothing. This phenomenon, the cause of which has been +so often explained, must be common to all buildings constructed in this +manner.</p> +<p>In speaking of the <i>Champ de Mars</i>, I mentioned that LALANDE obtained +the construction of an Observatory at the <i>ci-devant École Militaire</i>. +Since 1789, he and his nephew have discovered fifty thousand stars; an immense +labour, the greater part of them being telescopic and invisible to the naked +eye. Of this number, he has already classed thirty thousand.</p> +<p>The CASSINIS had neglected the Observatory in Paris; but when LALANDE was +director of this establishment, he obtained from BONAPARTE good instruments of +every description and of the largest dimensions. These have been executed by +the first artists, who, with the greatest intelligence, have put in practice +all the means of improvement which we owe to the fortunate discoveries of the +eighteenth century. Of course, it is now as well provided as that of Greenwich. +MÉCHAIN, the present director, and BOUVARD, his associate, are extremely +assiduous in their astronomical labours.</p> +<p>CARROCHÉ has made for this Observatory a twenty-two feet telescope, which +rivals those of HERSCHEL of the same length; and the use of reflecting circles, +imagined by MAYER, and brought into use by BORDA, which LENOIR executes in a +superior manner, and which we have not yet chosen to adopt in England, has +introduced into the observations of the French an accuracy hitherto unknown. +The meridian from Dunkirk to Barcelona, measured between the years 1792 and +1798, by DELAMBRE and MÉCHAIN, is of an astonishing exactness. It has brought +to light the irregularity of the degrees, which was not suspected. The rules, +composed of platina and copper, which LAVOISIER and BORDA imagined for +measuring bases, without having occasion to calculate the effect of dilatation, +are a singular invention, and greatly surpass what RAMSDEN made for the bases +measured in England.</p> +<p>LAPLACE has discovered in the Moon inequalities with which we were not +acquainted. The work he has published, under the title of <i>Mécanique +Céleste</i>, contains the most astonishing discoveries of physical theory, the +great inequality of Jupiter and Saturn, the acceleration of the Moon, the +equation of the third Satellite of Jupiter, and the flux and reflux of the +sea.</p> +<p>BURCKHARDT, one of the associated members of the <i>Bureau des +Longitudes</i>, is a first-rate astronomer and a man of superior talent. He is +at present employed on the difficult task of calculating the very considerable +derangements of the planet discovered by OLBERS at Bremen, on the 28th of March +1801.</p> +<p>VIDAL has made, at Mirepoix, more observations of Mercury than all the +astronomers for two thousand years past, and these are the most difficult and +uncommon.</p> +<p>DELAMBRE has computed tables of the Sun, of Jupiter, of Saturn, and of +Herschel; LALANDE, the nephew, has composed tables of Mars; and his uncle, of +Mercury, which never deviate more than a few seconds from the observations.</p> +<p>Even during the reign of terror, astronomy was not neglected. Through the +interest of CARNOT, CALON, LAKANAL, and FOURCROY, the <i>Bureau de Consultation +des Arts</i> gave annually the sum of 300,000 francs (<i>circa</i> £12,000 +sterling) in gratifications to artists.</p> +<p>Afterwards, in 1796, the National Institute, richly endowed, proposed +considerable premiums. LALANDE, the uncle, founded one for astronomy; +BONAPARTE, another for physics; and the First Consul has promised 60,000 francs +(<i>circa</i> £2,800 sterling) to any one who shall make a discovery of +importance.</p> +<p>France can now boast of two young geometricians, BIOT and PUISSON, who, for +analytical genius, surpass all that exist in Europe. It is rather extraordinary +that, with the exception of Mr. CAVENDISH and Dr. WARING, England has produced +no great geometricians since the death of MACLAURIN, STERLING, and SIMPSON.</p> +<p>The French tables of Logarithms, printed stereotypically, are cleared of all +the errors which afflicted calculators of every country. Those of other nations +will owe this obligation to Frenchmen.</p> +<p>HERSCHEL no longer looks for comets; but the French astronomers, MESSIER, +MÉCHAIN, BOUVARD, and PONS find some. Last year, JÉROME LALANDE deposited 600 +francs in the hands of his notary, as a premium to stimulate the efforts of +young observers.</p> +<p class="right"><i>February 11, in continuation.</i></p> +<p>In the spring of 1803, MÉCHAIN will leave Paris for the purpose of extending +his meridian to the Balearic Islands. He will measure the length of the +pendulum in several places, in order to ascertain the inequality of the earth +which the measure of the degrees had indicated. This circumstance reminds me of +my neglect in not having yet satisfied your desire to have a short account of +the means employed for fixing the standard of the</p> +<p class="center">NEW FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.</p> +<p>Among the great ideas realized during the first period of the revolution, +must be reckoned that of a uniform system of weights and measures. From all +parts of France remonstrances were sent against the great variety of those in +use. Several kings had endeavoured to remedy this evil, which was so hurtful to +lawful trade, and favourable only to fraud and double-dealing. Yet what even +<i>they</i> had not been able to effect, was undertaken by the Constituent +Assembly. It declared that there ought to be but one standard of weights and +measures, in a country subject to the same laws. The <i>Academy of Sciences</i> +was charged to seek and present the best mode of carrying this decree into +execution. That society proposed the adoption of the decimal division, by +taking for a fundamental unit the ten-millionth part of the quarter of the +terrestrial meridian. The motives which determined this choice were the extreme +simplicity of decimal calculation, and the advantage of having a measure taken +from nature. The latter condition would, in truth, have been accomplished, had +there been taken, as a fundamental unit, the length of the pendulum marking +seconds for a given latitude; but the measure of an arc of the meridian, +executed with the precision to be obtained by the methods and instruments of +the present day, was extremely interesting in regard to the theory of the +figure of the earth. This influenced the decision of the Academy, and if the +motives which it presented to the Constituent Assembly were not exactly the +real ones, it is because the sciences have also their policy: it sometimes +happens that to serve mankind, one must resolve to deceive them.</p> +<p>All the measures of the metrical system, adopted by the Republic, are +deduced from a base taken from nature, the fourth part of the terrestrial +meridian; and the divisions of those measures are all subjected to the decimal +order employed in arithmetic.</p> +<p>In order to establish this base, the grand and important work of taking a +new measure of the terrestrial meridian, from Dunkirk to Barcelona, was begun +in 1792. At the expiration of seven years, it was terminated; and the Institute +presented the result to the Legislative Body with the original table of the new +measures.</p> +<p>MÉCHAIN and DELAMBRE measured the angles of ninety triangles with the new +reflecting circles; imagined by MAYER, and which BORDA had caused to be +constructed. With these instruments, they made four observations of latitude at +Dunkirk, Paris, Évaux, Carcassonne, and Barcelona; two bases measured near +Melun and Perpignan, with rules of platina and copper, forming metallic +thermometers, were connected with the triangles of the meridian line: the total +interval, which was 9°.6738, was found to be 551584.72 toises. As the +degrees progressively diminished towards the south, but much more towards the +middle than towards the extremities, the middle of the whole arc was taken; +and, on comparing it with the degrees measured at Peru, between the years 1737 +and 1741, the ellipticity of the earth was concluded to be 1/334 the mean +degree, 57008 toises; and the MÈTRE, which is the ten-millionth part of the +quarter of the meridian, 443.296 lines of the old French toise which had been +used at Peru.</p> +<p>The Commissioners, sent from foreign countries, verified all the +calculations, and sanctioned the results. The experiments of the pendulum made +at the observatory, with extreme care, by BORDA, MÉCHAIN, and CASSINI, with a +new apparatus, constructed by LENOIR, shewed the pendulum to be 0.99385 of the +<i>mètre</i>, on reducing it to the freezing point, and in <i>vacuo</i>: this +would be sufficient for finding again the <i>mètre</i>, though all the +standards were changed or lost.</p> +<p>Exact experiments, made by LEFÈVRE-GINEAU, with instruments constructed by +FORTIN, shewed the weight of the cubic decimetre of distilled water, at the +point of the greatest condensation to be 18827.15 grains of the pile of 50 +marcs, which is preserved here in the <i>Hôtel de la Monnaie</i>, and is called +<i>Le poids de Charlemagne</i>; the toise being supposed at 13 degrees of the +thermometer of 80 degrees. The scales of FORTIN might give a millionth part and +more; and LEFÈVRE-GINEAU employed in all these experiments and calculations the +most scrupulous degree of exactness.</p> +<p>Thus the MÈTRE or principal unit of the French linear measures has furnished +those of the weights; and all this grand system, taken from nature, is +connected with the base the most invariable, the size of the earth itself.</p> +<p>The unit of the measures of capacity is a cube whose side is the tenth part +of the <i>mètre</i>, to which has been given the name of LITRE; the unit of +measures of solidity, relative to wood, a cube whose side is the <i>mètre</i>, +which is called STÈRE. In short, the thousandth part of a <i>litre</i> of +distilled water, weighed in <i>vacuo</i> and at the temperature of melting ice, +has been chosen for the unit of weights, which is called GRAMME.</p> +<p>The following TABLE presents the nomenclature of these different Measures, +their divisions, and multiples, together with the new Weights, as decreed by +the Legislative Body, and to it is annexed their correspondence both with the +old French Measures and Weights, and those of England.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><th colspan="11" align="center">LINEAR MEASURES</th></tr> +<tr><th colspan="11"> </th></tr> +<tr><th colspan="2"> </th><th colspan="4" align="center">FRENCH</th> + <th> </th> <th colspan="4" align="center">ENGLISH</th></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td> <td align="center">Toises</td> + <td align="center">Feet</td> <td align="center">Inches</td> + <td align="center">Lines</td> <td> </td> <td align="center">Miles</td> + <td align="center">Furlongs</td> <td align="center">Yards</td> + <td align="center">Feet</td> <td align="center">Inches</td></tr> +<tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><i>Myriamètre</i> (or League)</td> + <td align="right">10,000 Mètres</td> <td align="right">5,130</td> + <td align="right">4 </td> <td align="right">5 </td> + <td align="right">3.360</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">6 </td> <td align="right">1 </td> + <td align="right">156 </td> <td align="right">0 </td> + <td align="right">6 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Kilomètre</i> (or Mile)</td><td align="right">1,000 Mètres</td> + <td align="right">513</td> <td align="right">0 </td> + <td align="right">5 </td> <td align="right">3.936</td> + <td> </td> <td> </td><td align="right">4 </td> + <td align="right">213 </td> <td align="right">1 </td> + <td align="right">10.2 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Hectomètre</i></td><td align="right">100 Mètres</td> + <td align="right">51</td> <td align="right">1 </td> + <td align="right">10 </td> <td align="right">1.583</td> + <td> </td> <td> </td><td> </td> + <td align="right">109 </td> <td align="right">1 </td> + <td align="right">1 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décamètre</i></td> <td align="right">10 Mètres</td> + <td align="right">5</td> <td align="right">0 </td> + <td align="right">9 </td> <td align="right">4.959</td> + <td> </td> <td> </td><td> </td> + <td align="right">10 </td> <td align="right">2 </td> + <td align="right">9.7 </td></tr> +<tr><td>MÈTRE</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">3 </td> <td align="right">0 </td> + <td align="right">11.296</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">3 </td> + <td align="right">3.371</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décimètre</i> (or Palm)</td><td align="right">10th of a Mètre</td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="right">3 </td> + <td align="right">8.330</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="right">3.937</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Centimètre</i> (or Digit)</td> + <td align="right">100th of a Mètre</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">4.433</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">0.393</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Millimètre</i> (or Trait)</td> + <td align="right" nowrap="nowrap">1,000th of a Mètre</td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="right">0.443</td> + <td> </td><td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">0.039</td></tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><th colspan="6" align="center">AGRARIAN MEASURES</th></tr> +<tr><th> </th><th colspan="2">FRENCH.</th><th> </th> + <th colspan="3">ENGLISH.</th></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td>square toises</td> <td> </td> + <td>Acres</td> <td>Roods</td> <td>Perches</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Myriare</i>, square Kilomètre</td><td align="right">263244.93</td> + <td> </td><td align="right">247</td> <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">20 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Milare</i></td><td align="right">26324.49</td> + <td> </td><td align="right">24</td> <td align="right">2</td> + <td align="right">34 </td></tr> +<tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><i>Hectare</i>, or <i>(Arpent)</i> square + <i>Hectomètre</i></td> <td align="right">2632.45</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">2</td> <td align="right">1</td> + <td align="right">35.4 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décare</i></td><td align="right">263.24</td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="right">39.54 </td></tr> +<tr><td>ARE, (or square Perch) square <i>Décamètre</i></td> + <td align="right">26.32</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td> + <td align="right">3.954</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Déciare</i></td><td align="right">2.63</td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="right">.395</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Centiare</i>, (or 100th part of a square Perch) square + <i>Mètre</i></td><td align="right">0.26</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">.039</td></tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><th colspan="5" align="center">MEASURES OF CAPACITY.</th></tr> +<tr><th> </th><th colspan="2">FRENCH.</th><th> </th> + <th>ENGLISH.</th></tr> +<tr><td colspan="4"> </td> <td>Cubic Inches</td></tr> +<tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><i>Kilolitre,</i> (or Hogshead) cubic <i>Mètre</i></td> + <td align="right">29.1739</td><td>cubic feet</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">61028 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Hectolitre,</i> (or <i>Setier</i>)</td> + <td align="right">2.9174</td> <td>cubic feet</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">6102.8 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décalitre,</i> (or Bushel)</td><td align="right">0.2917</td> + <td>cubic feet</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">610.28 </td></tr> +<tr><td>LITRE, (or <i>Pinte</i>) cubic <i>Décimètre</i></td> + <td align="right" nowrap="nowrap">50.4124</td><td>cubic inches</td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">61.028 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décilitre,</i> (or Glass)</td> <td align="right">5.0412</td> + <td>cubic inches</td> <td> </td> <td align="right">6.1028</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Centilitre</i></td> <td align="right">0.5041</td> + <td>cubic inches</td> <td> </td> <td align="right">.6102</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Millitre,</i> cubic <i>Centimètre</i></td> + <td align="right">0.0504</td> <td>cubic inches</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">.061 </td> </tr> +</table> +<p class="center">N. B. A <i>Litre</i> is nearly equal to 2-7/8 Pints, English +Wine Measure.</p> +<p> </p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><th colspan="5" align="center">MEASURES FOR WOOD.</th></tr> +<tr><th> </th><th colspan="2">FRENCH.</th><th> </th> + <th>ENGISH.</th></tr> +<tr><td colspan="4"> </td> <td>Cubic Feet.</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Stère</i>, cubical <i>Mètre</i></td> + <td align="right">29.1739</td><td>cubic feet</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">35.3171</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décistère,</i> (or <i>Solive</i>)</td> <td align="right">2.9174</td> + <td>cubic feet</td> <td> </td> <td align="right">3.5317</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Centistère</i></td> <td align="right">0.2917</td> + <td>cubic feet</td> <td> </td> <td align="right">.3531</td></tr> +<tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><i>Millistère,</i> cubic <i>Décimètre</i></td> + <td align="right">0.0291</td> <td>cubic feet</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">.0353</td></tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<table summary="paris" align="center"> +<tr><th colspan="10">WEIGHTS.</th></tr> +<tr><th> </th><th colspan="4">FRENCH.</th><th> </th> + <th colspan="4">ENGLISH.</th></tr> +<tr><td colspan="6"> </td><td colspan="4" align="center">TROY.</td></tr> +<tr><td> </td> <td>lbs.</td> <td>oz.</td> <td>drms.</td> <td>grains.</td> + <td> </td> <td>lbs.</td> <td>oz.</td> <td>dwts.</td> + <td>grains.</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Myriagramme</i></td> <td align="right">20</td> + <td align="right">6</td> <td align="right">6 </td> + <td align="right">63.5 </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">26</td> <td align="right">9</td> + <td align="right">15 </td> + <td align="right">0.23 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Kilogramme,</i> (or Pound) weight of the cubic <i>Décimètre</i> of + water at 4°. which is the <i>maximum</i> of density</td> + <td align="right">2</td> <td align="right">0</td> + <td align="right">5 </td> <td align="right">35.15 </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">2</td> <td align="right">8</td> + <td align="right">3 </td> + <td align="right">12.02 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Hectogramme,</i> (or Ounce)</td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">3</td> <td align="right">2 </td> + <td align="right">10.72 </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">3</td> <td align="right">4 </td> + <td align="right">8.40 </td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décagramme,</i> (or Drachm)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">2 </td> <td align="right">44.27 </td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">6 </td> + <td align="right">10.44 </td></tr> +<tr><td>GRAMME, (or <i>Denier</i>) weight of the cubic <i>Centimètre</i> at the + freezing point</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">18.827</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">15.444</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Décigramme,</i> (or Grain)</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">1.883</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td> </td> <td align="right">1.544</td></tr> +<tr><td><i>Centigramme</i></td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">0.188</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">.154</td></tr> +<tr><td nowrap="nowrap"><i>Milligramme,</i> weight of a cubic <i>Millimètre</i> + of water</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td align="right">0.019</td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> + <td> </td> <td align="right">.015</td></tr> +</table> +<hr width="50%"> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let66f1">Footnote 1</a>: Since dead. The former is +replaced by DELAMBRE. CHABERT and PRONY are elected supernumerary members, and +LEFRANÇAIS LALANDE, BOUVARD, and BURCKHARDT, appointed assistant +astronomers. <a href="#let66fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let66f2">Footnote 2</a>: The Prize has been awarded to +M. BURG, an astronomer at Vienna. <a href="#let66fr2">Return to +text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let67">LETTER LXVII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 14, 1802.</i></p> +<p>After speaking of the <i>Board of Longitude</i> and the <i>National +Observatory</i>, I must not omit to say a few words of an establishment much +wanted in England. I mean the</p> +<p class="center">DÉPÔT DE LA MARINE.</p> +<p>This general repository of maps, charts, plans, journals, and archives of +the Navy and the Colonies, is under the direction of a flag-officer. It is +situated in the <i>Rue de la Place Vendôme</i>; but the archives are still kept +in an office at Versailles. To this <i>Dépôt</i> are attached the Hydrographer +and Astronomer of the Navy, both members of the National Institute and of the +Board of Longitude, and also a number of engineers and draughtsmen proportioned +to the works which the government orders to be executed.</p> +<p>The title of this <i>Dépôt</i> sufficiently indicates what it contains. To +it has been lately added a library, composed of all the works relative to +navigation, hydrography, naval architecture, and to the navy in general, as +well as of all the voyages published in the different dead or living languages. +The collection of maps, charts, plans, &c. belonging to it, is composed of +originals in manuscript, ancient and modern, of French or foreign sea-charts, +published at different times, and of maps of the possessions beyond the seas +belonging to the maritime states of Europe and to the United-States of +America.</p> +<p>All the commanders of vessels belonging to the State are bound, on their +return to port, to address to the Minister of the Naval Department, in order to +be deposited in the archives, the journals of their voyage, and the +astronomical or other observations which they have been enabled to make, and +the charts and plans which they have had an opportunity of constructing.</p> +<p>One of the apartments of the <i>Dépôt</i> contains models of ships of war +and other vessels, the series of which shews the progress of naval architecture +for two centuries past, and the models of the different machines employed in +the ports for the various operations relative to building, equipping, +repairing, and keeping in order ships and vessels of war.</p> +<p>The <i>Dépôt de la Marine</i> publishes new sea-charts in proportion as new +observations or discoveries indicate the necessity of suppressing or rectifying +the old ones. </p> +<p>When the service requires it, the engineers belonging to the <i>Dépôt</i> +are detached to verify parts of the coasts of the French territory in Europe, +or in any other part of the world, where experience has proved that time has +introduced changes with which it is important to be acquainted, or to rectify +the charts of other parts that had not yet been surveyed with the degree of +exactness of which the methods now known and practised have rendered such works +susceptible.</p> +<p>In the French navy, commanders of ships and vessels are supplied with useful +charts and atlases of every description, at the expense of the nation. These +are delivered into their care previously to the ship leaving port. When a +captain is superseded in his command, he transfers them to his successor; and +when the ship is put out of commission, they are returned to the proper office. +Why does not the British government follow an example so justly deserving of +imitation?</p> +<h2><a name="let68">LETTER LXVIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 15, 1802.</i></p> +<p>After the beautiful theatre of the old <i>Comédie Française</i>, under its +new title of <i>l'Odéon</i>, became a prey to flames, as I have before +mentioned, the comedians belonging it were dispersed on all sides. At length, +PICARD assembled a part of them in a house, built at the beginning of the +revolution, which, from the name of the street where it is situated, is called +the</p> +<p class="center">THÉÂTRE LOUVOIS.</p> +<p>No colonnade, no exterior decoration announces it as a place of public +amusement, and any one might pass it at noon-day without suspecting the +circumstance, but for the prices of admission being painted in large characters +over the apertures in the wall, where the public deposit their money.</p> +<p>This house, which is of a circular form, is divided, into four tiers of +boxes. The ornaments in front of them, not being in glaring colours, give, by +their pale tint, a striking brilliancy to the dress of the women.</p> +<p>PICARD, the manager of this theatre, is the MOLIÈRE of his company; that is, +he is at once author and actor, and, in both lines, indefatigable. Undoubtedly, +the most striking, and, some say, the only resemblance he bears to the mirror +of French comedy, is to be compelled to bring on the stage pieces in so +unfinished a state as to be little more than sketches, or, in other words, he +is forced to write in order to subsist his company. Thus then, the stock-pieces +of this theatre are all of them of his own composition. The greater part are +<i>imbroglios</i> bordering on farce. The <i>vis comica</i> to be found in them +is not easily understood by foreigners, since it chiefly consists in allusions +to local circumstances and sayings of the day. However, they sometimes produce +laughter in a surprising degree, but more frequently make those laugh who never +blush to laugh at any thing.</p> +<p>The most lively of his pieces are <i>Le Collatéral</i> and <i>la Petite +Ville</i>. In the course of last month, he produced one under the name of <i>La +Grande Ville, ou les Provinciaux à Paris</i>, which occasioned a violent +uproar. The characters of this pseudo-comedy are swindlers or fools; and the +spectators insisted that the portraits were either too exact a copy of the +originals, or not at all like them. <a name="let68fr1"></a>By means of much +insolence, by means of the guard which was incautiously introduced into the +pit, and which put to flight the majority of the audience, and, lastly, by +means of several alterations, PICARD contrived to get his piece endured. But +this triumph may probably be the signal of his ruin,[<a href="#let68f1">1</a>] +as the favour of the Parisian public, once lost, is never to be regained.</p> +<p>This histrionic author and manager has written some pieces of a serious +cast. The principal are, <i>Médiocre et Rampant</i>, and <i>L'Entrée dans le +Monde</i>. As in <i>La Grande Ville</i>, the characters in these are also +cheats or fools. Consequently, it was not difficult to conduct the plot, it +would have been much more so to render it interesting. These two comedies are +written in verse which might almost pass for prose.</p> +<p>The <i>Théâtre Louvois</i> is open to all young authors who have the +ambition to write for the stage, before they have well stored their mind with +the requisites. Novelties here succeed each other with astonishing rapidity. +Hence, whatever success PICARD may have met with as an author, he has not been +without competitors for his laurels. Out of no less than one hundred and +sixty-seven pieces presented for rehearsal and read at this house, one hundred +and sixty-five are said to have been refused. Of the two accepted, the one, +though written forty years ago, was brought out as a new piece, and damned. +However, the ill success of a piece represented here is not remarked; the fall +not being great.</p> +<p>The friends of this theatre call it <i>La petite Maison de Thalie</i>. They +take the part for the whole. It is, in fact, no more than her anti-chamber. As +for the drawing-room of the goddess, it is no longer to be found any where in +Paris.</p> +<p>The performers who compose PICARD'S company do no injustice to his pieces. +It is affirmed that this company has what is called, on the French stage, <i>de +l'ensemble</i>. With few exceptions, there is an <i>ensemble</i>, as it is very +indifferent. For such an interpretation to be correct, it would be necessary +for all the comedians of the <i>Théâtre Louvois</i> to have great talents, and +none can be quoted.</p> +<p>PICARD, though not unfrequently applauded, is but a sorry actor. His cast of +parts is that of valets and comic characters.</p> +<p>DEVIGNY performs the parts of noble fathers and foolish ones, here termed +<i>dindons</i>, and grooms, called by the French <i>jockeis</i>. The remark, +that he who plays every thing plays nothing, has not been unaptly applied to +him. He has a defect of pronunciation which shocks even the ear of a +foreigner.</p> +<p>DORSAN is naturally cold and stiff, and when he endeavours to repair the +former of these defects, the weakness of his powers betrays him. If he speaks +correctly, it is without <i>finesse</i>, and he never adds by expression to the +thought of the author.</p> +<p>CLOZEL is a very handsome young man. He performs the characters of +<i>petits-maîtres</i> and those of valets, which he confounds incessantly. The +other actors of the <i>Théâtre Louvois</i> exempt me from naming them.</p> +<p>As for the actresses at this theatre, those only worthy to be mentioned are, +Mademoiselle ADELINE, who has a rather pretty face, and plays not ill innocent +parts; Mademoiselle BEFFROI, who is handsome, especially in male attire; and +Mademoiselle MOLIÈRE, who is a very good <i>soubrette</i>. Mademoiselle LESCOT, +tired of obtaining applause at the <i>Théâtre du Vaudeville</i>, wished to do +the same on a larger theatre. Here, she has not even the consolation of +saying</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>Tel brille au second rang, qui s'éclipse au premier.</i>"</p> +<p>Madame MOLÉ, who is enormous in bulk, is a coarse caricature, whether she +performs the parts of noble mothers, or what the French call <i>caractères</i>, +that is, singular characters.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p>The <i>ci-devant Comédie Italienne</i> in Paris partly owed its prosperity +to the <i>Vaudeville</i>, which might be considered as the parent of the +<i>Opéra-Comique</i>. They were united, when the <i>drame</i> being introduced +with songs, had like to have annihilated them both. The <i>Vaudeville</i> was +sacrificed and banished. Several years elapsed before it reappeared. This +offspring of French gaiety was thought to be lost for ever; but a few authors +had prepared for it an asylum under the name of</p> +<p class="center">THÉÂTRE DU VAUDEVILLE.</p> +<p>This little theatre is situated in the <i>Rue de Chartres</i>, which faces +the principal entrance of the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>. The interior is of a +circular form, and divided into four tiers of boxes. In general, the +decorations are not of the first class, but in the dresses the strictest +propriety is observed.</p> +<p><a name="let68fr2"></a>The pieces performed at the <i>Vaudeville</i> are +little comedies of the sentimental cast, a very extensive collection of +portraits of French authors and of a few foreigners,[<a href="#let68f2">2</a>] +some pastoral pieces, parodies closely bordering on the last new piece +represented at one of the principal theatres, charming <i>harlequinades</i>, +together with a few pieces, in some of which parade and show are introduced; in +others, scenes of low life and vulgarity; but the latter species is now almost +abandoned.</p> +<p>These pieces are almost always composed in conjunction. It is by no means +uncommon to see in the play-bills the names of five or six authors to a piece, +in which the public applaud, perhaps, no more than three verses of a song. This +association of names, however, has the advantage of saving many of them from +ridicule.</p> +<p>The authors who chiefly devote themselves to the species of composition from +which this theatre derives its name, are BARRÉ, RADET, and DESFONTAINES, who +may be considered as its founders. BOURGEUIL, DESCHAMPS, DESPREZ, and the two +SÉGURS, also contribute to the success of the <i>Vaudeville</i>, together with +CHAZET, JOUY, LONGCHAMPS, and some others.</p> +<p>In the exercise of their talents, these writers suffer no striking +adventure, no interesting anecdote to escape their satirical humour; but aim +the shafts of ridicule at every subject likely to afford amusement. It may +therefore be conceived that this house is much frequented. No people on earth +can be more fickle than the French in general, and the Parisians in particular, +in the choice of their diversions. Like children, they are soon tired of the +same toy, and novelty is for them the greatest attraction. Hence, the +<i>Vaudeville</i>, as has been seen, presents a great variety of pieces. In +general, these are by no means remarkable for the just conception of their +plan. The circumstance of the moment adroitly seized, and related in some +well-turned stanzas, interspersed with dialogue, is sufficient to insure the +success of a new piece, especially if adapted to the abilities of the +respective performers.</p> +<p>Among them, HENRY would shine in the parts of lovers, were he less of a +<i>mannerist</i>.</p> +<p>JULIEN may be quoted as an excellent imitator of the beaux of the day.</p> +<p>VERTPRÉ excels in personating a striking character.</p> +<p>CARPENTIER is no bad representative of a simpleton.</p> +<p>CHAPELLE displays much comic talent and warmth in the character of dotards, +who talk themselves out of their reason.</p> +<p>LAPORTE, as a speaking Harlequin, has no equal in Paris.</p> +<p>So much for the men: I shall now speak of the women deserving of notice.</p> +<p>Madame HENRY, in the parts of lovers, is to be preferred for her fine eyes, +engaging countenance, elegant shape, and clear voice.</p> +<p>Mesdemoiselles COLOMBE and LAPORTE, who follow her in the same line of +acting, are both young, and capable of improvement.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle DESMARES is far from being pretty; neither is she much of an +actress, but she treads the stage well, and sings not amiss.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle BLOSSEVILLE plays chambermaids and characters of parody with +tolerable success.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle DELILLE, however, who performs caricatures and characters where +frequent disguises are assumed, is a still greater favourite with the public. +So much has been said of the glibness of a female tongue that many of the +comparisons made on the subject are become proverbial; but nothing that I ever +heard in that way can be compared to the volubility of utterance of +Mademoiselle DELILLE, except the clearness of her articulation. A quick and +attentive ear may catch every syllable as distinctly as if she spoke with the +utmost gravity and slowness. The piece in which she exhibits this talent to +great advantage, and under a rapid succession of disguises, is called +<i>Frosine ou la dernière venue</i>.</p> +<p>Mademoiselle FLEURY makes an intelligent Columbine, not unworthy of LAPORTE. +</p> +<p>Madame DUCHAUME represents not ill characters of duennas, country-women, +&c.</p> +<p>Nothing can be said of the voice of the different performers of this +theatre, on which acccount, perhaps, the orchestra is rather feeble; but still +it might be better composed. </p> +<p>During my present visit to Paris, the <i>Vaudeville</i>, as it is commonly +called, has, I think, insensibly declined. It has, however, been said that its +destiny seems insured by the character of the French, and that being the first +theatre to bend to the caprices of the day, it can never be out of fashion. +Certainly, if satire be a good foundation, it ought to be the most substantial +dramatic establishment in Paris. It rests on public malignity, which is its +main support. Hence, one might conclude that it will last as long as there is +evil doing or evil saying, an absurdity to catch at, an author to parody, a +tale of scandal to relate, a rogue to abuse, and, in short, as long as the +chapter of accidents shall endure. At this rate, the <i>Vaudeville</i> must +stand to all eternity.</p> +<p>Whatever may be its defects, it unquestionably exemplifies the character of +the nation, so faithfully pourtrayed by Beaumarchais, in the following lines of +the <i>vaudeville</i> which concludes the <i>Mariage de Figaro</i>:</p> +<p class="bq"><i>"Si l'on opprime, il peste, il crie,<br /> +Il s'agite en cent façons,<br /> +Tout finit par des chansons." bis.</i></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let68f1">Footnote 1</a>: The <i>Théâtre Louvois</i> is +rapidly on the decline. <a href="#let68fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let68f2">Footnote 2</a>: These are pieces the hero of +which is a celebrated personage, such as RABELAIS, SCARRON, VOLTAIRE, ROUSSEAU, +MALESHERBES, FREDERIC, king of Prussia, &c. +&c. <a href="#let68fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let69">LETTER LXIX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 17, 1802.</i></p> +<p>After having traversed the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, from the north side of the +Seine, you cannot avoid noticing a handsome building to the right, situated on +the <i>Quai de Conti</i>, facing the river. This is the Mint, or</p> +<p class="center">HÔTEL DE LA MONNAIE.</p> +<p>The construction of this edifice was suggested by M. LAVERDY, Minister of +State, and executed under the direction of M. ANTOINE, architect. I do not +recollect any building of the kind in Europe that can be compared to it, since +it far surpasses the <i>Zecca</i> at Venice.</p> +<p>The Abbé Terray (whose name will not be readily forgotten by the +State-annuitants of his time, and for whom Voltaire, as one, said that he +preserved his only tooth) when Comptroller-general of the Finances, laid the +first stone of the <i>Hôtél de la Monnaie</i>, in April 1771.</p> +<p>An avant-corps, decorated with six Ionic pillars, and supported by two +wings, from the division of the façade, which is three hundred and thirty-six +feet in breadth by eighty-four in elevation. It is distributed into two stories +above the ground-floor. Perpendicularly to the six pillars, rise six statues, +representing Peace, Commerce, Prudence, Law, Strength, and Plenty.</p> +<p>In this avant-corps are three arches, the centre one of which is the +principal entrance of the building. The vestibule is decorated with twenty-four +fluted Doric pillars, and on the right hand, is a stair-case, leading to the +apartments intended for the use of the officers belonging to the Mint, and in +which they hold their meetings. This stair-case is lighted by a dome supported +by sixteen fluted pillars of the Ionic order.</p> +<p>The whole building contains six courts: the principal court is one hundred +and ten feet in depth by ninety-two in breadth. All round it are covered +galleries, terminated by a circular wall alternately pierced with arches and +gates.</p> +<p>The entrance of the hall for the money-presses is ornamented by four Doric +pillars. This hall is sixty-two feet long by about forty broad, and contains +nine money-presses. Above it is the hall of the sizers or persons who prepare +the blank pieces for stamping. Next come the flatting-mills. Here, in a word, +are all the apartments necessary for the different operations, and aptly +arranged for the labours of coinage.</p> +<p>In the principal apartment of the avant-corps of the <i>Hôtel de la +Monnaie</i>, towards the <i>Quai de Cont</i>i, is the cabinet known in Paris by +the name of the</p> +<p class="center">MUSÉE DES MINES.</p> +<p>This cabinet or Museum was formed in 1778 by M. SAGE, who had then spent +eighteen years in collecting minerals. When he began to employ himself on that +science forty-five years ago, there existed in this country no collection which +could facilitate the study of mineralogy. Docimacy vas scarcely known here by +name. France was tributary to foreign countries thirty-seven millions of livres +(<i>circa</i> £1,541,666 sterling) a year for the mineral and metallic +substances which she drew from them, although she possesses them within +herself. M. SAGE directed his studies and labours to the research and analysis +of minerals. For twenty years he has delivered <i>gratis</i> public courses of +chymistry and mineralogy. For the advancement of those sciences, he also +availed himself of the favour he enjoyed with some persons at court and in the +ministry, and this was certainly making a very meritorious use of it. To his +care and interest is wholly due the collection of minerals placed in this +building. The apartment containing it has, by some, been thought to deviate +from the simple and severe style suitable to its destination, and to resemble +too much the drawing-room of a fine lady. But those who have hazarded such a +reproach do not consider that, at the period when this cabinet was formed, it +was not useless, in order to bring the sciences into fashion, to surround them +with the show of luxury and the elegance of accessory decoration. Who knows +even whether that very circumstance, trifling as it may appear, has not +somewhat contributed to spread a taste for the two sciences in question among +the great, and in the fashionable world?</p> +<p>However this may be, the arrangement of this cabinet is excellent, and, in +that respect, it is worthy to serve as a model. The productions of nature are +so disposed that the glazed closets and cases containing them present, as it +were, an open book in which the curious and attentive observer instructs +himself with the greater facility and expedition, as he can without effort +examine and study perfectly every individual specimen.</p> +<p>The inside of the Museum is about forty-five feet in length, thirty-eight in +breadth, and forty in elevation. In the middle is an amphitheatre capable of +holding two hundred persons. In the circumference are glazed cabinets or +closets, in which are arranged methodically and analytically almost all the +substances known in mineralogy. The octagonal gallery, above the elliptical +amphitheatre, contains large specimens of different minerals. To each specimen +is annexed an explanatory ticket. One of the large lateral galleries presents +part of the productions of the mines of France, classed according to the order +of the departments where they are found. The new transversal gallery contains +models of furnaces and machines employed in the working of mines. The third +gallery is also destined to contain the minerals of France, the essays and +results of which are deposited in a private cabinet. The galleries are +decorated with tables and vases of different species of marble, porphyry, and +granite, also from the mines of France, collected by SAGE. The cupola which +rises above, is elegantly ornamented from the designs of ANTOINE, the architect +of the building. </p> +<p>This Museum is open to the public every day from nine o'clock in the morning +till two, and, though it has been so many years an object of curiosity, such is +the care exerted in superintending it, that it has all the freshness of +novelty.</p> +<p>In a niche, on the first landing-place of the stair-case, is the bust of M. +SAGE, a tribute of gratitude paid to him by his pupils. SAGE'S principal object +being to naturalize in France mineralogy, docimacy, and metallurgy, he first +obtained the establishment of a <i>Special School of Mines</i>, in which pupils +were maintained by the State. Here, he directed their studies, and enjoyed the +happiness of forming intelligent men, capable of improving the science of +metallurgy, and promoting the search of ores, &c.</p> +<p>For a number of years past, as I have already observed, SAGE has delivered +<i>gratis</i>, in this Museum; public courses of chymistry and mineralogy. He +attracts hither many auditors by the ease of his elocution, and the address, +the grace even which he displays in his experiments. If all those who have +attended his lectures are to be reckoned his pupils, there will be found in the +number names illustrious among the <i>savans</i> of France. Unfortunately, this +veteran of science has created for himself a particular system in chymistry, +and this system differs from that of LAVOISIER, FOURCROY, GUYTON-MORVEAU, +BERTHOLLET, CHAPTAL, &c. The sciences have also their schisms; but the real +<i>savans</i> are not persecutors. Although SAGE was not of their opinion on +many essential points, his adversaries always respected him as the man who had +first drawn the attention of the government towards the art of mines, +instigated the establishment of the first school which had existed for this +important object, and been the author of several good analyses. On coming out +of prison, into which he had been thrown during the reign of terror, he found +this cabinet of mineralogy untouched. It would then have been easy, from +motives of public utility, to unite it to the new School of Mines. But the +heads of this new school had, for the most part, issued from the old one, and +SAGE was dear to them from every consideration. It was from a consequence of +this sentiment that SAGE, who had been a member of the <i>Academy of +Sciences</i>, not having been comprised in the list of the members of the +National Institute at the time of its formation, has since been admitted into +that learned body, not as a chymist indeed, but as a professor of mineralogy, a +science which owes to him much of its improvement.</p> +<p>The new School of Mines is now abolished, and practical ones are established +in the mountains, as I have before mentioned. While I am speaking of +mineralogy, I shall take you to view the</p> +<p class="center">CABINET DU CONSEIL DES MINES.</p> +<p>This cabinet of mineralogy, formed at the <i>Hôtel des Mines</i>, <i>Rue de +l'Université</i>, <i>No. 293</i>, is principally intended to present a complete +collection of all the riches of the soil of the French Republic, arranged in +local order. A succession of glazed closets, contiguous and similar to each +other, that is about six feet and a half in height by sixteen inches in depth, +affords every facility of observing them with ease and convenience. On these +cases the names of the departments are inscribed in alphabetical order, and the +vacancies which still exist in this geographical collection, are daily filled +up by specimens sent by the engineers of mines, who, being spread over the +different districts they are charged to visit, employ themselves in recognizing +carefully the mineral substances peculiar to each country, in order to submit +their views to the government respecting the means of rendering them useful to +commerce and to the arts.</p> +<p>The departmental collection, being thus arranged on the sides of the +gallery, leaves vacant the middle of the apartments, which is furnished with +tables covered with large glazed cases, intended for receiving systematic +collections, and the most remarkable mineral substances from foreign countries, +distributed in geographical order.</p> +<p>An apartment is specially appropriated to the systematic order adopted by +HAÜY in his new treatise on mineralogy; another is reserved for the method of +WERNER.</p> +<p>In both these oryctognostic collections, minerals of all countries are +indiscriminately admitted. They are arranged by <i>classes</i>, <i>orders</i>, +<i>genera</i>, <i>species</i>, and <i>varieties</i>, with the denominations +adopted by the author of the method, and consequently designated by specific +names in French for HAÜY'S method, and in German for that of WERNER. The +proximity of the two apartments where they are exhibited, affords every +advantage for comparing both methods, and acquiring an exact knowledge of +mineralogical synonymy. Each of the two methods contains also a geological +collection of rocks and various aggregates, classed and named after the +principles which their respective authors have thought fit to adopt.</p> +<p>The other apartments are likewise furnished with tables covered with glazed +cases, where are exhibited, in a manner very advantageous for study, the most +remarkable minerals of every description from foreign countries, among which +are:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li>A numerous series of minerals from Russia, such as red chromate of lead, +white carbonate of lead, green phosphate of lead; native copper, green and blue +carbonate of copper; gold ore from Berezof; iron ore, granitical rocks, fossil +shells, in good preservation, from the banks of the Moscorika, and others in +the siliceous state, jaspers, crystals of quartz, beril, &c.</li> +<li>A collection from the iron and copper mines of Sweden, as well as various +crystals and rocks from the same country.</li> +<li>A very complete and diversified collection of minerals from the country of +Saltzburg.</li> +<li>Another of substances procured in England, such as fluates and carbonates +of lime from Derbyshire; pyrites, copper and lead ore, zinc, and tin from +Cornwall.</li> +<li>A collection of tin ore, cobalt, uranite, &c. from Saxony. </li> +<li>A series of minerals from Simplon, St. Gothard, the Tyrol, Transylvania, as +well as from Egypt and America. All these articles, without being striking from +their size, and other accessory qualities to be remarked in costly specimens, +incontestably present a rich fund of instruction to persons delirous of +fathoming science, by multiplying the points of view under which mineral +productions may be observed.</li> +</ol> +<p>Such is the present state of the mineralogical collection of the <i>Conseil +des Mines</i>, which the superintendants will, no doubt, with time and +attention, bring to the highest degree of perfection. It is open to the public +every Monday and Thursday: but, on the other days of the week, amateurs and +students have access to it.</p> +<p>A few years before the revolution, France was still considered as destitute +of an infinite number of mineral riches, which were thought to belong +exclusively to several of the surrounding countries. Germany was quoted as a +country particularly favoured, in this respect, by Nature. Yet France is +crossed by mountains similar to those met with in Germany, and these mountains +contain rocks of the same species as those of that country which is so rich in +minerals. What has happened might therefore have been foreseen; namely, that, +when intelligent men, with an experienced eye, should examine the soil of the +various departments of the Republic, they would find in it not only substances +hitherto considered as scarce, but even several of those whose existence there +had not yet been suspected. Since the revolution, the following are the</p> +<p><i>Principal Mineral Substances discovered in France.</i></p> +<p><i>Dolomite</i> in the mountains of Vosges and in the Pyrenees.</p> +<p><i>Carburet of iron</i> or <i>plumbago</i>, in the south peak of Bigorre. +The same variety has been been found near Argentière, and the valley of +Chamouny, department of Mont-Blanc.</p> +<p>A rock of the appearance of <i>porphyry</i>, with a <i>calcareous</i> base, +in the same valley of Chamouny.</p> +<p><i>Tremolite</i> or <i>grammatite</i> of HAÜY, in the same place. These two +last-mentioned substances were in terminated crystals.</p> +<p><i>Red oxyd of titanium</i>, in the same place.</p> +<p><i>New violet schorl</i>, or <i>sphene</i> of HAÜY, (<i>rayonnante en +goutière</i> of SAUSSURE) in the same place.</p> +<p><i>Crystallized sulphate of strontia</i>, in the mines of Villefort in La +Lozère, in the environs of Paris, at Bartelemont, near the <i>Salterns</i> in +the department of La Meurthe. </p> +<p><i>Fibrous and crystallized sulphate of strontia</i>, at Bouvron, near +Toul.</p> +<p><i>Earthy sulphate of strontia</i>, in the vicinity of Paris, near the +forest of Montmorency, and to the north-east of it.</p> +<p><i>Onyx-agate-quartz</i>, at Champigny, in the department of La Seine.</p> +<p><i>Avanturine-quartz</i>, in the Deux-Sevres.</p> +<p><i>Marine bodies</i>, imbedded in the soil, a little above the <i>Oule de +Gavernie</i>.</p> +<p><i>Anthracite</i>, and its direction determined in several departments.</p> +<p><i>Other marine bodies</i>, at the height of upwards of 3400 <i>mètres</i> +or 3683 yards, on the summit of Mont-Perdu, in the Upper Pyrenées.</p> +<p><i>Wolfram</i>, near St. Yriex, in Upper Vienne.</p> +<p><i>Oxyd of antimony</i>, at Allemont, in the department of L'Isère.</p> +<p><i>Chromate of iron</i>, near Gassin, in the department of <i>Le Var</i>, at +the <i>bastide</i> of the cascade.</p> +<p><i>Oxyd of uranite</i>, at St. Simphorien de Marmagne, in the department of +La Côte d'Or.</p> +<p><i>Acicular arsenical lead ore</i>, at St. Prix, in the department of Saone +and Loire. This substance was found among some piles of rubbish, near old works +made for exploring a vein of lead ore, which lies at the foot of a mountain to +the north-east, and at three quarters of a league from the <i>commune</i> of +St. Prix.</p> +<p>In this country have likewise been found several varieties of new +interesting forms relative to substances already known; several important +geological facts have been ascertained; and, lastly, the emerald has here been +recently discovered. France already possesses eighteen of the twenty-one +metallic substances known. Few countries inherit from Nature the like +advantages.</p> +<p>With respect to the administration of the mines of France, the +under-mentioned are the regulations now in force.</p> +<p>A council composed of three members, is charged to give to the Minister of +the Interior ideas, together with their motives, respecting every thing that +relates to mines. It corresponds, in the terms of the law, with all the +grantees and with all persons who explore mines, salterns, and quarries. It +superintends the research and extraction of all substances drawn from the bosom +of the earth, and their various management. It proposes the grants, +permissions, and advances to be made, and the encouragements to be given. Under +its direction are the two practical schools, and twenty-five engineers of +mines, nine of whom are spread over different parts of the French territory. +General information relative to statistics, every thing that can concur in the +formation of the mineralogical map of France and complete the collection of her +minerals, and all observations and memoirs relative to the art of mines or of +the different branches of metallurgy, are addressed by the engineers to the +<i>Conseil des Mines</i> at Paris.</p> +<h2><a name="let70">LETTER LXX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 20, 1802</i>.</p> +<p><a name="let70fr1"></a>Having fully described to you all the theatres here +of the first and second rank, I shall confine myself to a rapid sketch of those +which may be classed in the third order.[<a href="#let70f1">1</a>]</p> +<p class="center">THÉÂTRE MONTANSIER.</p> +<p>This house stands at the north-west angle of the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>. +It is of an oval form, and contains three tiers of boxes, exclusively of a +large amphitheatre. Before the revolution, it bore the name of <i>Théâtre des +Petits Comédiens du Comte de Beaujolais</i>, and was famous for the novelty of +the spectacle here given. Young girls and boys represented little comedies and +comic operas in the following manner. Some gesticulated on the stage; while +others, placed in the side-scenes, spoke or sang their parts without being +seen. It was impossible to withhold one's admiration from the perfect harmony +between the motions of the one and the speaking and singing of the other. In +short, this double acting was executed with such precision that few strangers +detected the deception.</p> +<p>To these actors succeeded full-grown performers, who have since continued to +play interludes of almost every description. Indeed, this theatre is the +receptacle of all the nonsense imaginable; nothing is too absurd or too low for +its stage. Here are collected all the trivial expressions to be met with in +this great city, whether made use of in the markets, gaming-houses, taverns, or +dancing-rooms.</p> +<p>CAROLINE and BRUNET, or BRUNET and CAROLINE. They are like two planets, +round which move a great number of satellites, some more imperceptible than +others. If to these we add TIERCELIN, an actor of the grotesque species, little +more is to be said. Were it not for BRUNET, who makes the most of his comic +humour, in playing all sorts of low characters, and sometimes in a manner truly +original, and Mademoiselle CAROLINE, whose clear, flexible, and sonorous voice +insures the success of several little operas, the <i>Théâtre Montansier</i> +would not be able to maintain its ground, notwithstanding the advantages of its +centrical situation, and the attractions of its lobby, where the impures of the +environs exhibit themselves to no small advantage, and literally carry all +before them.</p> +<p>We now come to the theatres on the <i>Boulevard</i>, at the head of which is +to be placed</p> +<p class="center">L'AMBIGU COMIQUE.</p> +<p>This little theatre is situated on the <i>Boulevard du Temple</i>, and, of +all those of the third order, has most constantly enjoyed the favour of the +public. Previously to the revolution, AUDINOT drew hither crowded houses by the +representation of comic operas and bad <i>drames</i> of a gigantic nature, +called here <i>pantomimes dialoguées</i>. The effects of decoration and show +were carried farther at this little theatre than at any other. Ghosts, +hobgoblins, and devils were, in the sequel, introduced. All Paris ran to see +them, till the women were terrified, and the men disgusted.</p> +<p>CORSE, the present manager, has of late added considerably to the attraction +of the <i>Ambigu Comique</i>, by not only restoring it to what it was in the +most brilliant days of AUDINOT, but by collecting all the best actors and +dancers of the <i>Boulevard</i>, and improving on the plan adopted by his +predecessor. He has neglected nothing necessary for the advantageous execution +of the new pieces which he has produced. The most attractive of these are +<i>Victor</i>, <i>le Pélerin blanc</i>, <i>L'Homme à trois visages</i>, <i>Le +Jugement de Salomon</i>, &c.</p> +<p>The best performers at this theatre are CORSE, the manager, TAUTIN, and +Mademoiselle LEVESQUE.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p><a name="let70fr2"></a>In regard to all the other minor theatres, the +enumeration of which I have detailed to you in a preceding +letter,[<a href="#let70f2">2</a>] I shall briefly, observe that the curiosity +of a stranger may be satisfied in paying each of them a single visit. Some of +these <i>petits spectacles</i> are open one day, shut the next, and soon after +reopened with performances of a different species. Therefore, to attempt a +description of their attractions would probably be superfluous; and, indeed, +the style of the pieces produced is varied according to the ideas of the +speculators, the taste of the managers, or the abilities of the performers, +who, if not "the best actors in the world," are ready to play either "tragedy, +comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, scene +individable, or poem unlimited."</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let70f1">Footnote 1</a>: The Theatre of the <i>Porte +St. Martin</i> not having been open, when this letter was written, it is not +here noticed. It may be considered as of the second rank. Its representations +include almost every line of acting; but those for which the greatest expense +is incurred are melo-drames and pieces connected with pantomime and parade. The +house is the same in which the grand French opera was performed before the +revolution. <a href="#let70fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let70f2">Footnote 2</a>: See Vol. i. Letter +XXI. <a href="#let70fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let71">LETTER LXXI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 22, 1802.</i></p> +<p>The variety of matter which crowds itself on the mind of a man who attempts +to describe this immense capital, forms such a chaos, that you will, I trust, +give me credit for the assertion, when I assure you that it is not from neglect +or inattention I sometimes take more time than may appear strictly necessary to +comply with your wishes. Considering how deeply it involves the peace and +comfort of strangers, as well as inhabitants, I am not at all surprised at the +anxiety which you express to acquire some knowledge of the</p> +<p class="center">POLICE OF PARIS.</p> +<p>In the present existing circumstances, it might be imprudent, if not +dangerous, to discuss, freely openly, so delicate a question. I shall take a +middle course. Silence would imply fear; while boldness of expression might +give offence; and though I certainly am not afraid to mention the subject, yet +to offend, is by no means my wish or intention. In this country, the +Post-Office has often been the channel through which the opinion of individuals +has been collected. What has been, may again occur; and in such critical times, +who knows, but the government may conceive itself justified in not considering +as absolutely sacred the letters intrusted to that mode of conveyance? Under +these considerations, I shall beg leave to refer you to a work which has gone +through the hands of every inquisitive reader; that is the <i>Tableau de +Paris</i>, published in 1788: but, on recollection, as this letter will, +probably, find you in the country, where you may not have an immediate +opportunity of gratifying your curiosity, and as the book is become scarce, I +shall select from it for your satisfaction a few extracts concerning the +Police.</p> +<p>This establishment is necessary and useful for maintaining order and +tranquillity in a city like Paris, where the very extremes of luxury and +wretchedness are continually in collision. I mean <i>useful</i>, when no abuse +is made of its power; and it is to be hoped that the present government of +France is too wise and too just to convert an institution of public utility +into an instrument of private oppression.</p> +<p>Since the machinery of the police was first put in order by M. D'ARGENSON, +in 1697, its wheels and springs have been continually multiplied by the +thirteen ministers who succeeded him in that department. The last of these was +the celebrated M. LENOIR.</p> +<p>The present Minister of the Police, M. FOUCHÉ, has, it seems, adopted, in a +great measure, the means put in practice before the revolution. +<a name="let71fr1"></a>His administration, according to general report, bears +most resemblance to that of M. LENOIR: he is said, however, to have improved on +that vigilant magistrate: but he surpasses him, I am told, more in augmentation +of expenses and agents, than in real changes.[<a href="#let71f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>In selecting from the before-mentioned work the following <i>widely +scattered</i> passages, and assembling them as a <i>piece of Mosaic</i>, it has +been my endeavour to enable you to form an impartial judgment of the police of +Paris, by exhibiting it with all its perfections and imperfections. Borrowing +the language of MERCIER, I shall trace the institution through all its +ramifications, and, in pointing out its effects, I shall "nothing extenuate, +nor set down aught in malice."</p> +<p>If we take it for granted, that the police of Paris is now exercised on the +same plan as that pursued towards the close of the old <i>régime</i>, this +sketch will be the more interesting, as its resemblance to the original will +exempt me from adding a single stroke from my own pencil.</p> +<p>"D'ARGENSON was severe," says MERCIER, "perhaps because he felt, in first +setting the machine in motion, a resistance which his successors have less +experienced. For a long time it was imagined that a Minister of Police ought to +be harsh; he ought to be firm only. <a name="let71fr2"></a>Several of these +magistrates have laid on too heavy a hand, because they were not acquainted +with the people of Paris; a people of quick feeling, but not +ferocious,[<a href="#let71f2">2</a>] whose motions are to be divined, and +consequently easy to be led. Whoever should be void of pity in that post, would +be a monster."</p> +<p>MERCIER then gives the fragment by FONTENELLE, on the police of Paris and on +M. D'ARGENSON, of which I shall select only what may be necessary for +elucidating the main subject.</p> +<p>"The inhabitants of a well-governed city," says FONTENELLE, "enjoy the good +order which is there established, without considering what trouble it costs +those who establish or preserve it, much in the same manner as all mankind +enjoy the regularity of the motions of celestial bodies, without having any +knowledge of them, and even the more the good order of a police resembles by +its uniformity that of the celestial bodies, the more is it imperceptible, and, +consequently, the more it is unknown, the greater is its perfection. But he who +would wish to know it and fathom it, would be terrified. To keep up perpetually +in a city, like Paris, an immense consumption, some sources of which may always +be dried up by a variety of accidents; to repress the tyranny of shop-keepers +in regard to the public, and at the same time animate their commerce; to +prevent the mutual usurpations of the one over the other, often difficult to +discriminate; to distinguish in a vast crowd all those who may easily conceal +there a hurtful industry; to purge society of them, or tolerate them only as +far as they can be useful to it by employments which no others but themselves +would undertake, or discharge so well; to keep necessary abuses within the +precise limits of necessity which they are always ready to over-leap; to +envelop them in the obscurity to which they ought to be condemned, and not even +draw them from it by chastisement too notorious; to be ignorant of what it is +better to be ignorant of than to punish, and to punish but seldom and usefully; +to penetrate by subterraneous avenues into the bosom of families, and keep for +them the secrets which they have not confided, as long as it is not necessary +to make use of them; to be present every where without being seen; in short, to +move or stop at pleasure an immense multitude, and be the soul ever-acting, and +almost unknown, of this great body: these are, in general, the functions of the +chief magistrate of the police. It should seem that one man alone could not be +equal to them, either on account of the quantity of things of which he must be +informed, or of that of the views which he must follow, or of the application +which he must exert, or of the variety of conduct which he most observe, and of +the characters which he must assume: but the public voice will answer whether +M. D'ARGENSON has been equal to them.</p> +<p>"Under him, cleanliness, tranquillity, plenty, and safety were brought to +the highest degree of perfection in this city. And, indeed, the late king +(Lewis XIV) relied entirely on his care respecting Paris. He could have given +an account of a person unknown who should have stolen into it in the dark; this +person, whatever ingenuity he exerted in concealing himself, was always under +his eye; and if, at last, any one escaped him, at least what produced almost +the same effect, no one would have dared to think himself well-concealed.</p> +<p>"Surrounded and overwhelmed in his audiences by a crowd of people chiefly of +the lower class, little informed themselves of what brought them, warmly +agitated by interests very trifling, and frequently very ill understood, +accustomed to supply the place of discourse by senseless clamour, he neither +betrayed the inattention nor the disdain which such persons or such subjects +might have occasioned."</p> +<p>"FONTENELLE has not," continues MERCIER, "spoken of the severity of M. +D'ARGENSON, of his inclination to punish, which was rather a sign of weakness +than of strength. Alas! human laws, imperfect and rude, cannot dive to the +bottom of the human heart, and there discover the causes of the delinquencies +which they have to punish! They judge only from the surface: they would acquit, +perhaps, those whom they condemn; they would strike him whom they suffer to +escape. But they cannot, I confess, do otherwise. Nevertheless, they ought to +neglect nothing that serves to disclose the heart of man. They ought to +estimate the strength of natural and indestructible passions, not in their +effects, but in their principles; to pay attention to the age, the sex, the +time, the day; these are nice rules, which could not be found in the brain of +the legislator, but which ought to be met with in that of a Minister of the +Police."</p> +<p>"There are also epidemical errors in which the multitude of those who go +astray, seems to lessen the fault; in which a sort of circumspection is +necessary, in order that punishment may not be in opposition to public +interest, because punishment would then appear absurd or barbarous, and +indignation might recoil on the law, as well as on the magistrate."</p> +<p>"What a life has a Minister of Police! He has not a moment that he can call +his own; he is every day obliged to punish; he is afraid to give way to +indulgence, because he does not know that he may not one day have to reproach +himself with it. He is under the necessity of being severe, and of acting +contrary to the inclination of his heart; not a crime is committed but he +receives the shameful or cruel account: he hears of nothing but vicious men and +vices; every instant he is told: 'there's a murder! a suicide! a rape!' Not an +accident happens but he must prescribe the remedy, and hastily; he has but a +moment to deliberate and act, and he must be equally fearful to abuse the power +intrusted to him, and not to use it opportunely. Popular rumours, flighty +conversations, theatrical factions, false alarms, every thing concerns him.</p> +<p>"Is he gone to rest? A fire rouses him from his bed. He must be answerable +for every thing; he must trace the robber, and the lurking assassin who has +committed a crime; for the magistrate appears blameable, if he has not found +means to deliver him up quickly to justice. The time that his agents have +employed in this capture will be calculated, and his honour requires that the +interval between the crime and the imprisonment should be the shortest +possible. What dreadful duties! What a laborious life! And yet this place is +coveted!</p> +<p>"On some occasions, it is necessary for the Minister of Police to demean +himself like a true <i>Greek</i>, as was the case in the following +instance:</p> +<p>"A person, being on the point of making a journey, had in his possession a +sum of twenty thousand livres which embarrassed him; he had only one servant, +whom he mistrusted, and the sum was tempting. He accordingly requested a friend +to be so obliging as to take care of it for him till his return.</p> +<p>"A fortnight after, the friend denied the circumstance. As there was no +proof, the civil law could not pronounce in this affair. Recourse was had to +the Minister of Police, who pondered a moment, and sent for the receiver, +making the accuser retire into an adjoining room:</p> +<p>"The friend arrives, and maintains that he has not received the twenty +thousand livres. "Well," said the magistrate, "I believe you; and as you are +innocent you run no, risk in writing to your wife the note that I am going to +dictate. Write."</p> +<p>"'"My dear wife, all is discovered. I shall be punished if I do not restore +you know what. Bring the sum: your coming quickly to my relief is the only way +for me to get out of trouble and obtain my pardon."</p> +<p>"'This note,' added the magistrate, 'will fully justify you. Your wife can +bring nothing since you have received nothing, and your accuser will be +foiled.'</p> +<p>"The note was dispatched; the wife, terrified, ran with the twenty thousand +livres.</p> +<p>"Thus the Minister of Police can daily make up for the imperfection and +tardiness of our civil laws; but he ought to use this rare and splendid +privilege with extreme circumspection.</p> +<p>"The chief magistrate of the police is become a minister of importance; he +has a secret and prodigious influence; he knows so many things, that he can do +much mischief or much good, because he has in hand a multitude of threads which +he can entangle or disentangle at his pleasure; he strikes or he saves; he +spreads darkness or light: his authority is as delicate as it is extensive.</p> +<p>"The Minister of Police exercises a despotic sway over the <i>mouchards</i> +who are found disobedient, or who make false reports: as for these fellows, +they are of a class so vile and so base, that the authority to which they have +sold themselves, has necessarily an absolute right over their persons.</p> +<p>"This is not the case with those who are apprehended in the name of the +police; they may have committed trifling faults: they may have enemies in that +crowd of <i>exempts</i>, spies, and satellites, who are believed on their word. +The eye of the magistrate may be incessantly deceived, and the punishment of +these crimes ought to be submitted to a more deliberate investigation; but the +house of correction ingulfs a vast number of men who there become still more +perverted, and who, on coming out, are still more wicked than when they went +in. Being degraded in their own eyes, they afterwards plunge themselves +headlong into all sorts of irregularities.</p> +<p>"These different imprisonments are sometimes rendered necessary by imperious +circumstances; yet it were always to be wished that the detention of a citizen +should not depend on a single magistrate, but that there should be a sort of +tribunal to examine when this great act of authority, withdrawn from the eye of +the law, ceases to be illegal.</p> +<p>"A few real advantages compensate for these irregular forms, and there are, +in fact, an infinite number of irregularities which the slow and grave process +of our tribunals can neither take cognizance of, nor put a stop to, nor +foresee, nor punish. The audacious or subtle delinquent would triumph in the +winding labyrinth of our civil laws. The laws of the police, more direct, watch +him, press him, and surround him mose closely. The abuse, is contiguous to the +benefit, I admit; but a great many private acts of violence, base and shameful +crimes, are repressed by this vigilant and active force which ought, +nevertheless, to publish its code and submit it to the inspection of +enlightened citizens."</p> +<p>"Could the Minister of Police communicate to the philosopher all he knows, +all he learns, all he sees, and likewise impart to him certain secret things, +of which he alone is well-informed, there would be nothing so curious and so +instructive under the pen of the philosopher; for he would astonish all his +brethren. But this magistrate is like the great penitentiary; he hears every +thing, relates nothing, and is not astonished at certain delinquencies in the +same degree as another man. By dint of seeing the tricks of roguery, the crimes +of vice, secret treachery, and all the filth of human actions, he has +necessarily a little difficulty in giving credit to the integrity and virtue of +honest people. He is in a perpetual state of mistrust; and, in the main, he +ought to possess such a character; for, he ought to think nothing impossible, +after the extraordinary lessons which he receives from men and from things. In +a word, his place commands a continual, and scrutinizing suspicion."</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p class="right"><i>February 22, in continuation.</i></p> +<p>"Even should not the Parisian have the levity with which he is reproached, +reason would justify him in its adoption. He walks surrounded by spies. No +sooner do two citizens whisper to each other, than up comes a third, who prowls +about in order to listen to what they are saying. The spies of the police are a +regiment of inquisitive fellows; with this difference, that each individual +belonging to this regiment has a distinct dress, which he changes frequently +every day; and nothing so quick or so astonishing, as these sorts of +metamorphoses.</p> +<p>"The same spy who figures as a private gentleman in the morning, in the +evening represents a priest: at one time, he is a peaceable limb of the law; at +another, a swaggering bully. The next day, with a gold-headed cane in his hand, +he will assume the deportment of a monied man buried in calculations; the most +singular disguises are quite familiar to him. In the course of the twenty-four +hours, he is an officer of distinction and a journeyman hair-dresser, a shorn +apostle and a scullion. He visits the dress-ball and the lowest sink of vice. +At one time with a diamond ring on his finger, at another with the most filthy +wig on his head, he almost changes his countenance as he does his apparel; and +more than one of these <i>mouchards</i> would teach the French <i>Roscius</i> +the art of <i>decomposing</i> himself; he is all eyes, all ears, all legs; for +he trots, I know not how, over the pavement of every quarter of the town. +Squatted sometimes in the corner of a coffee-room, you would take him for a +dull, stupid, tiresome fellow, snoring till supper is ready: he has seen and +heard all that has passed. At another time, he is an orator, and been the first +to make a bold speech; he courts you to open your mind; he interprets even your +silence, and whether you speak to him or not, he knows what you think of this +or that proceeding.</p> +<p>"Such is the universal instrument employed in Paris for diving into secrets; +and this is what determines the actions of persons in power more willingly than +any thing that could be imagined in reasoning or politics.</p> +<p>"The employment of spies has destroyed the ties of confidence and +friendship. None but frivolous questions are agitated, and the government +dictates, as it were, to citizens the subject on which they shall speak in the +evening in coffee-houses, as well as in private circles.</p> +<p>"The people have absolutely lost every idea of civil or political +administration; and if any thing could excite laughter in the midst of an +ignorance so deplorable, it would be the conversation of such a silly fellow +who constantly imagines that Paris must give the law and the <i>ton</i> to all +Europe, and thence to all the world.</p> +<p>"The men belonging to the police are a mass of corruption which the Minister +of that department divides into two parts: of the one, he makes spies or +<i>mouchards</i>; of the other, satellites, <i>exempts</i>, that is, officers, +whom he afterwards lets loose against pickpockets, swindlers, thieves, &c., +much in the same manner as a huntsman sets hounds on wolves and foxes.</p> +<p>"The spies have other spies at their heels, who watch over them, and see +that they do their duty. They all accuse each other reciprocally, and worry one +another for the vilest gain."</p> +<p>I cannot here avoid interrupting my copious but laboriously-gathered +selection from MERCIER, to relate an anecdote which shews in what a detestable +light <i>mouchards</i> are considered in Paris.</p> +<p>A man who appeared to be in tolerably good circumstances, fell in love, and +married a girl whom the death of her parents and accumulated distress had +driven to a life of dissipation. At the end of a few months, she learnt that +her husband was a spy of the police. "Probably," said, she to him, "you did not +take up this trade till after you had reflected that in following that of a +thief or a murderer, you would have risked your life." On saying this, she ran +out of the house, and precipitated herself from the <i>Pont Royal</i> into the +Seine, where she was drowned.—But to resume the observations of +MERCIER.</p> +<p>"It is from these odious dregs," continues our author, "that public order +arises.</p> +<p>"When the <i>mouchards</i> of the police have acted contrary to their +instructions, they are confined in the house of correction; but they are +separated from the other prisoners, because they would be torn to pieces by +those whom they have caused to be imprisoned, and who would recognize them. +They inspire less pity on account of the vile trade which they follow. One sees +with surprise, and with still more pain, that these fellows are very young. +Spies, informers at sixteen!—O! what a shocking life does this announce!" +exclaims MERCIER. "No; nothing ever distressed me more than to see boys act +such a part.... And those who form them into squads, who drill them, who +corrupt such inexperienced youth!"</p> +<p>Such is the admirable order which reigns in Paris, that a man suspected or +described is watched so closely, that his smallest steps are known, till the +very moment when it is expedient to apprehend him.</p> +<p>"The description taken of the man is a real portrait, which it is impossible +to mistake; and the art of thus describing the person by words, is carried to +so great a nicety, that the best writer, after much reflection on the matter, +could add nothing to it, nor make use of other expressions.</p> +<p>"The Theseuses of the police are on foot every night to purge the city of +robbers, and it might be said that the lions, bears, and tigers are chained by +political order.</p> +<p>"There are also the court-spies, the town-spies, the bed-spies, the +street-spies, the spies of impures, and the spies of wits: they are all called +by the name of <i>mouchards</i>, the family name of the first spy employed by +the court of France.</p> +<p>"Men of fashion at this day follow the trade of <i>mouchards</i>; most of +them style themselves <i>Monsieur le Baron</i>, <i>Monsieur le Comte</i>, +<i>Monsieur le Marquis</i>. There was a time, under Lewis XV, when spies were +so numerous, that it was impossible for friends, who assembled together, to +open their heart to each other concerning matters which deeply affected their +interest. The ministerial inquisition had posted its sentinels at the door of +every room, and listeners in every closet. Ingenuous confidences, made from +friends to friends, and intended to die in the very bosom where they had been +deposited, were punished as dangerous conspiracies.</p> +<p>"These odious researches poisoned social life, deprived men of pleasures the +most innocent, and transformed citizens into enemies who trembled to unbosom +themselves to each other.</p> +<p>"One fourth of the servants in Paris serve as spies; and the secrets of +families, which are thought the most concealed, come to the knowledge of those +interested in being acquainted with them.</p> +<p>"Independently of the spies of the police, ministers have spies belonging to +themselves, and keep them in pay: these are the most dangerous of all, because +they are less suspected than others, and it is more difficult to know them. By +these means, ministers know what is said of them; yet, of this they avail +themselves but little. They are more intent to ruin their enemies, and thwart +their adversaries, than to derive a prudent advantage from the free and +ingenuous hints given them by the multitude.</p> +<p>"It is entertaining enough to consider that, in proper time and place, spies +are watching him who, at his pleasure, sets spies to watch other citizens. +Thus, the links which connect mankind in political order are really +incomprehensible. He who does not admire the manner in which society exists, +and is supported by the simultaneous reaction of its members, and who sees not +the serpent's <i>tail</i> entering its <i>mouth</i>, is not born for +reflection.</p> +<p>"But the secrets of courts are not revealed through spies; they get wind by +means of certain people who are not in the least mistrusted; in like manner the +best built ships leak through an imperceptible chink, which cannot be +discovered.</p> +<p>"What is interesting in courts, and particularly so in ours," says MERCIER, +"is that there is a degree of obscurity spread over all its proceedings. We +wish to penetrate what is concealed, we endeavour to know till we learn; thus +it is that the most ingenious machine preserves its highest value only till we +have seen the springs which set it in motion.</p> +<p>"After having considered the different parts which form the police of the +capital, we still perceive all the radii reaching from the centre to the +circumference. How many ramifications issue from the same stem! How far the +branches extend! What an impulse does not Paris give to other neighbouring +cities!</p> +<p>"The police of Paris has an intimate correspondence with that of Lyons and +other provincial cities: for it is evident that it would be imperfect, if it +could not follow the disturber of public order, and if the distance of a few +leagues skreened him from researches.</p> +<p>"The correspondence of the Parisian police is not therefore limited to its +walls; it extends much farther; and it is in towns where imprudent or rash +persons would imagine that they might give their tongue greater freedom, that +the vigilant magistrate pries into conversation, and keeps a watchful eye over +those who would measure their audacity by the degree of distance from the +capital.</p> +<p><a name="let71fr3"></a>"Thus the police of Paris, after having embraced +France, penetrates also into Switzerland, Italy, Holland, and +Germany;[<a href="#let71f3">3</a>] and when occasion requires, its eye is open +on all sides to what can interest the government. When it wishes to know any +fact, it is informed of it to a certainty; when it wishes to strike a serious +blow, it seldom misses its aim.</p> +<p>"It may easily be conceived that the machine would be incomplete, and that +its play would fail in the desired effect, did it not embrace a certain extent. +It costs but little to give to the lever the necessary length. Whether the spy +be kept in pay at Paris, or a hundred leagues off, the expense is the same, and +the utility becomes greater.</p> +<p>"Experience has shewn that these observations admit of essential differences +in the branches of the police. Weights and measures must be changed, according +to time, place, persons, and circumstances. There are no fixed rules; they must +be created at the instant, and the most versatile actions are not destitute of +wisdom and reason.</p> +<p>"Of this wholesale legislators are not aware: it is reserved for +practitioners to seize these shades of distinction. There must be a customary, +and, as it were, every-day policy, in order to decide well without +precipitation, without weakness, and without rigour. What would be a serious +fault at Paris, would be a simple imprudence at Lyons, an indifferent thing +elsewhere, and so on reciprocally.</p> +<p>"Now this science has not only its details and its niceties, it has also its +variations, and sometimes even its oppositions. +<a name="let70fr4"></a>Ministers must have a steady eye and great local +experience, in order to be able to strike true, and strike opportunely, without +espousing imaginary terrors; which, in matters of police, is the greatest fault +that can be committed.[<a href="#let70f4">4</a>] +<p>"LYCURGUS, SOLON, LOCKE, and PENN! you have made very fine and majestic +laws; but would you have divined these? Although secret, they exist; they have +their wisdom, and even their depth. The distance of a few leagues gives to +matters of police two colours, which bear to each other no resemblance; and +there is no principal town which is not obliged, in modeling its police on that +of Paris, to introduce into it the greatest modifications. The motto of every +Minister of Police ought to be this: <i>The letter of the law kills, its spirit +gives life.</i></p> +<p><a name="let70fr5"></a>"The safety of Paris, during the night, is owing to +the guard[<a href="#let70f5">5</a>] and two or three hundred <i>mouchards</i>, +who trot about the streets, and recognize and follow suspected persons. It is +chiefly by night that the police makes its captions."</p> +<p>The manner in which these captions are made is humorously, gravely, +feelingly, and philosophically described by the ingenious MERCIER. Long as this +letter already is, I am confident that you will not regret its being still +lengthened by another extract or two relative to this interesting point; thus I +shall terminate the only elucidation that you are likely to obtain on a subject +which has so strongly excited your curiosity.</p> +<p>"The comic," says our lively author, "is here blended with the serious. The +fulminating order, which is going to crush you, is in the pocket of the +<i>exempt</i>, who feels a degree of pleasure in the exercise of his dreadful +functions. He enjoys a secret pride in being bearer of the thunder; he fancies +himself the eagle of Jove: but his motion is like that of a serpent. He glides +along, dodges you, crouches before you, approaches your ear, and with down-cast +eyes and a soft-toned voice, says to you, at the same time shrugging his +shoulders: '<i>Je suis au désespoir, Monsieur; mais j'ai un ordre, Monsieur, +qui vous arrête, Monsieur; de la part de la police, Monsieur</i>.'----'<i>Moi, +Monsieur</i>?'----'<i>Vous-même, Monsieur</i>.'----You waver an instant between +anger and indignation, ready to vent all sorts of imprecations. You see only a +polite, respectful, well-bred man, bowing to you, mild in his speech, and civil +in his manners. Were you the most furious of mankind, your wrath would be +instantly disarmed. Had you pistols, you would discharge them in the air, and +never against the affable <i>exempt</i>. Presently you return him his bows: +there even arises between you a contest of politeness and good breeding. It is +a reciprocity of obliging words and compliments, till the moment when the +resounding bolts separate you from the polite man, who goes to make a report of +his mission, and whose employment, by no means an unprofitable one, is to +imprison people with all possible gentleness, urbanity, and grace.</p> +<p>"I am walking quietly in the street; before me is a young man decently +dressed. All at once four fellows seize on him, collar him, push him against +the wall, and drag him away. Natural instinct commands me to go to his +assistance; a tranquil witness says to me coolly: 'Don't interfere; 'tis +nothing, sir, but a caption made by the police.' The young man is handcuffed, +and he disappears.</p> +<p>"I wish to enter a narrow street, a man belonging to the guard is posted +there as a sentinel: I perceive several of the populace looking out of the +windows. 'What's the matter, sir?' say I.----'Nothing,' replies he; 'they are +only taking up thirty girls of the town at one cast of the net.' Presently the +girls, with top-knots of all colours, file off, led by the soldiers of the +guard, who lead them gallantly by the hand, with their muskets clubbed.</p> +<p>"It is eleven o'clock at night, or five in the morning, there is a knock at +your door; your servant opens it; in a moment your room is filled with a squad +of satellites. The order is precise, resistance is vain; every thing that might +serve as a weapon is put out of your reach; and the <i>exempt</i>, who will +not, on that account, boast the less of his bravery even takes your brass +pocket-inkstand for a pistol.</p> +<p>"The next day, a neighbour, who has heard a noise in the house, asks what it +might be: 'Nothing, 'tis only a man taken up by the police.'----'What has he +done?'----'No one can tell; he has, perhaps, committed a murder, or sold a +suspicious pamphlet.'----'But, sir, there's some difference between those two +crimes.'----'May be so; but he is carried off.'</p> +<p>"You have been apprehended; but you have not been shewn the order; you have +been put into a carriage closely shut up; you know not whither you are going to +be taken; but you may be certain that you will visit the wards or dungeons of +some prison.</p> +<p>"Whence proceeds the decree of proscription? You cannot rightly guess.</p> +<p>"It is not necessary to write a thick volume against arbitrary arrests. When +one has said, <i>it is an arbitrary act</i>, one may, without any difficulty, +infer every possible consequence. But all captions are not equally unjust: +there are a multitude of secret and dangerous crimes which it would be +impossible for the ordinary course of the law to take cognizance of, to put a +stop to, and punish. When the minister is neither seduced nor deceived, when he +yields not to private passion, to blind prepossession, to misplaced severity, +his object is frequently to get rid of a disturber of the public peace; and the +police, in the manner in which the machine is set up, could not proceed, at the +present day, without this quick, active, and repressive power.</p> +<p>"It were only to be wished that there should be afterwards a particular +tribunal, which should weigh in an exact scale the motives of each caption, in +order that imprudence and guilt, the pen and the poniard, the book and the +libel, might not be confounded.</p> +<p>"The inspectors of police determine on their part a great many subaltern +captions; as they are generally believed on their word, and as they strike only +the lowest class of the people, the chief readily concedes to them the details +of this authority.</p> +<p>"Some yield to their peevishness; others, to their caprice: but who knows +whether avarice has not also a share in their proceedings, and whether they do +not often favour him who pays at the expense of him who does not pay? Thus the +liberty of the distressed and lowest citizens would have a tarif; and this +strange tax would bear hard on the very numerous portion of <i>prostitutes</i>, +<i>professed gamblers</i>, <i>quacks</i>, <i>hawkers</i>, <i>swindlers</i>, and +<i>adventurers</i>, all people who do mischief, and whom it is necessary to +punish; but who do more mischief when they are obliged to pay, and purchase, +during a certain time, the privilege of their irregularities.</p> +<p>"We have imitated from the English their Vauxhall, their Ranelagh, their +whist, their punch, their hats, their horse-races, their jockies, their +betting; but," concludes MERCIER, "when shall we copy from them something more +important, for instance, that bulwark of liberty, the law of <i>habeas +corpus</i>?"</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let71f1">Footnote 1</a>: The office of Minister of the +Police has since been abolished. M. FOUCHÉ is now a Senator, and the machine of +which he was said to be so expert a manager, is confided to the direction of +the Prefect of Police, who exercises his functions under the immediate +authority of the Ministers, and corresponds with them concerning matters which +relate to their respective departments. The higher duties of the Police are at +present vested in the <i>Grand Juge</i>, who is also Minister of Justice. The +former office is of recent creation. <a href="#let71fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let72f2">Footnote 2</a>: Voltaire thought otherwise; +and he was not mistaken. <a href="#let72fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let73f3">Footnote 3</a>: I shall exemplify this truth +by two remarkable facts. About the year 1775, when M. DE SARTINE was Minister +of the Police, several forgeries were committed on the Bank of Vienna; Count DE +MERCY, then Austrian ambassador at Paris, was directed to make a formal +application for the delinquent to be delivered up to justice. What was his +astonishment on receiving, a few hours after, a note from M. DE SARTINE, +informing him that the author of the said forgeries had never been in Paris; +but resided in Vienna, at the same time mentioning the street, the number of +the house, and other interesting particulars!</p> +<p class="fnt">A circumstance which occurred in 1796, proves that, since the +revolution, the system of the Parisian police continues to extend to foreign +countries. The English Commissary for prisoners of war was requested by a +friend to make inquiry, on his arrival in Paris, whether a French lady of the +name of BEAUFORT was living, and in what part of France she resided. He did so; +and the following day, the card, on which he had written the lady's name, was +returned to him, with this addition: "She lives at No. 47, East-street, +Manchester-square, London." <a href="#let73fr3">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let70f4">Footnote 4</a>: The same principle holds good +in politics. <a href="#let70fr4">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let70f5">Footnote 5</a>: The municipal guard of Paris +at present consists of 2334 men. The privates must be above 30 and under 45 +years of age. <a href="#let70fr5">Return to text</a></p> + +<h2><a name="let72">LETTER LXXII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 26, 1802.</i></p> +<p><a name="let72fr1"></a>Referring to an expression made use of in my letter +of the 16th of December last,[<a href="#let72f1">1</a>] you ask me "What the +sciences, or rather the <i>savans</i> or men of science, have done for this +people?" With the assistance of a young Professor in the <i>Collège de +France</i>, who bids fair to eclipse all his competitors, it will not be +difficult for me to answer your question.</p> +<p>Let me premise, however, that the <i>savans</i> to whom I allude, must not +be confounded with the philosophers, called <i>Encyclopædists</i>, from their +having been the first to conceive and execute the plan of the +<i>Encyclopædia</i>. These <i>savans</i> were DIDEROT, D'ALEMBERT, and +VOLTAIRE, all professed atheists, who, by the dissemination of their pernicious +doctrine, introduced into France an absolute contempt for all religion. This +infidelity, dissolving every social tie, every principle between man and man, +between the governing and the governed, in the sequel, produced anarchy, +rapine, and all their attendant horrors.</p> +<p>At the beginning of the revolution, every mind being turned towards +politics, the Sciences were suddenly abandoned: they could have no weight in +the struggle which then occupied every imagination. Presently their existence +was completely forgotten. Liberty formed the subject of every writing and every +discourse: it seemed that orators alone possessed the power of serving her; and +this error was partly the cause of the calamities which afterwards overwhelmed +France. The greater part of the <i>savans</i> remained simple spectators of the +events which were preparing: not one of them openly took part against the +revolution. Some involved themselves in it. Those men were urged by great +views, and hoped to find, in the renewal of social organization, a mean of +applying and realizing their theories. They thought to master the revolution, +and were carried away by its torrent; but at that time the most sanguine hopes +were indulged. If the love of liberty be no more than a phantom of the brain, +if the wish to render men better and happier be no more than a matter of doubt, +such errors may be pardoned in those who have paid for them with their +life.</p> +<p>It is in the recollection of every one that the National Convention +consisted of two parties, which, under the same exterior, were hastening to +contrary ends: the one, composed of ignorant and ferocious men, ruled by force; +the other, more enlightened, maintained its ground by address. The former, +restless possessors of absolute power, and determined to grasp at every thing +for preserving it, strove to annihilate the talents and knowledge which made +them sensible of their humiliating inferiority. The others, holding the same +language, acted in an opposite direction. But being obliged, in order to +preserve their influence, never to shew themselves openly, they employed their +means with an extreme reserve, and this similarity at once explains the good +they did, the evil they prevented, and the calamities which they were unable to +avert.</p> +<p>At that time, France was on the very brink of ruin. <i>Landrecies</i>, <i>Le +Quesnoy</i>, <i>Condé</i> and <i>Valenciennes</i> were in the power of her +enemies. <i>Toulon</i> had been given up to the English, whose numerous fleets +held the dominion of the seas, and occasionally effected debarkations. This +country was a prey to famine and terror; <i>La Vendée</i>, <i>Lyons</i>, and +<i>Marseilles</i> were in a state of insurrection. No arms, no powder; no ally +that could or would furnish any; and its only resource lay in an anarchical +government without either plan or means of defence, and skilful only in +persecution. In a word, every thing announced that the Republic would perish, +before it could enjoy a year's existence.</p> +<p>In this extremity, two new members were called to the Committee of Public +Welfare. These two men organized the armies, conceived plans of campaign, and +prepared supplies.</p> +<p>It was necessary to arm nine hundred thousand men; and what was most +difficult, it was necessary to persuade a mistrustful people, ever ready to cry +out "treason!" of the possibility of such a prodigy. For this purpose, the old +manufactories were comparatively nothing; several of them, situated on the +frontiers, were invaded by the enemy. They were revived every where with an +activity till then unexampled. <i>Savans</i> or men of science were charged to +describe and simplify the necessary proceedings. <a name="let72fr2"></a>The +melting of the church-bells yielded all the necessary +metal.[<a href="#let72f2">2</a>] Steel was wanting; none could be obtained from +abroad, the art of making it was unknown. The <i>Savans</i> were asked to +create it; they succeeded, and this part of the public defence thus became +independent of foreign countries.</p> +<p>The exigencies of the war had rendered more glaring the urgent necessity of +having good topographical maps, and the insufficiency of those in use became +every day more evident. The geographical engineers, which corps had been +suppressed by the Constituent Assembly, were recalled to the armies, and +although they could not, in these first moments, give to their labours the +necessary extent and detail, they nevertheless paved the way to the great +results since obtained in this branch of the art military. Nothing is more easy +than to destroy; nothing is so difficult, and, above all, so tedious as to +reconstruct.</p> +<p>The persons then in power had likewise had the prudence to preserve in their +functions such pupils and engineers in the civil line as were of an age to come +under the requisition. Whatever might be the want of defenders, it was felt +that it requires ten years' study to form an engineer; while health and courage +suffice for making a soldier. This disastrous period affords instances of +foresight and skill which have not always been imitated in times more +tranquil.</p> +<p>The Sciences had just rendered great services to the country. They were +calumniated; those who had made use of them were compelled to defend them, and +did so with courage. A circumstance, equally singular and unforeseen, +occasioned complete recourse to be had to their assistance.</p> +<p>An officer arrived at the Committee of Public Welfare: he announced that the +republican armies were in presence of the enemy; but that the French generals +durst not march their soldiers to battle, because the brandies were poisoned, +and that the sick in the hospitals, having drunk some, had died. He requested +the Committee to cause them to be examined, asked for orders on this subject, +and wished to set off again immediately.</p> +<p>The most skilful chymists were instantly assembled: they were ordered to +analyze the brandies, and to indicate, in the course of the day, the poison and +the remedy.</p> +<p>These <i>savans</i> laboured without intermission, trusting only to +themselves for the most minute details. Scarcely was time allowed them to +finish their operations, when they were summoned to appear before the Committee +of Public Welfare, over which ROBESPIERRE presided.</p> +<p>They announced that the brandies were not poisoned, and that water only had +been added to them, in which was slate in suspension, so that it was sufficient +to filter them, in order to deprive them of their hurtful quality.</p> +<p>ROBESPIERRE, who hoped to discover a treason, asked the Commissioners if +they were perfectly sure of what they had just advanced. As a satisfactory +answer to the question, one of them took a strainer, poured the liquor through +it, and drank it without hesitation. All the others followed his example. +"What!" said ROBESPIERRE to him, "do you dare to drink these poisoned +brandies?"----"I durst do much more," answered he, "when I put my name to the +Report."</p> +<p>This service, though in itself of little importance, impressed the public +mind with a conception of the utility of the <i>savans</i>, a greater number of +whom were called into the Committee of Public Welfare. There they were secure +from subaltern informers, with which France abounded. Having concerns only with +the members charged with the military department, who were endeavouring to save +them, they might, by keeping silence, escape the suspicious looks of the +tyrants of the day. There was then but one resource for men of merit and +virtue, namely, to conceal their existence, and cause themselves to be +forgotten.</p> +<p>In the midst of this sanguinary persecution, all the means of defence +employed by France, issued from the obscure retreat where the genius of the +Sciences had taken refuge.</p> +<p>Powder was the article for which there was the most urgent occasion. The +soldiers were on the point of wanting it. The magazines were empty. The +administrators of the powder-mills were assembled to know what they could do. +They declared that the annual produce amounted to three millions of pounds +only, that the basis of it was saltpetre drawn from India, that extraordinary +encouragements might raise them to five millions; but that no hopes ought to be +entertained of exceeding that quantity. When the members of the Committee of +Public Welfare announced to the administrators that they must manufacture +seventeen millions of pounds of powder in the space of a few months, the latter +remained stupified. "If you succeed in doing this," said they, "you must have a +method of making powder of which we are ignorant."</p> +<p>This, however, was the only mean of saving the country. As the French were +almost excluded from the sea, it was impossible to think of procuring saltpetre +from India. The <i>savans</i> offered to extract all from the soil of the +Republic. A general requisition called to this labour the whole mass of the +people. Short and simple directions, spread with inconceivable activity, made, +of a difficult art, a common process. All the abodes of men and animals were +explored. Saltpetre was sought for even in the ruins of Lyons; and soda, +collected from among the ashes of the forests of La Vendée.</p> +<p>The results of this grand movement would have been useless, had not the +Sciences been seconded by new efforts. Native saltpetre is not fit for making +powder; it is mixed with salts and earths which render it moist, and diminish +its activity. The process employed for purifying it demanded considerable time. +The construction of powder-mills alone would have required several months, and +before that period, France might have been subjugated. Chymistry invented new +methods for refining and drying saltpetre in a few days. As a substitute for +mills, pulverized charcoal, sulphur, and saltpetre were mixed, with copper +balls, in casks which were turned round by hand. By these means, powder was +made in twelve hours; and thus was verified that bold assertion of a member of +the Committee of Public Welfare: "Earth impregnated with saltpetre shall be +produced," said he, "and, in five days after, your cannon shall be loaded."</p> +<p>Circumstances were favourable for fixing, in all their perfection, the only +arts which occupied France. Persons from all the departments were sent to +Paris, in order to be instructed in the manufacture of arms and saltpetre. +Rapid courses of lectures were given on this subject. They contributed little +to the general movement, which had saved the Republic, but they had an effect +no less important, that of bringing to light the astonishing facility of the +French for acquiring the arts and sciences; a happy gift which forms one of the +finest features in the character of the nation.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding so many services rendered by the Sciences, the learned were +not less persecuted; the most celebrated among them were the most exposed. The +venerable DAUBENTON, the co-operator in the labours of BUFFON, escaped +persecution only because he had written a work on the improvement of sheep, and +was taken for a simple shepherd. COUSIN was not so fortunate; yet, in his +confinement, he had the stoicism to compose works of geometry, and give lessons +of physics to his companions of misfortune.</p> +<p>LAVOISIER, that immortal character, whose generosity in promoting the +progress of science could be equalled only by his own enlightened example in +cultivating it, was also apprehended. As one of the Commissioners for fixing +the standard of weights and measures, great hopes were entertained that he +might be restored to liberty. Measures were taken with that intention; but +these were not suited to the spirit of the moment. The commission was +dissolved, and LAVOISIER left in prison. Shortly after, this ever to be +lamented <i>savant</i> was taken to the scaffold. He would still be living, had +his friends acted on the cupidity of the tyrants who then governed, instead of +appealing to their justice.</p> +<p>About this period, some members of the Convention having introduced a +discussion in favour of public instruction, it was strongly opposed by the +revolutionary party, who saw in the Sciences nothing but a poison which +enervated republics. According to them, the finest schools were the popular +societies. To do good was then impossible, and to shew an inclination to do it, +exposed to the greatest danger the small number of enlightened men France still +possessed.</p> +<p>In this point of view, every thing was done that circumstances permitted. A +military school was created, where young men from all the departments were +habituated to the exercise of arms and the life of a camp. It was called +<i>L'École de Mars</i>. Its object was not to form officers, but intelligent +soldiers, who, spread in the French armies, should soon render them the most +enlightened of Europe, as they were already the most inured to the hardships of +war.</p> +<p>Thus, a small number of men, whose conduct has been too ill appreciated, +alone retarded, by constant efforts, the progress of barbarism and struggled in +a thousand ways against the oppression which others contented themselves with +supporting.</p> +<p>At length, the bloody throne, raised by ROBESPIERRE, was overthrown: hope +succeeded to terror; and victory, to defeat. Then, the Sciences, issuing from +the focus in which they had been concentered and concealed, reappeared in all +their lustre. The services they had rendered, the dangers which had threatened +them, were felt and acknowledged. The plan of campaign, formed by the +scientific men, called to the Committee of Public Welfare, had completely +succeeded. The French armies had advanced on the rear of those of the allies, +and, threatening to cut off their retreat, not only forced them to abandon the +places they had taken, but also marched from conquest to conquest on their +territory.</p> +<p>The means of having iron, steel, saltpetre, powder, and arms, had been +created during the reign of terror. The following were the results of this +grand movement at the beginning of the third year of the Republic.</p> +<p>Twelve millions of pounds of saltpetre extracted from the soil of France in +the space of nine months. Formerly, scarcely one million was drawn from it.</p> +<p>Fifteen founderies at work for the casting of brass cannon. Their annual +produce increased to 7000 pieces. There existed in France but two +establishments of this description before the revolution.</p> +<p>Thirty founderies for iron ordnance, yielding 13,000 pieces per year. At the +breaking out of the war, there were but four, which yielded annually 900 pieces +of cannon.</p> +<p>The buildings for the manufacture of shells, shot, and all the implements of +artillery, multiplied in the same proportion.</p> +<p>Twenty new manufactories for side-arms, directed by a new process. Before +the war, there existed but one.</p> +<p>An immense manufactory of fire-arms established all at once in Paris, and +yielding 140,000 muskets per year, that is, more than all the old manufactories +together. Several establishments of this nature formed on the same plan in the +different departments of the Republic.</p> +<p>One hundred and eighty-eight workshops for repairing arms of every +description. Before the war, there existed but six.</p> +<p>The establishment of a manufactory of carbines, the making of which was till +then unknown in France.</p> +<p>The art of renewing the touch-hole of cannon discovered, and carried +immediately to a perfection which admits of its being exercised in the midst of +camps.</p> +<p>A description of the means by which tar, necessary for the navy, may be +speedily extracted from the pine-tree.</p> +<p>Balloons and telegraphs converted into machines of war.</p> +<p>All the process of the arts relative to war simplified and improved by the +application of the most learned theories.</p> +<p>A secret establishment formed at Meudon for that purpose. Experiments there +made on the oxy-muriate of potash, on fire-balls, on hollow-balls, on +ring-balls, &c.</p> +<p>Great works begun for extracting from the soil of France every thing that +serves for the construction, equipment, and supplies of ships of war.</p> +<p>Several researches for replacing or reproducing the principal materials +which the exigencies of the war had consumed, and for increasing impure potash, +which the making of powder had snatched from the other manufactories.</p> +<p>Simple and luminous directions for fixing the art of making soap, and +bringing it within reach of the meanest capacity.</p> +<p>The invention of the composition of which pencils are now made in France, +the black lead for which was previously drawn from England; and what was +inappreciable in those critical circumstances, the discovery of a method for +tanning, in a few days, leather which generally required several years' +preparation.</p> +<p>In a word, if we speak of the territorial acquisitions, which were the +result of the victories obtained by means of the extraordinary resources +created by the men of science, France has acquired an extent of 1,498 square +leagues, and a population of 4,381,266 individuals; namely, Savoy, containing +411,700 inhabitants; the County of Nice, 93,166; Avignon, the <i>Comtat +Venaissin</i>, and Dutch Flanders, 200,500; Maëstricht and Venloo, 90,000; +Belgium, 1,880,000; the left bank of the Rhine, 1,658,500; Geneva and its +territory, 40,000; and Mulhausen, 7,200.</p> +<p>P.S. Paris is now all mirth and gaiety; in consequence of the revived +pleasures of the Carnival. I shall not give you my opinion of it till its +conclusion.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let72f1">Footnote 1</a>: See Vol. I. +<a href="#let34">Letter XXXIV</a>. <a href="#let72fr1">Return to +text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let72f2">Footnote 2</a>: The bells produced 27,442,852 +pounds of metal. This article, valued at 10 <i>sous</i> per pound, represents +15 millions of francs (<i>circa</i> £625,000 sterling). A part served for the +fabrication of copper coin, the remainder furnished pieces of +ordnance. <a href="#let72fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let73">LETTER LXXIII</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, February 28, 1802.</i></p> +<p>In all great cities, one may naturally expect to find great vices; but in +regard to gaming, this capital presents a scene which, I will venture to +affirm, is not to be matched in any part of the world. No where is the passion, +the rage for play so prevalent, so universal: no where does it cause so much +havock and ruin. In every class of society here, gamesters abound. From men +revelling in wealth to those scarcely above beggary, every one flies to the +gaming-table; so that it follows, as a matter of course, that Paris must +contain a great number of <i>Maisons de jeu</i>, or</p> +<p class="center">PUBLIC GAMING-HOUSES.</p> +<p>They are to be met with in all parts of the town, though the head-quarters +are in the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>, or, as it is most commonly called, the +<i>Palais Royal</i>. Whenever you come to Paris, and see, on the first story, a +suite of rooms ostentatiously illuminated, and a blazing reverberator at the +door, you may be certain that it is a house of this description.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, gaming was not only tolerated in Paris, but public +gaming-houses were then licensed by the government, under the agreeable name of +<i>Académies de jeu</i>. There, any one might ruin himself under the immediate +superintendance of the police, an officer belonging to which was always +present. Besides these academies, women of fashion and impures of the first +class were allowed to keep a gaming-table or <i>tripot de jeu</i>, as it was +termed, in their own house. This was a privilege granted to them in order that +they might thereby recover their shattered fortune. When all the necessary +expenses were paid, these ladies commonly shared the profits with their +protectors, that is, with their friends in power, through whose protection the +<i>tripot</i> was sanctioned. Every one has heard of the fatal propensity to +gaming indulged in by the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. The French women of +quality followed her pernicious example, as the young male nobility did that of +the Count d'Artois and the Duke of Orleans; so that, however decided might be +the personal aversion of Lewis XVI to gaming, it never was more in fashion at +the court of France than during his reign. This is a fact, which can be +confirmed by General S---th and other Englishmen who have played deep at the +queen's parties.</p> +<p>At the present day, play is, as I have before stated, much recurred to as a +financial resource, by many of the <i>ci-devant</i> female <i>noblesse</i> in +Paris. In their parties, <i>bouillotte</i> is the prevailing game; and the +speculation is productive, if the company will sit and play. Consequently, the +longer the sitting, the greater the profits. The same lady who moralizes in the +morning, and will read you a lecture on the mischievous consequences of gaming, +makes not the smallest hesitation to press you to sit down at her +<i>bouillotte</i> in the evening, where she knows you will almost infallibly be +a loser. No protection, I believe, is now necessary for a lady who chooses to +have a little private gaming at her residence, under the specious names of +<i>société</i>, <i>bal</i>, <i>thé</i>, or <i>concert</i>. But this is not the +case with the <i>Maisons de jeu</i>, where the gaming-tables are public; or +even with private houses, where the object of the speculation is publicly +known. These purchase a license in the following manner. A person, who is said +to have several <i>sleeping</i> partners, engages to pay to the government the +sum of 3,600,000 francs (<i>circa</i> £150,000 sterling) a year for the power +of licensing all gaming-houses in this capital, and also to account for a tenth +part of the profits, which enter the coffer of the minister at the head of the +department of the police. This contribution serves to defray part of the +expense of greasing the wheels of that intricate machine. Without such a +license, no gaming-house can be opened in Paris. Sometimes it is paid for by a +share in the profits, sometimes by a certain sum per sitting.</p> +<p>These <i>Maisons de jeu</i>, where dupes are pitted against cheats, are +filled from morning to night with those restless beings, who, in their eager +pursuit after fortune, almost all meet with disappointment, wretchedness, ruin, +and every mischief produced by gaming. This vice, however, carries with it its +own punishment; but it is unconquerable in the heart which it ravages. It lays +a man prostrate before those fantastic idols, distinguished by the synonymous +names of fate, chance, and destiny. It banishes from his mind the idea of +enriching himself, or acquiring a competence by slow and industrious means. It +feeds, it inflames his cupidity, and deceives him in order to abandon him +afterwards to remorse and despair.</p> +<p>From the mere impulse of curiosity, I have been led to visit some of the +principal <i>Maisons de jeu</i>. I shall therefore represent what I have +seen.</p> +<p>In a spacious suite of apartments, where different games of chance are +played, is a table of almost immeasurable length, covered with a green cloth, +with a red piece at one end, and a black, one at the other. It is surrounded by +a crowd of persons of both sexes, squeezed together, who, all suspended between +fear and hope, are waiting, with eager eyes and open mouth, for the favourable +or luckless chance. I will suppose that the banker or person who deals the +cards, announces "<i>rouge perd, couleur gagne</i>." The oracle has spoken. At +these words of fate, on one side of the table, you see countenances smiling, +but with a smile of inquietude, and on the other, long faces, on which is +imprinted the palid hue of death. However, the losers recover from their +stupor: they hope that the next chance will be more fortunate. If that happens, +and the banker calls out "<i>rouge gagne, couleur perd</i>;" then the scene +changes, and the same persons whom you have just seen so gay, make a sudden +transition from joy to sadness, and <i>vice versa</i>. This contrast no +language can paint, and you must see it, in order to conceive how the most +headstrong gamblers can spend hour after hour in such a continual state of +agitation, in which they are alternately overwhelmed by rage, anguish, and +despair. Some are seen plucking out their hair by the roots, scratching their +face, and tearing their clothes to pieces, when, after having lost considerable +sums, frequently they have not enough left to pay for a breakfast or dinner. +What an instructive lesaon for the novice! What a subject of reflection for the +philosophic spectator! At these scenes of folly and rapacity it is that the +demon of suicide exults in the triumphs he is on the point of gaining over the +weakness, avarice, and false pride of mortals. If the wretched victim has not +recourse to a pistol, he probably seeks a grave at the bottom of the river.</p> +<p>Among these professed gamblers, it often happens that some of them, in order +to create what they term <i>resources</i>, imagine tricks and impostures +scarcely credible. I shall relate an anecdote which I picked up in the course +of my inquiries respecting the garning-houses in Paris. It may be necessary to +premise that the counterfeit louis, which are in circulation in this country, +and have nearly the appearance of the real coin, are employed by these knaves; +they commonly produce them at night, because they then run less risk of being +detected in passing them; but these means are very common and almost out of +date.</p> +<p>In the great gaming-houses in Paris, it is customary to have on the table +several <i>rouleaux</i> of louis d'or. An old, experienced gambler came one day +to a house of this class, with his pockets full of leaden <i>rouleaux</i> of +the exact form and size of those containing fifty louis d'or. He placed at one +of the ends of the table (either black or red) one of his leaden +<i>rouleaux</i>: he lost. The master of the bank took up his <i>rouleau</i>, +and, without opening it, put it with the good <i>rouleaux</i> in the middle of +the table, where the bank is kept. The old gambler, without being disconcerted, +staked another. He won, and withdrew the good <i>rouleau</i> given him, leaving +the counterfeit one on the table, at the same time calling out, "I stake ten +louis out of the <i>rouleau</i>." The cards were drawn; he won: the banker, to +pay him the ten louis, took a <i>rouleau</i> from the bank. Chance willed that +he lighted on the leaden <i>rouleau</i>. He endeavoured to break it open by +striking it on the table: the <i>rouleau</i> withstood his efforts. The +gambler, without deranging his features, then said to the banker; "Mind you +don't break it." The banker, disconcerted, tore the paper, and, on opening it, +found it to contain nothing but lead. There being no positive proof against the +gambler, he was permitted to retire, and his only punishment was to be in +future excluded from this gaming-house. But he had the consolation of knowing +that ninety-nine others would be open to him. However, this and other +impostures have led to a regulation, that, in all these houses, the value of +every stake should be apparent to the eye, and openly exposed on the table.</p> +<p>From what I have said you might infer that <i>trente-et-un</i> (or <i>rouge +et noir</i>) is the most fashionable game played here; but, though this is the +case, it is not the only one in high vogue. Many others, equally pernicious, +are pursued at the same time, such as <i>la roulette</i>, <i>passe-dix</i>, and +<i>biribi</i>, at which cheats and sharpers can, more at their ease, execute +their feats of dexterity and schemes of plunder. Women frequent the +gaming-tables as well as the men, and often pledge their last shift to make up +a stake. It is shocking to contemplate a young female gamester, the natural +beauty of whose countenance is distorted into deformity by a succession of +agonizing passions. Yet so distressing an object is no uncommon thing in +Paris.</p> +<p>You may, perhaps, be curious to know what are these games, of +<i>trente-et-un</i>, <i>biribi</i>, <i>passe-dix,</i> and <i>la roulette</i>. +Never having played at any of them, such a description as I might pretend to +give, could at best be but imperfect. For which, reason I shall not engage in +the attempt.</p> +<p><a name="let73fr1"></a>It is confidently affirmed that in the principal +towns of France, namely, Bordeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, Rouen, &c. the rage +for play is no less prevalent than in the capital, where gaming-houses daily +increase in number.[<a href="#let73f1">1</a>] They are now established in every +quarter in Paris, even the poorest, and there are some where the lowest of the +populace can indulge in a <i>penchant</i> for gaming, as the stake is +proportioned to their means. This is the ruin of every class of inhabitants and +of foreigners; so much so, that suicides here increase in exact proportion to +the increase of gaming-houses.</p> +<p>Is it not astonishing that the government should suffer, still more promote +the existence of an evil so pernicious in every point of view? From the present +state of the French finances, it would, notwithstanding, appear that every +consideration, however powerful, must yield to the want of money required for +defraying the expenses of the department of the Police.</p> +<p><i>Minima de malis</i> was the excuse of the old government of France for +promoting gaming. "From the crowd of dissipated characters of every +description, accumulated in great cities," said its partisans, "governments +find themselves compelled to tolerate certain abuses, in order to avoid evils +of greater magnitude. They are forced to compound with the passions which they +are unable to destroy; and it is better that men should be professed gamblers +than usurers, swindlers, and thieves." Such was the reasoning employed in +behalf of the establishment of the <i>Académies de jeu</i>, which existed prior +to the revolution. Such is the reasoning reproduced, at the present day, in +favour of the <i>Maisons de jeu</i>; but, when I reflect on all the horrors +occasioned by gaming, I most ardently wish that every argument in favour of so +destructive a vice, may be combated by a pen like that of Rousseau, which, Sir +William Jones says, "had the property of spreading light before it on the +darkest objects, as if he had written with phosphorus on the walls of a +cavern."</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let73f1">Footnote 1</a>: During the Carnival of the +present year (1803) the masked balls at the grand French Opera were quite +deserted, in consequence of a new gaming-house, established solely for +foreigners, having, by the payment of considerable sums to the government, +obtained permission to give masked balls. These balls were all the rage. There +was one every Tuesday, and the employment of the whole week was to procure +cards of invitation; for persons were admitted by <i>invitation</i> only, no +money being taken. The rooms, though spacious, were warm and comfortable; the +company, tolerably good, and extremely numerous, but chiefly composed of +foreigners. <i>Treute-et-un</i>, <i>biribi</i>, <i>pharaon</i>, <i>creps</i>, +and other fashionable games were played, so that the <i>speculators</i> could +very well afford to give all sorts of refreshments, and an elegant supper +<i>gratis</i>. <a href="#let73fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let74">LETTER LXXIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 1, 1802</i>.</p> +<p>Of all the institutions subsisting here before the revolution, that which +has experienced the greatest enlargement is the</p> +<p class="center">MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.</p> +<p>This establishment, formerly called <i>Le Jardin du Roi</i>, and now more +commonly known by the name of <i>Le Jardin des Plantes</i>, received its +present denomination by a decree of the National Convention, dated the 10th of +June 1793. It is situated on the south bank of the Seine, nearly facing the +Arsenal, and consists of a botanical garden, a collection of natural history, a +library of works relating to that science, an amphitheatre for the lectures, +and a <i>ménagerie</i> of living animals.</p> +<p>Originally, it was nothing more than a garden for medicinal plants, formed +under that title, in 1626, by GUY DE LA BROSSE, principal physician to Lewis +XIII, who sanctioned the establishment by letters patent. The king's physicians +were almost always intendants of this garden till the year 1739, when it was +placed under the direction of BUFFON. Before his time, the cabinet was +trifling. It consisted only of some curiosities collected by GEOFFROY, and a +few shells which had belonged to TOURNEFORT; but, through the zeal of BUFFON, +and the care of his co-operator DAUBENTON, it became a general <i>dépôt</i> of +natural history, and its riches had increased still more than its utility. On +the breaking out of the revolution, it had been protected through that sort of +respect which the rudest men have for the productions of nature, whence they +either receive or expect relief for their sufferings. It had even been +constantly defended by the revolutionary administration, under whose control +and dependence it was placed. Regarding it, in some measure, as their private +property, their pride was interested in its preservation; and had any attempt +been made to injure it, they would infallibly have caused an insurrection among +the inhabitants of the surrounding <i>faubourg</i>. These singular +circumstances, joined to the good understanding prevailing among the +professors, had maintained this fine establishment in a state, if not +increasing, at least stationary. On the revival of order, ideas were +entertained of giving to it an extension which had already been projected and +decreed, even during the reign of terror.</p> +<p>The botanical garden was enlarged; the extent of the ground intended for the +establishment was doubled; a <i>ménagerie</i> was formed; new hot-houses and +new galleries were constructed; the addition of new professors was confirmed, +and all the necessary disbursements were made with magnificence. Thus, in the +same place where every production of nature was assembled, natural history was +for the first time taught in its aggregate; and these courses of lectures, +become celebrated by the brilliancy of the facts illustrated in them, the +number of pupils who frequent them, and the great works of which they have been +the cause or the motive, have rendered the MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY one of the +first establishments of instruction existing in Europe.</p> +<p>Formerly, there were but three professors attached to this establishment. At +present, there are no less than thirteen, who each give a course of forty +lectures. The courses of zoology and mineralogy take place in the halls of the +cabinet containing the collections corresponding to each of those sciences. The +courses of botany, anatomy, and chemistry are delivered in the great +amphitheatre, and that of natural iconography in the library. The days and +hours of the lectures are announced every year by particular +advertisements.</p> +<p>The establishment is administered, under the authority of the Minister of +the Interior, by the professors, who choose, annually, from among themselves, a +director. At present, that situation is held by FOURCROY. Although this +celebrated professor, in his lectures on chemistry, must principally attach +himself to minerals, the particular object of chemical inquiry, he is far from +neglecting vegetable and animal substances, the analysis of which will, in +time, spread great light on organic bodies. The most recent discoveries on the +exact constitution of bodies are made known in the course of these lectures, +and a series of experiments, calculated for elucidating the demonstrations, +takes place under the eyes of the auditors.</p> +<p>No one possesses more than FOURCROY the rare talent of classing well his +subjects, of presenting facts in a striking point of view, and of connecting +them by a succession of ideas extremely rapid, and expressed in a voice whose +melody gives an additional charm to eloquence. The pleasure of hearing him is +peculiarly gratifying; and, indeed, when he delivers a lecture, the +amphitheatre, spacious as it is, is much too small to contain the crowd of +auditors. Then, the young pupils are seen with their eyes stedfastly fixed on +their master, catching his word with avidity, and fearing to lose one of them; +thus paying by their attention the most flattering tribute to the astonishing +facility of this orator of science, from whose lips naturally flow, as from a +spring, the most just and most select expressions. Frequently too, carried away +by the torrent of his eloquence, they forget what they have just heard, to +think only of what he is saying. FOURCROY speaks in this manner for upwards of +two hours, without any interruption, and, what is more, without tiring either +his auditors or himself. He writes with no less facility than he speaks. This +is proved by the great number of works which he has published. But in his +writings, his style is more calm, more smooth than that of his lectures.</p> +<p>Each professor superintends and arranges the part of the collections +corresponding to the science which he is charged to teach. For this purpose, +there are also assistant naturalists, whose employment is to prepare the +various articles of natural history. The keeper of the cabinet, under the +authority of the director, takes all the measures necessary for the +preservation of the collections. The principal ones are:</p> +<ol class="decimal"> +<li>The cabinet of natural history, containing the animal kingdom, divided into +its classes; the mineral kingdom; the fossils, woods, fruits, and other +vegetable productions, together with the herbals. This cabinet, which occupies +the buildings on the right, on entering from the street, is open to students on +Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, from eleven o'clock till two, and to the +public in general every Tuesday and Friday in the afternoon.</li> +<li>The library, chiefly composed of works relating to natural history, +contains, among other valuable articles, an immense collection of animals and +plants, painted on vellum. Three painters are charged to continue this +collection under the superintendance of the professors. The library is open to +the public every day from eleven o'clock to two.</li> +<li>The cabinet of anatomy, containing the preparations relative to the human +race and to animals. It is situated in a separate building, and for the present +open to students only.</li> +<li>The botanical school, containing the plants growing in the open ground, and +the numerous hot-houses in which are cultivated those peculiar to warm +countries.</li> +<li>The <i>ménagerie</i> of foreign animals. At the present moment, they are +dispersed in various parts of the garden; but they are shortly to be assembled +in a spacious and agreeable place.</li> +<li>The chemical laboratory and the collection of chemical productions.</li> +</ol> +<p>To these may be added a laboratory for the preparation of objects of natural +history, and another for that of objects of anatomy.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the improved state to which BUFFON had brought this +establishment, yet, through the united care of the several scientific men who +have since had the direction of it, the constant attention bestowed on it by +the government, and even by the conquests of the French armies, its riches have +been so much increased, that its collection of natural history may at this day +be considered as the finest in being. The department of the minerals and that +of the quadrupeds are nearly complete; that of the birds is one of the most +considerable and the handsomest known; and the other classes, without answering +yet the idea which a naturalist might conceive of thenm, are, nevertheless, +superior to what other countries have to offer.</p> +<p>Among the curious or scarce articles in this Museum, the following claim +particular notice:</p> +<p>In the class of quadrupeds, adult individuals, stuffed, such as the +camelopard, the hippopotamus, the single-horned rhinoceros, the Madagascar +squirrel, the Senegal lemur, two varieties of the oran-outang, the +proboscis-monkey, different specimens of the indri, some new species of bats +and opossums, the Batavian kangaroo, and several antelopes, ant-eaters, +&c.</p> +<p>In the class of birds, a great number of new or rare species, and among +those remarkable either for size or beauty, are the golden vulture, the great +American eagle, the Impey peacock, the Ju[*blot*] pheasant or argus, the +plantain-eater, &c.</p> +<p>Among the reptiles, the crocodile of the Ganges, the fimbriated tortoise of +Cayenne, &c.</p> +<p>Among the shells, the glass patella, and a number of valuable, scarce, or +new species.</p> +<p>The collection of insects has just been completed through the assiduity of +the estimable LAMARCK, the professor who has charge of that department.</p> +<p>In the mineral kingdom, independently of the numerous and select choice of +all the specimens, are to be remarked as objects of particular curiosity, the +petrifactions of crocodiles' bones found in the mountain of St. Pierre at +Maëstricht, and the collection of impressions of fishes from Mount Bolca, near +Verona.</p> +<p>At the present moment, the <i>ménagerie</i> contains a female elephant only, +the male having died since my arrival in Paris, three dromedaries, two camels, +five lions, male and female, a white bear, a brown bear, a mangousta, a civet, +an alligator, an ostrich, and several other scarce and curious animals, the +number and variety of which receive frequent additions. In other parts of the +garden are inclosures for land and sea fowls, as well as ponds for fishes.</p> +<p>The denomination of <i>Jardin des Plantes</i> is very appropriate to this +garden, as it furnishes to all the botanical establishments throughout France +seeds of trees and plants useful to the p[*blot*]ess of agriculture and of the +arts; and hence the indigent poor are supplied with such medicinal plants as +are proper for the cure or relief of their complaints.</p> +<h2><a name="let75">LETTER LXXV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 3, 1802.</i></p> +<p>It has been repeatedly observed that civilized nations adhere to their +ancient customs for no other reason than because they are ancient. The French +have, above all, a most decided partiality for those which afford them +opportunities of amusement. It must therefore have been a subject of no small +regret to them, on the annual return of those periods, to find the government +taking every measure for the suppression of old habits. For some years since +the revolution, all disguises and masquerades were strictly prohibited; but, +though the executive power forbade pasteboard masks, its authority could not +extend to those mental disguises which have been occasionally worn by many +leading political characters in this country. No sooner was the prohibition +against masquerading removed, than the Parisians gave full scope to the +indulgence of their inclination; and this year was revived, in all its glory, +the celebration of</p> +<p class="center">THE CARNIVAL.</p> +<p>Yesterday was the conclusion of that mirthful period, during which Folly +seemed to have taken possession of all the inhabitants of this populous city. +Every thing that gaiety, whim, humour, and eccentricity could invent, was put +in practice to render it a sort of continued jubilee. From morn to night, the +concourse of masks of every description was great beyond any former example; +but still greater was the concourse of spectators. All the principal streets +and public gardens were thronged by singular characters, in appropriate +dresses, moving about in small detached parties or in numerous close bodies, on +foot, on horseback, or in carriages. The <i>Boulevards</i>, the <i>Rue de la +Loi</i>, and the <i>Rue St. Honoré</i>, exhibited long processions of masks and +grotesque figures, crowded both in the inside and on the outside of vehicles of +all sorts, from a <i>fiacre</i> to a German waggon, drawn by two, four, six, +and eight horses; while the <i>Palais Royal</i>, the <i>Tuileries</i>, the +<i>Place de la Concorde</i>, and the <i>Champs Elysées</i> were filled with +pedestrian wits, amusing the surrounding multitude by the liveliness of their +sallies and the smartness of their repartee. Here S[*blot*]pins, Scaramouches, +Punchinellos, Pierrots, Harlequins, and Columbines, together with nuns, friars, +abbés, bishops, and <i>marquis</i> in caricature, enlivened the scene: there, +sultans, sultanas, janissaries, mamlûks, Turks, Spaniards, and Indians, in +stately pride, attracted attention. On one side, a Mars and Venus, an Apollo +and Daphne, figured under the attributes of heathen mythology: on another, more +than one Adam and Eve recalled to mind the origin of the creation.</p> +<p>To the eye of an untravelled Englishman, the novelty of this sight must have +been a source of no small entertainment. If he was of a reflecting mind, +however, it must have given rise to a variety of observations, and some of them +of a rather serious nature. In admiring the order and decency which reigned +amidst so much mirth and humour, he must have been desirous to appreciate the +influence of political events on the character of this people. In a word, he +must have been anxious to ascertain how far the return of our Gallic neighbours +to their ancient habits, announces a return to their ancient institutions.</p> +<p>It is well known that the Carnival of modern times is an imitation of the +Saturnalia of the ancients, and that the celebration of those festivals was +remarkable for the liberty which universally prevailed; slaves being, at that +period, permitted to ridicule their masters, and speak with freedom on every +subject. During the last years of the French monarchy, the Parisians neglected +not to avail themselves of this privilege. When all classes were confounded, at +the time of the Carnival, the most elevated became exposed to the lash of the +lowest; and, under the mask of satire, the abuses which had crept into +religious societies, and the corruption which prevailed in every department of +the State, escaped not their bold censure. From a consciousness, no doubt, of +their own weakness, the different governments that have ruled over France since +the revolution, dreaded the renewal of scenes in which their tottering +authority might be overthrown; but such an apprehension cannot have been +entertained by the present government, as manifestly appears from the almost +unlimited license which has reigned during the late Carnival. Notwithstanding +which, it is worthy of remark that no satirical disguises were met with, no +shafts of ridicule were aimed at the constituted authorities, no invective was +uttered against such and such an opinion, no abuse was levelled against this or +that party. Censure and malice either slept or durst not shew themselves, +though freedom of expression seemed to be under no restraint.</p> +<p>Formerly, when the people appeared indifferent to the motley amusements of +the Carnival, and little disposed to mix in them, either as actors or +spectators, it was not uncommon for the government to pay for some +masquerading. The <i>mouchards</i> and underlings of the police were habited as +grotesque characters, calculated to excite curiosity, and promote mirth. They +then spread themselves, to the number of two or three thousand, over different +parts of the town, and gave to the streets of Paris a false colouring of joy +and gladness; for the greater the misery of the people, the more was it thought +necessary to exhibit an outward representation of public felicity. But these +political impostures, having been seen through, at length failed in their +effect, and were nearly relinquished before the revolution. At that time, +nothing diverted the populace so much as <i>attrapes</i> or bites; and every +thing that engendered gross and filthy ideas was sure to please. Pieces of +money, heated purposely, were scattered on the pavement, in order that persons, +who attempted to pick them up, might burn their fingers. Every sort of bite was +practised; but the greatest attraction and acme of delight consisted of +<i>chianlits</i>, that is, persons masked, walking about, apparently, in their +shirt, the tail of which was besmeared with mustard.</p> +<p>At the present day, these coarse and disgusting jokes are evidently laid +aside, as some of a more rational kind are exhibited; such as the nun, partly +concealed in a truss of straw, and strapped on the catering friar's back; the +effect of the galvanic fluid; and many others too numerous to mention. No +factitious mirth was this year displayed; it was all natural; and if it did not +add to the small sum of happiness of the distressed part of the Parisian +community, it must, for a while at least, have made them forget their +wretchedness. With few exceptions, every one seemed employed in laughing or in +exciting laughter. Many of the characters assumed were such as afforded an +opportunity of displaying a particular species of wit or humour; but the dress +of some of the masquerading parties, being an excellent imitation of the rich +costumes of Asia, must have been extremely expensive.</p> +<p>To conclude, the masked balls at the Opera, on the last days of the +Carnival, were numerously attended. Very few characters were here attempted, +and those were but faintly supported. Adventures are the principal object of +the frequenters of these balls, and I have reason to think that the persons who +went in quest of them were not disappointed. In short, though I have often +passed the Carnival in Paris, I never witnessed one that went off with greater +<i>éclat</i>. As the Turkish Spy observes, a small quantity of ashes, dropped, +the day after its conclusion, on the head of these people in disguise, cools +their frenzy. From being mad and foolish, they become calm and rational.</p> +<h2><a name="let76">LETTER LXXVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 5, 1802.</i></p> +<p>As I foresee that my private affairs will, probably, require my presence in +England sooner than I expected, I hasten to give you an idea of the principal +public edifices which I have not, yet noticed. One of these is the +<i>Luxembourg</i> Palace, now called the</p> +<p class="center">PALAIS DU SÉNAT CONSERVATEUR.</p> +<p>Mary of Medicis, relict of Henry IV, having purchased of the Duke of +Luxembourg his hotel and its dependencies, erected on their site this palace. +It was built in 1616, under the direction of JACQUES DE BROSSE, on the plan of +the <i>Pitti</i> palace at Florence.</p> +<p>Next to the <i>Louvre</i>, the <i>Luxembourg</i> is the most spacious palace +in Paris. It is particularly distinguished for its bold character, its +regularity, and the beauty of its proportions. The whole façade is ornamented +with coupled pilasters: on the ground-floor, the Tuscan order is employed, and +above, the Doric, with alternate rustics. In the four pavilions, placed at the +angles of the principal pile, the Ionic has been added to the other two orders, +because they are more elevated than the rest of the buildings. Towards the +<i>Rue de Tournon</i>, the two pavilions communicate by a handsome terrace, in +the middle of which is a circular saloon, surmounted by a dome of the most +elegant proportion. Beneath this dome is the principal entrance. The court is +spacious, and on each side of it are covered arches which form galleries on the +ground-floor and in front of the upper story.</p> +<p>The twenty-four pictures which Mary of Medicis had caused to be painted by +the celebrated RUBENS, for the gallery of the <i>Luxembourg</i>, had been +removed from it some years before the revolution. At that time even, they were +intended for enriching the Museum of the <i>Louvre</i>. Four of them are now +exhibited there in the Great Gallery. They are allegorical; with the other +twenty, they represent the prosperous part of the history of that queen, and +form a striking contrast to the adversity she afterwards experienced through +the persecution of Cardinal Richelieu.</p> +<p>To gratify his revenge, he ordered all the furniture, &c. belonging to +Mary of Medicis to be sold, together with the statues which then decorated the +courts and garden of the <i>Luxembourg</i>, and pursued with inveteracy the +unfortunate queen who had erected this magnificent edifice. Being exiled from +France in 1631, she wandered for a long time in Flanders, and also in England, +till the implacable cardinal prevailed on Charles I, to command her to quit the +kingdom. In 1642, she took refuge at Cologne, and, at the age of 68, there died +in a garret, almost through hunger and distress.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, this palace belonged to MONSIEUR, next brother to +Lewis XVI. It has since been occupied by the Directory, each of whose members +here had apartments. No material change has yet been made in it; nor does any +thing announce that the partial alterations intended, either in its exterior or +interior, will speedily be completed.</p> +<p class="bq">"----<i>Pendent opera interrupta minæque, &c.</i>"</p> +<p>At the present day, the <i>Luxembourg</i> is appropriated to the +Conservative Senate, whose name it has taken, and who here hold their sittings +in a hall, fitted up in a style of magnificence still superior to that of the +Legislative Body. But the sittings of the former are not public like those of +the latter; and as I had no more than a peep at their fine hall, I cannot enter +into a description of its beauties.</p> +<p>However, I took a view of their garden, in which I had formerly passed many +a pleasant hour. Here, workmen are employed in making considerable +improvements. It was before very irregular, particularly towards the south, +where the view from the palace was partly concealed by the buildings of the +monastery of the Carthusians. By degrees, these irregularities are made to +disappear, and this garden will shortly be laid out in such a manner as to +correspond better with the majesty of the palace, and display its architecture +to greater advantage. Alleys of trees, which were decayed from age, have been +cut down, and replaced by young plants of thriving growth. In front of the +south façade is to be a tasteful parterre, with an oblong piece of water in its +centre. Beyond the garden is a large piece of ground formerly belonging to the +Carthusian monastery, which is now nearly demolished; this ground is to be +converted into a national nursery for all sorts of valuable fruit-trees. Being +contiguous to the garden of the Senate, with which it communicates, it will +furnish a very extensive promenade, and consequently add to the agreeableness +of the place.</p> +<p>The present Minister of the Interior, CHAPTAL, who cultivates the arts and +sciences with no less zeal than success, purposes to make here essays on the +culture of vine-plants of every species, in order to obtain comparative +results, which will throw a new light on that branch of rural economy.</p> +<p>A great number of vases and statues are placed in the garden of the Senate. +Many of these works are indifferently executed, though a few of them are in a +good style. Certainly, a more judicious and more decorous choice ought to have +been made. It was not necessary to excite regret in the mind of the moralist, +by placing under the eyes of the public figures of both sexes which are +repugnant to modesty. If it be really meant to attempt to mend the loose morals +of the nation, why are nudities, which may be considered as the leaven of +corruption, exposed thus in this and other national gardens in Paris?</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p class="right"><i>March 5, in continuation.</i></p> +<p>St. Foix, in his "<i>Essais historiques sur Paris</i>" speaking of the +Bastille, says, "it is a castle, which, without being strong, is one of the +most formidable in Europe." In their arduous struggle for liberty, the French +have scarcely left a vestige of this dread abode, in which have been immured so +many victims of political vengeance. I will not pretend to affirm that such is +the description of prisoners now confined in</p> +<p class="center">LE TEMPLE.</p> +<p>But when the liberty of individuals lies at the mercy of arbitrary power, +every one has a right to draw his own inference.</p> +<p>This edifice takes its name from the Templars, whose chief residence it was +till they were annihilated in 1313. Philip the Fair and Clement V contrived, +under various absurd pretences, to massacre and burn the greater part of the +knights of this order. The knights of St. John of Jerusalem were put in +possession of all the property of the Templars, except such part as the king of +France and the Pope thought fit to share between them. The <i>Temple</i> then +became the provincial house of the Grand Priory of France.</p> +<p>The Grand Priory consisted of the inclosure within the walls of the +<i>Temple</i>, where stood a palace for the Grand Prior, a church, and several +houses inhabited by shopkeepers and mechanics; but, with the considerable +domains annexed to it, this post, before the revolution, yielded to the eldest +son of the Count d'Artois, as Grand Prior, an annual revenue of 200,000 livres. +The inclosure was at that time a place of refuge for debtors, where they +enjoyed the privilege of freedom from arrest.</p> +<p>The palace was erected by JACQUES SOUVRÉ, Grand Prior of France. Near it, is +a large Gothic tower of a square form, flanked by four round turrets of great +elevation, built by HUBERT, treasurer to the Templars, who died in 1222.</p> +<p>It was in this building, which was considered as one of the most solid in +France, that Lewis XVI was confined from the middle of September 1792 to the +day of his execution. From the 13th of August till that period, the royal +family had occupied the part of the palace which has been preserved. This +tower, when it had been entirely insulated and surrounded by a ditch, was +inclosed by a high wall, which also included part of the garden. The casements +were provided with strong iron bars, and masked by those shutters, called, I +believe, <i>trunk-lights</i>. As for the life which the unhappy monarch led in +this prison, a detailed narrative of it has been published in England, by +Cléry, his faithful <i>valet-de-chambre</i>.</p> +<p>I have not been very anxious to approach the <i>Temple</i>, because I +concluded that, if fame was not a liar, there was no probability of my having +an opportunity of seeing any part of it, except the outer wall. The result was +a confirmation of my opinion. Who are its occupiers? What is their number? What +are their crimes? These are questions which naturally intrude themselves on the +mind, when one surveys the turrets of this new Bastille—for, whether a +place of confinement for state-prisoners be called <i>La Bastille</i> or <i>Le +Temple</i>, nevertheless it is a state-prison, and reminds one of slavery, +which, as Sterne says, is, in any disguise, a bitter draught; and though +thousands, in all ages, have been made to drink of it, still it is not, on that +account, less bitter.</p> +<h2><a name="let77">LETTER LXXVII</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 8, 1802</i>.</p> +<p>Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be always able to answer your +inquiries without hesitation. Considering the round of amusements in which I +live, I flatter myself you will readily admit that it requires no small share +of good-will and perseverance to devote so much time to scribbling for your +entertainment. As for information, you will, on your arrival in Paris, know how +much or how little you have derived from the perusal of my letters. You will +then have it in your power to compare and judge. With the originals before you, +you cannot be at a loss to determine how far the sketches resemble them.</p> +<p>Some of your inquiries have been already answered in my former letters. +Among the number, however, you will find no reply on the subject of the</p> +<p class="center">PRESENT STATE OF THE FRENCH PRESS.</p> +<p>This question being of a nature no less delicate than that concerning the +police, you cannot but commend my discretion in adopting a similar method to +gratify your curiosity; that is, to refer you to the intelligent author whom I +quoted on the former occasion. If common report speaks the truth—<i>Sit +mihi fas audita loqui?</i>—the press here is now in much the same state +in which it was before the revolution. I shall therefore borrow again the +language of MERCIER, who is a famous dreamer, inasmuch as many of his dreams +have been realized: yet, with all his foresight and penetration, I question +whether he ever dreamt that his picture of the French press, drawn in the +interval between the years 1781 and 1788, would still be, in some respects, a +true one at the beginning of the year 1802. But, as Boileau shrewdly +remarks,</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>Le vrai peut quelquefois n'être pas vraisemblable.</i>"</p> +<p>"The enemies of books," says our author, "are the enemies of, knowledge, and +consequently of mankind. The shackles with which the press is loaded, are an +incitement for setting them at defiance. If we were to enjoy a decent liberty, +we should no longer have recourse to licentiousness. There are political evils +which the liberty of the press prevents, and this is already a great benefit. +The interior police of States requires to be enlightened by disinterested +writings. There is no one but the philosopher, satisfied with the esteem alone +of his fellow-citizens, that can raise himself above the clouds formed by +personal interest, and set forth the abuses of insidious custom. In short, the +liberty of the press will always be the measure of civil liberty; and it is a +species of thermometer, which shews, at one glance, what a people have lost or +gained.</p> +<p>"If we adopt this maxim, we are every day losing; for every day the press is +more restricted.</p> +<p>"Suffer people to think and speak; the public will judge: they will even +find means to correct authors. The surest method to purify the press, is to +render it free: obstacles irritate it: prohibitions and difficulties engender +the pamphlets complained of.</p> +<p>"Could despotism kill thought in its sanctuary, and prevent us from +communicating the essence of our ideas to the mind of our fellow-creatures, it +would do so. But not being able quite to pluck out the philosopher's tongue, +and cut off his hands, it establishes an inquisition, peoples the frontiers +with searchers, spreads satellites, and opens every package, in order to +interrupt the infallible progress of morality and truth. Useless and puerile +effort! Vain attack on the natural right of general society, and on the +patriotic rights of a particular one! Reason, from day to day, strikes nations +with a greater lustre, and will at last shine unclouded. It answers no purpose +to fear or persecute genius: nothing will extinguish in its hands the torch of +truth: the decree which its mouth pronounces, will be repeated by all posterity +against the unjust man. He wished to snatch from his fellow-creatures the most +noble of all privileges, that of thinking, which is inseparable from that of +existing: he will have manifested his weakness and folly; and he will merit the +twofold reproach of tyranny and impotence.</p> +<p>"When a very flat, very atrocious, and very calumniating libel appears under +a fellow's coat, 'tis a contest who shall have it first. People pay an +exorbitant price for it; the hawker who cannot read, and who wishes only to get +bread for his poor family, is apprehended, and sent to prison, where he shifts +for himself as well as he can.</p> +<p>"The more the libel is prohibited, the more eager we are for it. When we +have read it, and we see that nothing compensates for its mean temerity, we are +ashamed to have sought after it. We scarcely dare say, <i>we have read it</i>: +'tis the scum of low literature, and what is there without its scum?</p> +<p>"Contempt would be the surest weapon against those miserable productions +which are equally destitute of truth and talent.</p> +<p>"When will men in power know how to disdain equally the interested encomiums +of intriguing flatterers and the satires produced by hunger?</p> +<p>"Besides, those who sit in the first boxes must always expect some shafts +levelled at them by those who are in the pit; this becomes almost inevitable. +They must needs pay for their more commodious place: at least we attribute to +those who rule over us more enjoyments: they have some which they will avow, +solely with a view to raise themselves above the multitude. The human heart is +naturally envious. Let men in power then forgive or dissemble seasonably: +satire will fall to the ground; it is by shewing themselves impassible, that +they will disarm ardent malignity.</p> +<p>"Nevertheless, there is a kind of odious libel, which, having every +characteristic of calumny, ought to be repressed. This is commonly nothing more +than the fruit of anonymous and envenomed revenge: for what are the secret +intrigues of courts to any man of letters? He will know time enough that which +will suit the pen of history.</p> +<p>"A libeller should be punished, as every thing violent ought to be. But the +parties interested should abstain from pronouncing; for where then would be the +proportion between the punishment and the crime?</p> +<p>"I apply not the name of libels to those atrocious and gratuitous +accusations against the private life of persons in power or individuals +unconnected with the government. Such injurious and unmeaning shafts are an +attack on honour: their authors should be punished.</p> +<p>"The police detected and apprehended one of its inspectors, who, being +charged to discover those libels, proposed the composition of similar ones to +some half-starved authors. After having laid for them this infernal snare for +the gain of a little money, he informed against them, and sold them to the +government.</p> +<p>"These miscreants, blinded by the eager thirst of a little gold, divert +themselves with the uneasiness of the government, and the more they see it in +the trances of apprehension, the more they delight in magnifying the danger, +and doubling its alarms.</p> +<p>"Liberty has rendered the English government insensible to libels. Disdain +is certain, before the work is commenced. If the satire is ingenious, people +laugh at it, without believing it; if it is flat, they despise it.</p> +<p>"Why cannot the French government partly adopt this indifference? A +contempt, more marked, for those vile and unknown pens that endeavour to wound +the sensibility of pride, would disgust the readers of the flat and lying +satires after which they are so eager, only because they imagine that the +government is really offended by them.</p> +<p>"It is to be observed that the productions that flatter more or less public +malignity, spread in fugitive sparks a central fire, which, if compressed, +would, perhaps, produce an explosion.</p> +<p>"Magistrates have not yet been seen disdaining those obscure shafts, +rendering themselves invulnerable from the openness of their proceedings, and +considering that praise will be mute, as long as criticism cannot freely raise +its voice.</p> +<p>"Let them then punish the flattery by which they are assailed, since they +are so much afraid of the libel that always contains some good truths: besides, +the public are there to judge the detractor; and no unjust satire ever +circulated a fort-night, without being branded with contempt.</p> +<p>"Ministers reciprocally deceive each other when they are attacked in this +manner; the one laughs at the storm which has just burst on the other, and +promotes secretly what he appears to prosecute openly and with warmth. It would +be a curious thing if one could bring to light the good tricks which the +votaries of ambition play each other in the road to power and fortune.</p> +<p>"There is nothing now printed in Paris, in the line of politics and history, +but satires and falsehoods. Foreigners look down with pity on every thing that +emanates from the capital on these matters. Other subjects begin to feel the +consequences of this, because the restraint laid on the mind is manifested even +in books of simple amusement. The presses of Paris are no longer to serve but +for posting-bills, and invitations to funerals and weddings. Almanacks are +already a subject too elevated, and the inquisition examines and garbles +them.</p> +<p>"When I see a book," says MERCIER, "sanctioned by the government, I would +lay a wager, without opening it, that this book contains political falsehoods. +The chief magistrate may well say: 'This piece of paper shall be worth a +thousand francs;' but he cannot say: 'Let this error become truth,' or, 'let +this truth no longer be anything but an error.' He may say it, but he can never +compel men's minds to adopt it.</p> +<p>"What is admirable in printing, is that these fine works, which do honour to +human genius, are not to be commanded or paid for; on the contrary, it is the +natural liberty of a generous mind, which unfolds itself in spite of dangers, +and makes a present to human nature, in spite of tyrants. This is what renders +the man of letters so commendable, and insures to him the gratitude of future +ages.</p> +<p>"O! worthy Englishmen! generous people, strangers to our shameful servitude, +carefully preserve among you the liberty of the press: it is the pledge of your +freedom. At this day, you alone are the representatives of nearly all mankind; +you uphold the dignity of the name of man. The thunderbolts, which strike the +pride and insolence of arbitrary power, issue from your happy island. Human +reason has found among you an asylum whence she may instruct the world. Your +books are not subject to an inquisition; and it would require a long comment to +explain to you in what manner permission is at length obtained for a flimsy +pamphlet, which no one will read, to be exposed for sale, and remain unsold, on +the <i>Quai de Gévres</i>.</p> +<p>"We are so absurd and so little in comparison to you," adds MERCIER, "that +you would be at a loss to conceive the excess of our weakness and +humiliation."</p> +<h2><a name="let78">LETTER LXXVIII</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 9, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Among the national establishments in this metropolis, I know of none that +have experienced so great an amelioration, since the revolution, as the</p> +<p class="center">HOSPITALS AND OTHER CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS;</p> +<p>The civil hospitals in Paris now form two distinct classes. The one +comprehends the hospitals for the sick: the other, those for the indigent. The +former are devoted to the relief of suffering human nature; the latter serve as +an asylum to children, to the infirm, and to the aged indigent. All persons who +are not ill enough to be admitted of necessity into the hospital the nearest to +their residence, are obliged to present themselves to the <i>Bureau Central +d'Admissions</i>. Here they are examined, and if there be occasion, they +receive a ticket of admission for the hospital where their particular disorder +is treated. At the head of the hospitals for the sick stands that so long known +by the appellation of the</p> +<p class="center">HÔTEL-DIEU.</p> +<p>Formerly, nothing more horrid could be conceived than the spectacle +presented in this asylum for the afflicted. It was rather a charnel-house than +an hospital; and the name of the Creator, over the gate, which recalled to mind +the principle of all existence, served only to decorate the entrance of the +tomb of the living.</p> +<p>The <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i>, which is situated in the <i>Parvis Notre-Dame</i>, +<i>Ile du Palais</i>, was founded as far back as the year 660 by St. Landry, +for the reception of the sick and maimed of both sexes, without any exception +of persons. Jews, Turks, infidels, pagans, protestants, and catholics were +alike admitted, without form or recommendation. Yet, though it contained but +1200 beds, and the number of patients very often exceeded 5000, and, on an +average, was never less than 2500, till the year 1786, no steps were taken for +enlarging the hospital, or providing elsewhere for those who could not be +conveniently accommodated in it. The dead were removed from the wards only on +visits made at a fixed time; so that it happened not unfrequently that a poor +helpless patient was compelled to remain for hours wedged in between two +corpses. The air or the neighbourhood was contaminated by the noisome +exhalations continually arising from this abode of pestilence, and that which +was breathed within the walls of the hospital was so contagious, as to turn a +trifling complaint into a dangerous disorder, and a simple wound into a +mortification.</p> +<p>In 1785, the attention of the government being called to this serious evil +by various memoirs, the <i>Academy of Sciences</i> was directed to investigate +the truth of the bold assertions made in these publications. A commission was +appointed; but as the revenues of the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i> were immense, for a +long time it was impossible to obtain from the Governors any account of their +application. However, the Commissioners, directing their attention to the +principal object, reported as follows: "We first compared the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i> +and the <i>Hôpital de la Charité</i> relative to their mortality. In 52 years, +the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i>, out of 1,108,741 patients lost 244,720, which is one out +of four and a half. <i>La Charité</i>, where but one dies out of seven and a +half, would have lost only 168,700, whence results the frightful picture that +the <i>Hotel-Dieu</i>, in 52 years, has snatched from France 99,044 persons, +whose lives would have been saved, had the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i> been as spacious, +in proportion, as <i>La Charité</i>. The loss in these 52 years answers to 1906 +deaths per year, and that is nearly the tenth part of the total and annual loss +of Paris. The preservation of this hospital in the site it now occupies, and on +its present plan, therefore produces the same effect as a sort of plague which +constantly desolates the capital."</p> +<p>In consequence of this report, the hospital was enlarged so as to contain +about 2000 beds. Since the revolution, the improvements introduced into the +interior government of the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i> have been great and rapid. Each +patient now has a bed to himself. Those attacked by contagious disorders are +transferred to the <i>Hospice St. Louis</i>. Insane persons are no longer +admitted; men, thus afflicted, are sent to a special hospital established at +<i>Charenton</i>; and women, to the <i>Salpétrière</i>. Nor are any females +longer received into the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i> to lie-in; an hospital having been +established for the reception of pregnant women. At the <i>Hôtel-Dieu</i>, +every method has been put in practice to promote the circulation of air, and +expel the insalubrious miasmata. One of these, I think, well deserves to be +adopted in England.</p> +<p>In the French hospitals, one ward at least is now always kept empty. The +moment it becomes so by the removal of the patients into another, the walls are +whitewashed, and the air is purified by the fumigation with muriatic acid, +according to the plan first proposed by GUYTON-MORVEAU. This operation is +alternately performed in each ward in succession; that which has been the +longest occupied being purified the first, and left empty till it is again +wanted.</p> +<p>The number of hospitals in Paris has been considerably augmented. They are +all supported by the government, and not, like those in England, by private +benefactions. Sick children of both sexes, from the time of suckling to the age +of sixteen, are no longer admitted into the different hospitals; but are +received into a special hospital, extremely well arranged, and in a fine, airy +situation, beyond the <i>Barrière de Sèvres</i>. Two institutions have been +formed for the aged, infirm and indigent, who pay, on entrance, a moderate sum. +One of these charities is without the <i>Barrière d'Enfer</i>; the other, in +the <i>Faubourg St. Martin</i>. In the same <i>faubourg</i>, a <i>Maison de +Santé</i> is established, where the sick are treated on paying thirty +<i>sous</i> a day.</p> +<p>An hospital for gratuitous vaccination, founded by the Prefect of the +department of La Seine, is now open for the continual treatment of the cow-pox, +and the distribution of the matter to all parts of France.</p> +<p>In general, the charitable institutions in Paris have also undergone very +considerable improvements since the revolution; for instance, the male orphans, +admitted, to the number of two thousand, into the asylum formerly called <i>La +Pitié</i>, in the <i>Faubourg St. Victor</i>, used to remain idle. They were +employed only to follow funeral processions. At present, they are kept at work, +and instructed in some useful trade.</p> +<p>A new institution for female orphans has been established in the <i>Faubourg +St. Antoine</i>; for, here, the two sexes are not at present received into the +same house, whether hospital or other charitable institution. In consequence of +which, Paris now contains two receptacles for <i>Incurables</i>, in lieu of the +one which formerly existed.</p> +<p>The place of the <i>Hôpital des Enfans-Trouvés</i> is also supplied by an +establishment, on a large scale, called the</p> +<p class="center">HOSPICE DE LA MATERNITÉ.</p> +<p>It is divided into two branches, each of which occupies a separate house. +The one for foundlings, in the <i>Rue de la Bourbe</i>, is intended for the +reception of children abandoned by their parents. Here they are reared, if not +sent into the country to be suckled. The other, in the <i>Rue d'Enfer</i>, +which may be considered as the General Lying-in Hospital of Paris, is destined +for the reception of pregnant women. Upwards of 1500 are here delivered every +year.</p> +<p>As formerly, no formality is now required for the admission of new-born +infants. In the old Foundling-Hospital, the number annually received exceeded +8000. It is not near so great at present. To those who reflect on the ravages +made among the human race by war, during which disease sweeps off many more +than are killed in battle, it is a most interesting sight to behold fifty or +sixty little foundlings assembled in one ward, where they are carefully fed +till they are provided with wet nurses.</p> +<p>I must here correct a mistake into which I have been betrayed, in my letter +of the 26th of December, respecting the present destination of</p> +<p class="center">LA SALPÊTRIÈRE.</p> +<p>It is no longer used as a house of correction for dissolute women. +Prostitutes, taken up by the police, are now carried to St. Lazare, in the +<i>Rue St. Denis</i>. Those in want of medical aid, for disorders incident to +their course of life, are not sent to <i>Bicêtre</i>, but to the +<i>ci-devant</i> monastery of the Capucins, in the <i>Rue Caumartin</i>.</p> +<p>At present, the <i>Salpêtrière</i> forms an <i>hospice</i> for the reception +of indigent or infirm old women, and young girls, brought up in the +Foundling-Hospital, are placed here to be instructed in needle-work and making +lace. Female idiots and mad women are also taken care of in a particular part +of this very extensive building.</p> +<p>The Salpêtrière was erected by Lewis XIII, and founded as an hospital, by +Lewis XIV, in 1656. The facade has a majestic appearance. Before the +revolution, this edifice was said to lodge 6000 souls, and even now, it cannot +contain less than 4000. By the <i>Plan of Paris</i>, you will see its +situation, to the south-east of the <i>Jardin des Plantes</i>.</p> +<p>I shall also avail myself of the opportunity of correcting another mistake +concerning</p> +<p class="center">BICÊTRE.</p> +<p>This place has now the same destination for men that the Salpétrière has for +women. There is a particular hospital, lately established, for male venereal +patients, in the <i>Rue du Faubourg St. Jacques</i>.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p class="right"><i>March 9, in continuation.</i></p> +<p>Previously to the decree of the 19th of August 1792, which suppressed the +universities and other scientific institutions, there existed in France +Faculties and Colleges of Physicians, as well as Colleges and Commonalities of +Surgeons. From one of those unaccountable contradictions of which the +revolution affords so many instances, these were also suppressed at a time when +they were becoming most necessary for supplying the French armies with medical +men. But as soon as the fury of the revolutionary storm began to abate, the +re-establishment of Schools of Medicine was one of the first objects that +engaged attention.</p> +<p>Till these latter times, Medicine and Surgery, separated from each other, +mutually contended for pre-eminence. Each had its forms and particular schools. +They seemed to have divided between them suffering human nature, instead of +uniting for its relief. On both sides, men of merit despised such useless +distinctions; they felt that the curative art ought to comprehend all the +knowledge and all the means that can conduce to its success; but these elevated +ideas were combated by narrow minds, which, not being capable of embracing +general considerations, always attach to details a great importance. The +revolution terminated these disputes, by involving both parties in the same +misfortunes.</p> +<p>At the time of the re-establishment of Public Instruction, the <i>Schools of +Health</i>, founded at Paris, Montpelier, and Strasburg, on plans digested by +men the most enlightened, presented a complete body of instruction relative to +every branch of the curative art. Physics and chemistry, which form the basis +of that art, were naturally included, and nothing that could contribute to its +perfection, in the present state of the sciences, was forgotten. The plan of +instruction is fundamentally the same in all these schools; but is more +extensive in the principal one, that is, in the</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF PARIS.</p> +<p>This very striking monument of modern architecture, situated in the +<i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>, owes its erection to the partiality which Lewis XV +entertained for the art of surgery. That monarch preferred it to every science; +he was fond of conversing on it, and took such an interest in it, that, in +order to promote its improvement, he built this handsome edifice for the +<i>ci-devant Académie et Écoles de Chirurgie</i>. The architect was +GONDOUIN.</p> +<p>The façade, extending nearly two hundred feet, presents a peristyle of the +Ionic order. The interior distribution of this building corresponds with the +elegance of its exterior. It contains a valuable library, a cabinet of +anatomical preparations (among which is a skeleton that presents a rare +instance of a general <i>anchilosis</i>) and imitations in wax, a chemical +laboratory, a vast collection of chirurgical and philosophical instruments, and +a magnificent amphitheatre, the first stone of which was laid by Lewis XVI in +December 1774. This lecture-room will conveniently hold twelve hundred persons, +and its form and arrangement are such, that a pupil seated the farthest from +the subject under dissection, can see all the demonstrations of the Professor +as well as if placed near the marble table.</p> +<p>In one wing of the building is an <i>Hospice de Perfectionnement</i>, +formerly instituted for the reception of rare chirurgical cases only; but into +which other patients, labouring under internal disorders of an extraordinary +nature, are now likewise admitted.</p> +<p>To this school are attached from twenty to thirty Professors, who lecture on +anatomy and physiology; medical chemistry and pharmacy; medical physics; +pathology, internal and external; natural history, as connected with medicine, +and botany; operative medicine; external and internal clinical cases, and the +modern improvements in treating them; midwifery, and all disorders incident to +women; the physical education of children; the history of medicine, and its +legitimate practice; the doctrine of Hippocrates, and history of rare cases; +medical bibliography, and the demonstration of the use of drugs and chirurgical +instruments. There are also a chief anatomist, a painter, and a modeller in +wax. The lectures are open to the public as well as to the students, who are +said to exceed a thousand. Besides this part of instruction, the pupils +practise anatomical, chirurgical, and chemical operations. To the number of one +hundred and twenty, they form a practical school, divided into three classes, +and are successively distributed into three of the clinical hospitals in Paris. +At an annual competition, prizes are awarded to the greatest proficients.</p> +<p>Although this school is so numerously attended, and has produced several +skilful professors, celebrated anatomists, and a multitude of distinguished +pupils, yet it appears that, since there has been no regular admission for +physicians and surgeons, the most complete anarchy has prevailed in the medical +line. The towns and villages in France are overrun by quacks, who deal out +poison and death with an audacity which the existing laws are unable to check. +Under the title of <i>Officiers de Santé</i>, they impose on the credulity of +the public, in the most dangerous manner, by the distribution of nostrums for +every disorder. <a name="let78fr1"></a>To put a stop to this alarming evil, it +is in contemplation to promulgate a law, enacting that no one shall in future +practise in France as a physician or surgeon, without having been examined and +received into one of the six Special Schools of Medicine, or as an officer of +health, without having studied a certain number of years, walked the hospitals, +and also passed a regular examination.[<a href="#let78f1">1</a>] +<p>At the medical school of Paris are held the meetings of the</p> +<p class="center">SOCIETY OF MEDICINE.</p> +<p>It was instituted for the purpose of continuing the labours of the +<i>ci-devant</i> Royal Society of Medicine and the old Academy of Surgery. With +this view, it is charged to keep up a correspondence, not only with the medical +men resident within the limits of the Republic, but also with those of foreign +countries, respecting every object that can tend to the progress of the art of +healing.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p>As far back as the year 1777, there existed in Paris a college of Pharmacy. +The apothecaries, composing this college, had formed, at their own expense, an +establishment for instruction relative to the curative art, in their laboratory +and garden in the <i>Rue de l'Arbalêtre</i>. Since the revolution, the +acknowledged utility of this institution has caused it to be maintained under +the title of the</p> +<p class="center">GRATUITOUS SCHOOL OF PHARMACY.</p> +<p>Here are delivered <i>gratis</i>, by two professors in each department, +public lectures on pharmaceutic chemistry, pharmaceutic natural history, and +botany. When the courses are finished, prizes are annually distributed to the +pupils who distinguish themselves most by their talents and knowledge.</p> +<p>In the year 1796, the apothecaries of Paris, animated by a desire to render +this establishment still more useful, formed themselves into a society, by the +name of the</p> +<p class="center">FREE SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES.</p> +<p>Its object is to contribute to the progress of the arts and sciences, +particularly pharmacy, chemistry, botany, and natural history. This society +admits, as free and corresponding associates, <i>savans</i> of all the other +departments of France and of foreign countries, who cultivate those sciences +and others analogous to them. Some of the most enlightened men in France are to +be found among its members.</p> +<p>The advantageous changes made in the teaching of medicine, since the +revolution, appear to consist chiefly in the establishment of clinical +lectures. The teaching of the sciences, accessory to medicine, partakes more or +less advantageously of the great progress made in that of chemistry. It seems +that, in general, the students in medicine grant but a very limited confidence +to accredited opinions, and that they recur to observation and experience much +more than they did formerly. As for the changes which have occurred in the +practice of medicine, I think it would be no easy matter to appreciate them +with any degree of exactness. Besides, sufficient time has not yet elapsed +since the establishment of the new mode of teaching, for them to assume a +marked complexion. It is, however, to be observed that, by the death of the +celebrated DÉSAULT, Surgery has sustained a loss which is not yet repaired, nor +will be perhaps for ages.</p> + +<p class="fnt"><a name="let78f1">Footnote 1</a>: A law to this effect is now +made. <a href="#let78fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let79">LETTER LXXIX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 12, 1802.</i></p> +<p>From the account I have given you of the Public Schools here, you will have +perceived that, since the revolution, nothing has been neglected which could +contribute to the mental improvement of the male part of the rising generation. +But as some parents are averse to sending their children to these National +Schools, there are now established in Paris a great number of</p> +<p class="center">PRIVATE SEMINARIES FOR YOUTH OF BOTH SEXES.</p> +<p>Several of these are far superior to any that previously existed in France, +and are really of a nature to excite admiration, when we consider the cruel +divisions which have distracted this country. But it seems that if, for a time, +instruction, both public and private, was suspended, no sooner were the French +permitted to breathe than a sudden and salutary emulation arose among those who +devoted themselves to the important task of conducting these private schools. +The great advantage which they appear to me to have over establishments of a +similar description in England, is that the scholars are perfectly grounded in +whatever they are taught; the want of which, among us, occasions many a youth +to forget the greater part of what he has learned long before he has attained +the years of manhood.</p> +<p>If several of the schools for boys here are extremely well conducted, some +of those for girls appear to be governed with no less care and judgment. In +order to be enabled to form an opinion on the present mode of bringing up young +girls in France, I have made a point of investigating the subject. I shall, in +consequence, endeavour to shew you the contrast which strikes me to have +occurred here in</p> +<p class="center">FEMALE EDUCATION.</p> +<p>In France, convents had, at all times, prior to the revolution, enjoyed the +exclusive privilege of bringing up young women; and some families had, for a +century past, preserved the habit of sending all their daughters to be St. +Ursulas, in order to enter afterwards into the world as virtuous wives and +tender mothers. The natural result was, that, if the principles of excessive +piety which had been communicated to them remained deeply engraved in their +heart, they employed the whole day in the duties required by the catholic +religion; and the confessor who dictated all these habitual practices, not +unfrequently became the director of the temporal concerns of the family, as +well as the spiritual. If the young girls, in emerging from the cells of a +convent, were disposed to lay aside their religious practices, in order to +adopt the customs and pleasures of the world, this sudden transition, from one +extreme to the other, made them at once abandon, not only the puerile minutiæ, +but also the sacred principles of religion. There was no medium. They either +became outrageous devotees, and, neglecting the respectable duties of +housewives and mistresses of a family, wrapped themselves up in a great hood, +and were incessantly on their knees before the altars of the churches, or, on +the other hand, rushed into extravagance and dissipation, and, likewise, +deserting a family which claimed their care, dishonoured themselves by the +licentiousness of their manners.</p> +<p>At the present time, many women of good abilities and character, deprived of +their property by the vicissitudes of the revolution, have established, in +Paris and its environs, seminaries, where young girls receive such advice as is +most useful to females who are destined to live in the world, and acquirements, +which, by employing them agreeably several hours in the day, contribute to the +interior happiness of their family, and make them find charms in a domestic +life. In short, the superiority of female education in France is decidedly in +favour of the present system, whether considered in regard to mental +improvement, health, or beauty. With respect to the morals inculcated in these +modern French boarding schools, the best answer to all the prejudices might be +entertained against them, is that the men, who have married women there +educated, find that they prove excellent wives, and that their accomplishments +serve only to embellish their virtues.</p> +<h2><a name="let80">LETTER LXXX.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 14, 1802</i>.</p> +<p>I plead guilty to your censure in not having yet furnished you with any +remarks on the origin of this capital; but you will recollect that I engaged +only to give you a mere sketch; indeed, it would require more time and talent +than I can command to present you with a finished picture. I speak of things +just as they happen to occur to my mind; and provided my letters bring you +acquainted with such objects here as are most deserving of attention, my +purpose will be fully accomplished. However, in compliance with your pressing +request, I shall now briefly retrace the</p> +<p class="center">PROGRESSIVE AGGRANDISEMENT OF PARIS.</p> +<p>Without hazarding any vague conjectures, I may, I think, safely affirm that +Cæsar is the first historian who makes mention of this city. In the seventh +book of his Commentaries, that conqueror relates that he sent his lieutenant +Labienus towards Lutetia; this was the name given by the Gauls to the capital +of the Parisii. It was then entirely contained within that island on the Seine, +which, at the present day, is called <i>l'Ile du Palais</i>.</p> +<p>In comparison to the capitals of the other provinces of Gaul, <i>Lutetia</i> +was but a sorry village; its houses were small, of a round form, built of wood +and earth, and covered with straw and reeds.</p> +<p>After having conquered <i>Lutetia</i>, the Romans embellished it with a +palace, surrounded it by walls, and erected, at the head of each of the two +bridges leading to it, a fortress, one of which stood on the site of the prison +called <i>Le Grand Châtelet</i>; and the other, on that of <i>Le Petit +Châtelet</i>. The Yonne, the Marne, and the Oise, being rivers which join the +Seine, suggested the idea of establishing a trading company by water, in order +to facilitate, by those channels, the circulation of warlike stores and +provisions. These merchants were called <i>Nautæ Parisiaci</i>. The Romans also +erected, near the left bank of the Seine, a magnificent palace and an aqueduct. +This palace was called <i>Thermæ</i>, on account of its tepid baths.</p> +<p>Julian, being charged to defend Gaul against the irruptions of the +barbarians, took up his residence in these <i>Thermæ</i> in 360, two years +before he was proclaimed emperor, in the square which was in front of this +palace. "I was in winter-quarters in my dear <i>Lutetia</i>," says he in his +<i>Misopogon</i>. "Thus is named, in Gaul, the little capital of the +Parisii."—"It occupies," observes Abbon, "an inconsiderable island, +surrounded by walls, the foot of which is bathed by the river. The entrance to +it, on each side, is by a wooden bridge."</p> +<p>Towards the middle of the fifth century, this city passed from the dominion +of the Romans to that of the Francs. It was besieged by Childeric I. In 508, +Clovis declared it the capital of his kingdom. The long stay which that prince +made in it, contributed to its embellishment. Charlemagne founded in it a +celebrated school. A little time after, another was established in the abbey of +<i>St. Germain-des-Prés</i>. In the course of the ninth century, it was +besieged and pillaged three times by the Normans.</p> +<p>Philip Augustus surrounded Paris with walls, and comprised in that inclosure +a great number of small towns and hamlets in its vicinity. This undertaking +occupied twenty years, having been begun in 1190, and finished in 1211. The +same king was also the first who caused the streets of this city to be paved. +The wars of the English required new fortifications; and, under king John, +ditches were dug round the city; and the <i>Bastille</i>, erected. These works +were continued during the reigns of Charles V and Charles VI.</p> +<p>Francis I, the restorer of literature and of the arts, neglected nothing +that might conduce to the farther embellishment of this capital. He caused +several new streets to be made, many Gothic edifices to be pulled down, and +was, in France, the first who revived Greek architecture, the remains of which, +buried by the hand of time, or mutilated by that of barbarians, being collected +and compared at Rome, began to improve the genius of celebrated artists, and, +in the sequel, led to the production of masterpieces.</p> +<p>The kings, his successors, executed a part of the projects of that prince, +and this extensive city imperceptibly lost its irregular and Gothic aspect. The +removal of the houses, which, not long since, encumbered the bridges, and +intercepted the current of air, has diffused cheerfulness and salubrity.</p> +<p>You will pardon me, I trust, if I here make a retrograde movement, not to +recapitulate the aggrandisement of Paris, but to retrace rapidly the +progressive amelioration of the manners of its inhabitants. The latter paved +the way to the former.</p> +<p>Under the first kings of France of the third race, justice was administered +in a summary way; the king, the count, and the viscount heard the parties, and +gave a prompt sentence, or else left the controversy to be decided by a pitched +battle, if it was of too intricate a nature. No colleges then existed here; the +clergy only keeping schools near the Cathedral of <i>Notre-Dame</i> for those +who were intended for holy orders. The nobles piqued themselves on extreme +ignorance, and as many of them could not even sign their own name, they dipped +their glove in ink, and stamped it on the parchment as their signature. They +lived on their estates, and if they were obliged to pass three or four days in +town, they affected to appear always in boots, in order that they might not be +taken for <i>vassals</i>. Ten men were sufficient for the collection of all the +taxes. There were no more than two gates to the city; and under Lewis surnamed +<i>le Gros</i>, from his corpulency, the duties at the north gate produced no +more than twelve francs a year.</p> +<p>Philip Augustus, being fond of literature, welcomed and protected men of +learning. It had appeared to revive under Charlemagne; but the ravages of the +Normans occasioned it to sink again into oblivion till the reign of Lewis the +Young, father of Philip Augustus. Under the latter, the schools of Paris became +celebrated; they were resorted to, not only from the distant provinces, but +from foreign countries. The quarter, till lately called <i>l'Université</i>, +became peopled; and, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was covered by +colleges and monasteries. Philip the Fair rendered the Parliament sedentary. He +prohibited duelling in civil contentions; and a person might have recourse to a +court of justice, without being under the necessity of fighting. Anne de +Bretagne, great and majestic in every thing, was desirous of having a court. +Ladies who, till then, were born in one castle only to marry and die in +another, came to Paris. They were unwilling to leave it, and men followed them +thither. All these circumstances increased its inhabitants to a thirtieth part +beyond their former number.</p> +<p>The wars of religion under Charles IX and Henry III rendered gold and silver +a little more common, by the profanations of the Calvinists, who pillaged the +churches, and converted into specie the sacred vases, as well as the shrines +and statues of saints. The vast sums of money which the court of Spain lavished +in Paris, to support the League, had also diffused a certain degree of +affluence among no inconsiderable number of citizens; and it is to be remarked +that, under Henry IV, several handsome streets were finished in less than a +year.</p> +<p>Henry IV was the first of the kings of France who embellished Paris with +regular squares, or open spaces, decorated with the different orders of +architecture. After having nearly finished the <i>Pont Neuf</i>, he built the +<i>Place Royale</i>, now called <i>Place des Fédérés</i>, and also the <i>Place +Dauphine</i>.</p> +<p>Towards the end of the administration of Cardinal Richelieu, there no longer +existed in France more than one master; and the petty tyrants in the provinces, +who had fortified themselves so long in their castles against the royal +authority, were seen to come to court, to solicit the most paltry lodging with +all the servility of courtiers, and at the same time erect mansions in town +with all the splendour of men inflated by pride and power. At last came the +reign of Lewis XIV, and presently Paris knew no limits. Its gates were +converted into arcs of triumph, and its ditches, being filled up and planted +with trees, became public walks. When one considers the character of that +monarch, it should seem that Paris ought to have been more embellished under +his reign. <a name="let80fr1"></a>In fact, had Lewis XIV expended on Paris +one-fourth part of the money which he lavished on +Versailles,[<a href="#let80f1">1</a>] it would have become the most astonishing +city in Europe.</p> +<p>However, its great extent and population, magnificent edifices, celebrated +national establishments of learning and science, rich libraries, curious +cabinets, where lessons of knowledge and genius present themselves to those who +have a taste for them, together with its theatres and other places of public +entertainment, have long rendered Paris deserving of the admiration of +enlightened nations.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, Paris contained 46 parish churches, and 20 others +answering the same purpose, 11 abbeys, and 133 monasteries or convents of men +and women, 13 colleges, 15 public seminaries, and 26 hospitals. To these must +be added the three royal habitations, the <i>Louvre</i>, the <i>Tuileries</i>, +and the <i>Luxembourg</i>, also the <i>Hôtel des Invalides</i>, the <i>Palais +Royal</i>, the <i>Palais Bourbon</i>, and a great number of magnificent hotels, +inhabited by titled or wealthy persons.</p> +<p>Since the revolution, several of these buildings have been destroyed; almost +all the monasteries and convents, together with the churches belonging to them, +have been sold as national property, and either demolished for the sake of the +materials, or converted to different uses. Fifteen principal churches, besides +the <i>Pantheon</i>, the <i>Invalides</i>, <i>Val-de-Grace</i>, the +<i>Sorbonne</i>, and a few others, were preserved as national temples, intended +for the celebration of <i>decadary fétes</i>, and for a time rendered common to +every sort of worship. Most of the old churches were of Gothic architecture, +and not much to be commended with respect to art; but several of them were +models of boldness, from the lightness of their construction.</p> +<p>The colleges, as I have before observed, are replaced by public schools and +private seminaries of every description. The number of the houses in Paris, +many of which are from five to eight stories in height, has been estimated at +upwards of 80,000. The number of its inhabitants appears to have been +over-rated. By an official statement, in which foreigners are not included, it +contains no more than 630,000 souls.</p> +<p>During the last year of the republican era, the number of males born in +Paris was 9296; and that of females, 9177; making the general total of births +18,473, of which the males, born out of wedlock, amounted to 1792; and the +females, to 1852. The number of persons deceased, within the same period, was +10,446 males, and 10,301 females; making together 20,747. The annual decrease +in population was consequently 2274 souls. The number of marriages was 3826; +and that of divorces, 720; which is nearly 2 out of 11.</p> +<p>The ancient division of Paris consisted of three parts; namely, <i>La +Cité</i>, <i>l'Université</i>, and <i>La Ville</i>. <i>La Cite</i> comprised +all the <i>Ile du Palais</i>. This is the parent-stock of the capital, whence +have extended, like so many branches, the numerous quarters by which it is +surrounded. <i>L'Université</i> was bordered by the Seine, the <i>Faubourg St. +Bernard</i>, <i>St. Victor</i>, <i>St. Marcel</i>, <i>St. Jacques</i>, and the +<i>Faubourg St. Germain</i>. The number of colleges in this quarter, had +obtained it the name of <i>Le Pays Latin</i>. <i>La Ville</i> comprehended all +the rest of the capital, not included in the suburbs.</p> +<p>At present, Paris is divided into twelve mayoralties (as you will see by the +<i>Plan</i>), each of which is presided by a central office of municipal +police. The <i>Faubourgs</i> retain their ancient names; but those of many of +the streets have been changed in the course of the revolution. The <i>Chaussée +d'Antin</i>, which comprises the new streets north of the <i>Boulevard +Italien</i>, is now the most fashionable part of the town. The houses here are +chiefly inhabited by bankers and persons living in affluence; and apartments in +this neighbourhood are considerably dearer than in the <i>Faubourg St. +Germain</i>, which, comparatively speaking, is deserted.</p> +<p>I have already described the <i>Porte St. Denis</i> and the <i>Porte St. +Martin</i>, which are nothing more than arcs of triumph. In proportion as the +limits of the capital became extended, the real gates were removed, but +reappeared under the name of <i>barrières</i>. These costly edifices were +constructed during the ministry of CALONNE, under the direction of LEDOUX, the +architect, who has taken a pleasure in varying their form and character. One +represents an observatory; another, a chapel; some have the appearance of +rusticated buildings; others, that of temples. Under the old <i>régime</i> too, +the farmers-general had inclosed Paris with a high wall, the extent of which +has been estimated at upwards of 10,000 toises. This wall displeased the eye of +the Parisians, and, when they were out of humour, induced them to murmur +loudly. Whence the following <i>jeu de mots</i>:</p> +<p class="bq"><i>"Le mur, murant Paris, rend Paris murmurout."</i></p> +<p>During the revolution, it was by no means uncommon to shut the +<i>barrières</i>, in order to serve the purposes of party, and favour the +arrest of particular persons. To the number of sixty, they are placed at the +principal outlets of the suburbs, and occupied by custom-house officers, whose +business is to collect duties, and watch that no contraband goods find their +way into the city. Formerly, when every carriage entering Paris was stopped and +examined (which is not the case at present), the self-importance of these +<i>commis des barrières</i> could be equalled only by their ignorance.</p> +<p>A traveller arriving from Egypt brought with him a mummy. The case being +long, he chose not to fasten it on to his post-chaise, but sent it to Paris by +water. When it was landed at the <i>barrière</i>, the custom-house officers +opened it, and, finding it to contain a black-looking body, decided that this +was a man who had been baked in an oven. They took the linen bandages for his +burnt shirt, and, after drawing up a <i>procès-verbal</i> in due form, sent the +mummy to the <i>Morne</i>, where dead bodies are exposed in order to be owned. +When the proprietor reached Paris, he went to the <i>barrière</i> to claim his +mummy. The <i>commis</i> listened to him and stared at him with astonishment. +He grew angry, and at length broke out into a violent passion; when one of the +searchers, in a whisper, advised him to decamp, if he wished to avoid the +gallows. The traveller, stupified, was obliged to apply to the Minister of the +Police, and, with some difficulty, recovered from the <i>Morne</i> his Egyptian +prince or princess, who, after having been preserved 2000 years, was on the +point of being buried in a catholic cemetery, instead of figuring in a cabinet +of curiosities.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let80f1">Footnote 1</a>: The article of lead alone for +the water-pipes cost thirty-two millions of livres or £1,333,333 sterling; +but</p> +<p class="fnbq">"Rich in her weeping country's spoils, Versailles!<br /> +May boast a thousand fountains, that can cast<br /> +The tortur'd waters to the distant heav'ns"—</p> +<p class="fnt"><a href="#let80fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a class="let81">LETTER LXXXI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 17, 1802.</i></p> +<p>An object which must infallibly strike the eye of the attentive observer, +who has not visited this capital within the last ten years, is the change in +the style of</p> +<p class="center">FRENCH FURNITURE.</p> +<p>This remark may, at first sight, appear trivial; but a second view of the +subject will produce reflections on the frivolity of this people, even amidst +their intestine commotions, and at the same time shew that they are, in no +small degree, indebted to the influence of those events for the taste which is +to be distinguished in the new productions of their industry, and, in general, +for the progress they have made, not only in the mechanical arts, but also in +the sciences of every description. This will appear the more extraordinary, as +it should seem natural to presume that the persecution which the protectors of +the arts and sciences experienced, in the course of the revolution, was likely +to produce quite a contrary effect. But the man of science and the artist, each +abandoned to himself, acquired, in that forlorn situation, a knowledge and a +taste which very frequently are the result of long study only, seconded by +encouragement from the wealthy.</p> +<p>The apartments of the fine ladies, of the rich, of the bankers, and +merchants in Paris, and generally speaking, of all those who, from their +business and connexions, have most intercourse with the public and with +foreigners, are furnished in the modern mode, that is, in the antique taste. +Many of the French artists, being destitute of employment, were compelled +through necessity to seek it; some entered into the warehouse of the +upholsterer to direct the shape and disposition of his hangings; some, into the +manufactory of the paper-maker to furnish him with new patterns; and others, +into the shop of the cabinet-maker to sell him sketches of antique forms. Had +the easels of these artists been occupied by pictures no sooner finished than +paid for, the Grecian bed would not have expelled the <i>lit à la +Polonaise</i>, in vogue here before the revolution; the Etruscan designs would +not have succeeded to the Chinese paper; nor would the curtains with Persian +borders have been replaced by that elegant drapery which retraces the pure and +simple taste of the people of Attica.</p> +<p>The elegant forms of the modern French <i>secrétaires</i>, commodes, chairs, +&c. have also been copied from the Greeks and Romans. The ornaments of +these are either bronzed or gilt, and are uncommonly well finished. In general, +they represent heads of men, women, and animals, designed after the antique. +Caryatides are sometimes introduced, as well as Egyptian attributes; the arms +of the chairs being frequently decorated with sphinxes. In short, on entering +the residence of a <i>parvenu</i>, you would fancy yourself suddenly +transported into the house of a wealthy Athenian; and these new favourites of +Fortune can, without crossing the threshold of their own door, study chaste +antiquity, and imbibe a taste for other knowledge, connected with it, in which +they are but little versed.</p> +<p>Mahogany is the wood employed for making these modern articles of furniture, +whose forms are no less varied than elegant; advantages which cause them to be +preferred to the ancient. But the latter, though heavy in their construction, +are, nevertheless, thought, by some persons, superior to the former in point of +solidity and convenience. The old-fashioned bedsteads and chairs are generally +of oak, painted or gilt, and are covered with silk or tapestry of different +patterns. The <i>ci-devant</i> nobles appear to be greatly attached to them, +and preserve them as monuments, which supply the place of the titles and +parchments they were forced to burn during the sanguinary periods of the +revolution. But this taste is not exclusive; several of the Parisian +<i>bourgeois</i>, either from economy, or from a wish to appear to have +belonged to that class, shew no less eagerness to possess these spoils of the +<i>noblesse</i>, as furniture for their apartments.</p> +<p>While I am speaking of furniture, it naturally occurs to me that I have not +yet taken you to visit</p> +<p class="center">LES GOBELINS.</p> +<p>This national manufactory, which is situated in the <i>Faubourg St. +Marcel</i>, takes its name from two famous Flemish dyers, who settled in Paris +under Francis I. In 1662, COLBERT purchased part of the old premises where the +<i>Gobelins</i> had carried on their business, and there opened an +establishment under the direction of LE BRUN. It was not confined to the +manufacture of tapestry only, but was composed of painters, sculptors, +engravers, goldsmiths, watch-makers, lapidaries, and other artists and workmen +of almost every description, whose pupils and apprentices here acquired their +freedom.</p> +<p>Since the revolution, tapestry alone is manufactured here, on two sorts of +looms, distinguished by the denominations of <i>haute</i> and <i>basso +lisse</i>, which are fully explained in an interesting <i>Notice</i>, published +by the intelligent director, GUILLAUMOT, who, it seems, has introduced into +each of these branches several recent improvements.</p> +<p>The art of making tapestry originated in England and Flanders, where the +cartoons of RAPHAEL and JULIO ROMANO were coarsely copied. It was gradually +improved in France, and is now brought here to the greatest perfection. Indeed, +a piece of <i>Gobelin</i> tapestry may be called a picture painted with wool +and silk; but its admirable execution produces an illusion so complete, that +skilful painters have been seen to lay their hands on this tapestry, to +convince themselves that it was not a real painting.</p> +<p>Tapestry is now entirely out of fashion; and, with the exception of a few +small fancy-pieces, the productions of this manufactory are intended solely for +the decoration of the national palaces and other public buildings. In 1790 the +blood-thirsty MARAT strove hard to annihilate this establishment, by +exaggerating the expenses of its maintenance. In 1789, their real amount was +144,000 francs; 116 journeymen and 18 apprentices were then employed, and paid +in proportion to their merit and to the quantity of work they performed. In +1791, they were divided into classes, and paid by the day. This regulation +produces less work, but its execution is more perfect, since no motive of +interest induces the workman to neglect his performance. At present, its +expenses cannot be so great, as the number of persons employed is less than +100. Should the penury of the finances not allow the means of re-establishing +pupils, this manufactory will be extinguished like a lamp for want of oil. +Twenty years are necessary to make a good manufacturer of tapestry; those of +the first abilities are now nearly 70 years of age, and therefore it seems high +time to prepare for them competent successors.</p> +<p>At <i>Chaillot</i>, we shall find another national manufactory, somewhat +analogous to the former, and which also claims the attention of the curious +observer. From having been fixed in a place originally occupied by a +soap-house, it is called</p> +<p class="center">LA SAVONNERIE.</p> +<p>It was established, as far back as 1615, at the instigation of PIERRE +DUPONT, who, being forced to quit his native land by the civil commotions +arising from the League, went to the Levant. Having seen carpets made without +taste or design in that country, he conceived the idea of introducing a +manufactory of this kind into France, where it would be susceptible of +considerable improvement from the exercise of the arts unknown in Turkey. The +project was approved by Henry IV, who first gave DUPONT an establishment in the +<i>Louvre</i>, which was afterwards transferred to its present situation.</p> +<p>Like the <i>Gobelins</i>, the national manufactory of the <i>Savonnerie</i> +is, and has been, constantly supported by the government, and like it too, +contributes to the decoration of the national palaces, &c. Nothing, in the +shape of carpets, can answer this purpose better than those manufactured here, +the colours of which are extremely brilliant. The close, velvety texture of the +manufacture gives a peculiar expression to objects which are copied from +nature, such as the hair of animals, the down of fruit, and the lustre of +flowers.</p> +<p>From its foundation till the year 1789, this manufactory continued to be +under the direction of a contractor, who delivered the carpeting to the +government at the rate of 220 francs per square ell. At the revolution, new +regulations were established; the workmen were paid by the day, and classed +according to their merit. In consequence, though less work is performed, it is +executed with greater perfection.</p> +<p>The present government has lately ordered the old patterns, which were +overloaded with ornaments and flowers, to be suppressed, and replaced by +compositions more simple, more elegant, and infinitely more tasteful. I +understand that the workmen are to be put to task-work, under the +superintendance of the respectable administrator DUVIVIER, who informs me that +the present price of this carpeting amounts to 300 francs per square +<i>mètre</i> (<i>circa</i> 3 ft. 3 inc. English measure). In 1789, thirty +persons were employed here, at from 30 to 50 <i>sous</i> a day. At present, +there are no more than twenty, who daily earn, on an average, 3 francs, and are +lodged in the buildings of the manufactory.</p> +<p>Before I lay down my pen, I shall notice a national establishment, equally +connected with the subject of this letter; I mean the</p> +<p class="center">MANUFACTORY OF PLATE-GLASS.</p> +<p>Like all the other French manufactories, this has suffered from the +revolution and the war; but it has now nearly resumed its former activity, +owing to the effects of the peace and the laudable exertions of the government +to revive commerce. At this time, it gives employment to about 600 persons.</p> +<p>Before COLBERT founded the present establishment, which is situated in the +<i>Rue de Reuilli</i>, <i>Faubourg St. Antoine</i>, the French drew their +plate-glass from Venice; but they have left their masters in this branch very +far behind them, and now make mirrors of dimensions of which the Venetians had +no idea. These plates are cast at St. Gobin, near La Fère, in the department of +L'Aisne, and sent to Paris to be polished and silvered. Here you may witness +the process employed in each of these different operations.</p> +<p>A method of joining together two small plates of glass in such a manner that +no mark appears, has, I am informed, been lately discovered in Paris. It is +said, however, not to be applicable to those of large dimensions. After the +operation of this species of soldering, the plates are silvered.</p> +<h2><a name="let82">LETTER LXXXII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 19, 1802.</i></p> +<p>As the period of my stay here is drawing rapidly towards a conclusion, I +find much less leisure for writing; otherwise I should, in my last letter, have +made you acquainted with an establishment not irrelevant to the leading subject +of it, and which, when completed, cannot fail to attract general notice and +admiration.</p> +<p>Every one has heard of the PIRANESI. In the year 1800, PIETRO and FRANCESCO, +the surviving sons of the celebrated GIOVANNI-BATTISTA, transported to France +their immense collection of drawings, with all their plates and engravings. +They were welcomed, protected, and encouraged by the French government. Anxious +to give to these ingenious artists every facility for the success of an +undertaking that they had conceived, it has granted to them the spacious and +handsome premises of the <i>ci-devant Collège de Navarre</i>, in the <i>Rue de +la Montagne St. Geneviève</i>, which the PIRANESI will shortly open as an</p> +<p class="center">ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS.</p> +<p>That ancient college is extremely well calculated for such a destination, +from the extent of its buildings, its remoteness from noise, and the airiness +of its situation. By this liberal conduct to the PIRANESI, the French +government has shewn the warm interest it takes in the progress of those arts. +The establishment of these Romans is to be divided into three branches. The +first is placed in the <i>Collège de Navarre</i>; the second is to be in the +<i>Palais du Tribunat</i>; and the third, at <i>Morfontaine</i>.</p> +<p>Three hundred artists of different nations, some of whom are known by +master-pieces, while others announce the genius necessary for producing them, +are to be distributed in the seven classes of this academy, which include the +fine arts of every description. Each artist being at liberty to follow the +branch to which he is most partial, it may easily be conceived how noble an +emulation will be roused by such an assemblage of talents. Several are now +employed here in the workshops of Painting, Sculpture, Mosaic, and Engraving. +Let us see in what manner.</p> +<p>The ground-floor is devoted to Sculpture. Here are made, in plaster and +terra cotta, models of the finest monuments of Greece and Italy, which are +executed in stone of the richest species, such as porphyry, granite, red +antique, Parian and Carrara marble. From the hands of the two CARDELLI, and +other eminent artists, are seen to issue copies of the most magnificent +bas-reliefs of ancient Rome, and the most beautiful friezes of RAPHAEL, MICHAEL +ANGELO, JULIO ROMANO, and other great masters of the Italian school; tripods, +obelisks, antique vases, articles of furniture in the Egyptian and Chinese +taste, together with objects taken from nature, such as the most curious +animals in the national <i>ménagerie</i>, likewise occupy their talents. All +these subjects are executed in different sizes, and form, together or +separately, decorations for apartments or tables, particularly pilasters, and +plateaux, in which the richness of the materials is surpassed by that of the +workmanship.</p> +<p>On the same floor is the workshop of Mosaic. It is under the direction of +BELLONI, who has invented methods, by means of which he has introduced Mosaic +into articles of furniture, and for the pavement of rich apartments, at prices +far inferior to what might be imagined. The principal articles here exhibited, +as specimens, are:—1. Superb marble tables and stands, in which are +inserted ornaments and pictures in Mosaic, or incrustated in the Florentine +manner—2. A large pavement, where the beauty and variety of the marbles +are relieved by embellished incrustations—3. Small pictures, in which the +painting, in very fine Mosaic, is raised on an even ground of one piece of +black marble—4. Large tables, composed of specimens of fine-grained +stones, such as jasper, agate, carnelion, lapis lazuli, &c. and also of +valuable marbles, distributed into compartments and after a design imitated +from the antique, and enriched with a few incrustated pictures, representing +animals and flowers. Besides these, here are to be seen other essays of a kind +entirely new. These are marbles, intended for furniture, coloured in an +indelible manner. Sometimes the figures and ornaments in them are coloured in +the ground; sometimes they are in colour, but raised on a ground of white +marble.</p> +<p>On the first story is the workshop for Engraving. Here the artists are +employed in engraving the seven hills of Rome, ancient circuses of that +celebrated city, plans of the <i>forum</i>, obelisks of Rome and Egypt, ruins +of Pompeia, drawn on the spot by the late J. B. PIRANESI, together with modern +subjects, such as the splendid edifices of Paris, the beautiful views of the +environs, the national fêtes, and every thing that can deservedly interest +artists and persons of taste. On the same story are the plates of the PIRANESI +calcography, the place where they are printed, and the warehouse where they are +deposited. The engravings, now nearly executed, will form upwards of twenty +volumes; and those begun will equal that number.</p> +<p>The second story is occupied by painters in oil-colours; the third, by those +in water-colours; the fourth, by draughtsmen in Indian ink and bistre; and the +fifth serves for the lodging of the artists, particularly the most skilful +among them, who direct the different branches of this establishment. The +principal pile of building is crowned by a <i>Belvedere</i>, which commands an +extensive view of Paris, and seems calculated for promoting the inspirations of +genius. Here are copied, in oil, water-colours, Indian ink and bistre, the +fresco paintings of RAPHAEL, MICHAEL ANGELO, and JULIO ROMANO; the Vatican, the +Farnesian palace, the Villa Altoviti, and the Villa Lante alternately +furnishing models no less happily chosen than carefully executed. The +antiquities of Herculaneum, so interesting from the knowledge they afford us of +the customs of the ancient Romans, and from the elegant decorations of which +they have procured us the models, the ruins of Palmyra and Balbeck, those of +Greece and Sicily, together with views of Constantinople and of the country in +which it is situated, are here rendered with the most exact truth, joined to +the most harmonious colouring. Here too are represented; in the three manners +before-mentioned, views and sites of Egypt, Greece, Italy, France, and all +other countries; cascades, such as those of TERNI, NARNI, and TIVOLI; +sea-pieces; landscapes, parks; and gardens; arabesques after RAPHAEL; new and +picturesque plants; in a word, decorations formed of an assemblage of every +thing most perfect in art and nature.</p> +<p>On the first and second stories are also two exhibition-rooms, for such +pictures and works of sculpture as are finished, where the eye wanders +agreeably amidst a crowd of objects of an enlivening or serious nature. Here it +is that the amateur, after having seen the artists at work in the classes of +this academy, fixes his choice on the kind of production which most takes his +fancy. These two rooms contain the different articles which are afterwards to +be displayed in the two porticos of the <i>Palais du Tribunat</i>.</p> +<p>Those elegant and spacious porticos, situated in the most centrical part of +Paris, facing the <i>Rue St. Honoré</i>, have likewise been granted to the +PRIANESI through the special favour of the government. +<a name="let82fr1"></a>Not only all the productions of their establishment, but +also the principal master-pieces in painting, sculpture, and architecture, +produced by artists of all nations, will there be exhibited; so that those +porticos will present, as it were, an Encyclopædia of the Fine +Arts.[<a href="#let82f1">1</a>] +<p class="fnt"><a name="let82f1">Footnote 1</a>: The principal protector of the +undertaking of the PIRANESI is JOSEPH BONAPARTE, who has not confined himself +to assisting them in the capital. Being desirous to introduce the arts into the +country where he passes the finest season of the year, and to promote the +discovery of the PIRANESI, relative to the properties of the argill found at +<i>Morfontaine</i>, he has given to them for several years the use of a large +building and a very extensive piece of ground, ornamented with bowers, where +all the subjects modelled at the <i>Collège de Navarre</i>, in <i>terra +cotta</i> or in porcelain of <i>Morfontaine</i>, undergo the process of baking. +In the last-mentioned place, the PIRANESI purpose to establish a foundery for +sculpture in bronze and other metals. The government daily affords to them +encouragement and resources which insure the success of their establishment. To +its other advantages are added a library, and a +printing-office. <a href="#let82fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let83">LETTER LXXXIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 22, 1802.</i></p> +<p>As to the mechanical arts, if you are desirous to view some of the modern +improvements and inventions in that line, you must accompany me to the <i>Rue +St. Martin</i>, where, in the <i>ci-devant</i> priory, is an establishment of +recent date, entitled the</p> +<p class="center">CONSERVATORY OF ARTS AND TRADES.</p> +<p>Here is a numerous collection of machines of every description employed in +the mechanical arts. Among these is the <i>belier hydraulique</i>, newly +invented by MONTGOLFIER, by means of which a stream of water, having a few feet +of declivity, can be raised to the top of a house by a single valve or sucker, +so disposed as to open, to admit the water, and shut, when it is to be raised +by compression. By increasing the compression, it can be raised to 1000 feet, +and may be carried to a much greater elevation. The commissioners appointed by +the Institute to examine this machine, reported that it was new, very simple, +very ingenious, and might be extremely useful in turning to account little +streams of water for the purposes of agriculture, manufactories, &c.</p> +<p>This reminds me of another singular hydraulic machine, of which I have been +informed by a person who attended a trial made of it not long since in +Paris.</p> +<p>A basin placed at the height of twenty feet, was filled with water, the fall +of which set in motion several wheels and pumps that raised the water again +into the basin. The machine was fixed in a place, glazed on all sides, and +locked by three different keys. It kept in play for thirty-two days, without +the smallest interruption; but the air, the heat, and the wood of the machine, +having undoubtedly diminished the water, it no longer ascended into the basin. +Till the thirty-second day, many persons imagined that the perpetual motion had +been discovered. However, this machine was extremely light, well combined, and +very simple in its construction. I ought to observe that it neither acted by +springs nor counterpoise; all its powers proceeding from the fall of the +water.</p> +<p>The conservatory also contains several models of curious buildings, too +numerous to mention.</p> +<p>The mechanical arts in France appear to have experienced more or less the +impulse given to the sciences towards the close of the eighteenth century. +While calamities oppressed this country, and commerce was suspended, the +inventive and fertile genius of the French was not dormant.</p> +<p>The clothiers have introduced woollen articles manufactured on a new plan; +and their fine broad cloths and kerseymeres have attained great perfection. The +introduction of the Spanish merinos into France has already produced in her +wools a considerable amelioration.</p> +<p>Like a phœnix, Lyons is reviving from its ashes, and its silks now +surpass, if possible, their former magnificence. Brocaded silk is at present +made in a loom worked by one man only, in lieu of two, which the manufacture of +that article hitherto demanded. Another new invention is a knitting-loom, by +means of which 400 threads are interwoven with the greatest exactness, by +merely turning a winch.</p> +<p>The cotton manufactures are much improved, and the manufactories in that +line are daily increasing in number and perfection. A new spinning-machine has +produced here, I am told, 160,000 ells in length out of a pound of cotton. The +fly-shuttle is now introduced into most of the manufactories in this country, +and 25 pieces of narrow goods are thus made at once by a single workman. In +adopting ARKWRIGHT'S system, the French have applied it to small machines, +which occupy no more room than a common spinning-wheel.</p> +<p>Among other branches in which the French mechanics have particularly +distinguished themselves, since the revolution, is the making of astronomical +and philosophical instruments.</p> +<p>All the machines used here in coining have also been modified and improved. +By one of these, the piece is struck at the same time on the edge and on the +flat side in so perfect a manner, that the money thus coined cannot he +counterfeited.</p> +<p>I have already mentioned the invention of a composition which supplies the +place of black lead for pencils, and the discovery of a new and very +expeditious method of tanning leather.</p> +<p>New species of earthen-ware have been invented, and those already known have +received considerable improvement.</p> +<p>Chemists have put the manufacturers in possession of new means of +decomposing and recomposing substances. Muriat of tin is now made here with +such economy, that it is reduced to one-eighth of its former price. This salt +is daily used in dying and in the manufacture of printed calicoes. Carbonates +of strontia and of baryt, obtained by a new process, will shortly be sold in +Paris at 3 francs the <i>kilogramme</i>. This discovery is expected to have a +great influence on several important arts, such as the manufacture of glass, of +soap, &c.</p> +<p>Articles of furniture, jewellery, and every branch dependent on design, are +now remarkable for a purer taste than that which they formerly exhibited.</p> +<p>Indeed, the characteristic difference of the present state of French +industry, and that in which it was before the revolution, is that most of the +proprietors of the manufactories have received a scientific education. At that +time, many of them were strangers to the principles applicable to the processes +of their art; and, in this respect, they lay at the mercy of the routine, +ignorance, and caprice of their workmen. At present, the happy effects of +instruction, more widely-diffused, begin to be felt, and, in proportion as it +is extended, it excites a spirit of emulation which promises no small advantage +to French commerce.</p> +<h2><a name="let84">LETTER LXXXIV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 23, 1802.</i></p> +<p>In the richness of her territory, the abundance of her population, the +activity of her inhabitants, and the knowledge comprised in her bosom, France +possesses great natural advantages; but the effect which they might have +produced on her industry, has been counteracted by the errors of her old +government, and the calamities attendant on the revolution. Some +public-spirited men, thinking the moment favourable for restoring to them all +their influence, have lately met; and from this union has sprung the</p> +<p class="center">SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF NATIONAL INDUSTRY.</p> +<p>It is formed on a scale still more extensive than the <i>Society for the +encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce</i>, instituted at London. +Its meetings are held in the <i>Louvre</i>; but, though fixed in the +metropolis, it embraces the whole extent of the Republic, and every department +will participate in the benefits which it proffers.</p> +<p>The chief objects of this society are: To collect, from all quarters, +discoveries and inventions useful to the progress of the arts; to bestow +annually premiums and gratuitous encouragements; to propagate instruction, by +disseminating manuals on different objects relative to the arts, by combining +the lights of theory with the results of practice, and by constructing at its +own expense, and disseminating among the public in general, and particularly in +the manufactories, such machines, instruments, and apparatus as deserve to be +more generally known and brought into use; to make essays and experiments for +ascertaining the utility which may be expected from new discoveries; to make +advances to artists who may be in distress, or deficient in the means to put in +practice the processes of their inventions; to unite by new ties all such +persons as from their situation in life, their taste, or their talents, feel an +interest in the progress of the arts; to become the centre of similar +institutions, which are called for in all the principal manufacturing-towns of +the Republic; in a word, to <i>excite emulation, diffuse knowledge, and assist +talents</i>.</p> +<p>To attain these objects, various committees, consisting of men the most +conversant in knowledge relative to the arts, are already appointed, and divide +among them <i>gratuitously</i> the whole of the labour.</p> +<p>This society, founded, on principles so purely patriotic, will, no doubt, +essentially second the strenuous efforts of the government to reanimate the +different branches of national industry. The free and spontaneous concurrence +of the men of whom it is composed, may unite the power of opinion to that of +other means; and public opinion produces naturally that which power and +authority obtain only by a slow and difficult progress.</p> +<p>But, while those branches of industry, more immediately connected with the +arts, are stimulated by these simultaneous encouragements, that science, on the +practice of which depends the welfare of States, is not neglected. +Independently of the Council of Agriculture, Commerce and Arts, established +under the presidency of the Minister of the Interior, here is a</p> +<p class="center">FREE SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE.</p> +<p>Its object is to improve agriculture, not only in the department of La +Seine, but throughout France. For this purpose, it maintains a regular +correspondence with all the agricultural societies of the other departments. It +publishes memoirs, in which are inserted the results of its labours, as well as +the notices and observations read at the meetings by any one of its members, +and the decision which has followed.</p> +<p>Every year it proposes prizes for the solution of some question important to +the amelioration of agriculture.</p> +<p>What, at first view, appears extraordinary, is not, on that account, less +founded on truth. Amidst the storms of the revolution, agriculture has been +improved in France. At a period of happiness and tranquillity, the soil was not +so well cultivated as in times of terror and mourning; because, during the +latter, the lands enjoyed the franchises so long wanted. Hands never failed; +for, when the men marched to the armies, women supplied their place; and no one +was ashamed to handle the spade or the plough.</p> +<p>However, if, in 1789, agriculture in France was far from a state of +prosperity, it was beginning to receive new light from the labours of the +agricultural societies. That of Paris had given a great impulse to the culture +of artificial meadows, potatoes, hemp, flax, and fruit-trees. Practical +directions, spread with profusion in the country, had diverted the inhabitants +from the routine which they had blindly followed from generation to +generation.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, the French began to imitate us in gelding their +horses, and giving to their lackies, their coachmen, and their equipages an +English appearance; instead of copying us in the cultivation of our land, and +adopting the principles of our rural economy. This want of foresight they are +now anxious to repair, by increasing their pastures, and enriching them by an +extensive variety of plants, augmenting the number of their cattle, whether +intended for subsistence or reproduction, and improving the breed by a mixture +of races well assorted, procuring a greater quantity of manure, varying their +culture so as not to impoverish the soil, and separating their lands by +inclosures, which obviate the necessity of constantly employing herdsmen to +tend their cattle.</p> +<p>Agriculture has, unquestionably, suffered much, and is still suffering in +the western departments. Notwithstanding the succour afforded by the government +to rebuild and repair the deserted cottages and barns, to supply them with men +and cattle, to set the ploughs to work, and revive industry, it is still +evident that the want of confidence which maintains the value of money at an +exorbitant rate, the love of stock-jobbing, the impossibility of opening small +loans, the excessive price of manual labour, contributions exacted in advance, +and the distress of most of the land-owners, who are not in a condition to shew +favour to their tenants, are scourges which still overwhelm the country. But I +am credibly informed that, in general, the rural inhabitants now lend a more +attentive ear to instruction, and that prejudices have less empire over their +reason. The great landed proprietors, whom terror had induced to fly their +country, have, on recovering possession of their patrimony, converted their +parks into arable land. Others, who are not fond of living in town, are daily +repairing to their estates, in order to superintend the cultivation of them. No +one disdains the simple title of farmer. Old publications relative to +agriculture are reprinted in a form more within reach of the capacity of the +people; though treatises on domestic animals are still much wanted.</p> +<p>At Rambouillet, formerly the country-seat of the duke of Penthièvre, is an +experimental national farm. <a name="let84fr1"></a>Fine cattle are now held in +high estimation. Flocks of sheep of the Spanish breed are daily increasing; and +the number of those of a pure race, already imported, or since bred in France, +exceeds 8000.[<a href="#let84f1">1</a>] Wide roads, which led to one solitary +castle only, have been ploughed, and sown. The rage for ornamental gardens and +pleasure-grounds is dying away. The breeding of horses, a branch of industry +which the war and the requisition had caused to be abandoned, is on the point +of being resumed with increased activity. It is in contemplation to establish +studs, on plans better combined and much more favourable to the object than +those which formerly existed. In short, the ardent wish of the thinking part of +the nation seems to be, that the order which the government is endeavouring to +introduce into every branch of its administration, may determine the labourer +to proportion his hire to the current price of corn; but all these truths +assembled form not such a sketch as you may, perhaps, expect. The state of +French agriculture has never yet been delineated on a comprehensive scale, +except by Arthur Young. <a name="let84fr2"></a>You must persuade him to repeat +his tour, if you wish for a perfect picture.[<a href="#let84f2">2</a>]</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p class="right"><i>March 22, in continuation.</i></p> +<p>Most persons are acquainted with DIDOT'S stereotypic editions of the +classics, &c. which are sold here for 15 <i>sous</i> per copy. Nothing more +simple than the plan of this mode of printing. A page is first set up in +moveable types; a mould or impression is then taken of the page with any +suitable plastic substance, and a solid page is cast from it. The expense of a +solid page exceeds not that of resetting it in moveable types; so that, by this +invention, the price of books will be considerably reduced, and standard works +will never be out of print. Nor are these the only advantages attending the use +of stereotype; I must mention another of still greater importance.</p> +<p>By the common method of printing, it is impossible ever to have correct +books. They are in the market before all their errors are discovered; and the +latest edition of a work, which ought to be the most correct, is necessarily +the most faulty; for it presents not only the errors of that from which it was +copied, but also those peculiar to itself. <a name="let84fr3"></a>Stereotypic +books are printed only to answer the extent of the demand; and errors, when +discovered, being corrected in the metal, they must, through time and +attention, become immaculate; a circumstance of infinite importance in +astronomical and mathematical tables of every +description.[<a href="#let84f3">3</a>]</p> +<p>For elegance of printing, DIDOT is the BENSLEY of Paris; but to see a grand +establishment in this line, you must go to the <i>Rue de la Vrillière</i>, near +the <i>Place des Victoires</i>, and visit the</p> +<p class="center">PRINTING-OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC.</p> +<p>Under the title of <i>Imprimerie Royale</i>, this establishment vas formerly +placed in the galleries of the <i>Louvre</i>. Instituted by Francis I in 1531, +it was greatly enlarged and improved under Lewis XIII and Lewis XIV. It has +also been considerably augmented since its removal, in 1791, to the hotel +belonging to the late Duke of Penthièvre, which it now occupies.</p> +<p>In its present state, it may be considered as the most extensive and most +complete typographical establishment in being. Every branch relating to +typography, from the casting of the type to the article of binding, is here +united. The <i>dépôt</i> of punches contains upwards of 30,000 characters of +all languages. Among others, here are to be remarked, in all their primitive +purity, the beautiful Greek ones of Garamon, engraved by order of Francis I, +and which served for the editions of the Stephen, the Byzantine, &c, the +oriental characters of the Polyglot of Vitræus, and the collection of exotic +characters from the printing-office of the Propaganda. The government business +alone constantly employs one hundred presses. A much greater number can be set +to work, if wanted.</p> +<p>Independently of the works concerning administration and the sciences, which +are executed here at the public cost, the government allows authors to cause to +be printed at this office, at their own private expense, such works as, on +account of their importance, the difficulty of execution, and the particular +types which they require, are entitled to that favour.</p> +<p>On applying to the director, the amateurs of typography are instantly +admitted to view this establishment, and shewn every thing interesting in it, +with that spirit of liberality which is extended to every public institution +here, and which reflects the highest honour on the French nation.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let84f1">Footnote 1</a>: At the last annual sale at +Rambouillet, the average price of a good Spanish ram was no more than 412 +francs or £17 sterling. The dearest sold for 620 +francs. <a href="#let84fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let84f2">Footnote 2</a>: The statistical accounts of +the different departments, which are to be compiled by order of the Minister of +the Interior, will specify all the agricultural improvements. The few already +published, shew that if the population of France is somewhat diminished in the +large towns, it is considerably increased in the +country-places. <a href="#let84fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let84f3">Footnote 3</a>: It is, however, to be remarked +that the merit of this invaluable invention is not due to France, but to +Britain. As far back as the year 1725, a Mr. GED, of Edinburgh, turned his +thoughts to the formation of cast letter-press plates, and, in 1736, printed a +stereotype edition of Sallust. Being opposed by a combination of printers and +booksellers, whose ignorance and prejudices he was unable to overcome, he +relinquished the prosecution of his discovery; and thus the stereotypic art was +lost to the world, till rediscovered, in 1780, by Mr. ALEXANDER TILLOCH. In the +year 1783, Mr. TILLOCH took out a patent for it, in conjunction with Mr. +FOULIS, then printer to the University of Glasgow. They printed several books +in this manner; but it seems that they also experienced an opposition from the +booksellers, and, owing to different circumstances, have not since availed +themselves of their patent. Notwithstanding this evidence of priority, the +French dispute the invention; and the learned CAMUS, in his "<i>Historical +Sketch of Polytypage and Stereotypage</i>," affirms, on the authority of +LOTTIN, that, towards the end of the seventeenth century, the stereotypic +process was put in practice in France, for printing the calendars prefixed to +the missals. Hence it is seen that the claim of the English is supported by +positive proof; while that of the French rests on bare +assertion. <a href="#let84fr3">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let85">LETTER LXXXV.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March</i> 26, 1802.</p> +<p>In visiting a foreign country, and more especially its capital, the +traveller, whose object is instruction, enters into the most minute details, in +order to obtain a complete knowledge of the various classes of its inhabitants. +As Seneca justly observes, in his epistles, what benefit can a person reap from +his travels, who spends all his time in examining the beauty and magnificence +of public buildings? Will the contemplation of them render him more wise, more +temperate, more liberal in his ideas? Will it remove his prejudices and errors? +It may amuse him for a time, as a child, by the novelty and variety of objects, +which excite an unmeaning admiration. To act thus, adds the learned stoic, is +not to travel, it is to wander, and lose both one's time and labour.</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>Non est hoc peregrinari, sed erraie</i>."</p> +<p>Wherefore Horace, in imitation of Homer, says, in praise of Ulysses,</p> +<p class="bq">"<i>Qui mores hominum multorum vidit, et urbes</i>."</p> +<p>I have, I hope, given you enough of sights and shows; let us then, my good +friend, follow the wise example of the ancients, and take a view of men and +manners.</p> +<p>Owing, in some measure, to the levity of French character, and the freedom +which now prevails generally enough in all society here, this sort of study, +sometimes so tedious, is greatly facilitated. In the Parisian assemblies of the +present day, by an almost continual collision, self-love discovers the weak +side of an individual whose whole merit consists in a little small-talk, and a +rotation of those <i>jolis petits riens</i>, which, seconded by a well-favoured +countenance and an agreeable carriage, have given him in the world the +reputation of an amiable man; while, from another, we see a thousand essential +qualities, concealed under a coarse exterior, force themselves into notice, and +which his modesty, or more frequently his timidity, prevented him from +displaying.</p> +<p>From the preceding preamble, you will naturally conclude that I purpose to +appropriate this letter to a few remarks on the</p> +<p class="center">PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY IN PARIS.</p> +<p>In this city are three very distinct kinds of society. But the order I shall +adopt in the description of each of them must not, in any way, lead you to +prejudge my opinion respecting the rank which they hold among the French +themselves. In this respect, I shall abstain from every sort of reflection, +and, confining myself to the simple character of a faithful narrator, shall +leave to your sagacity to decide the question.</p> +<p>I shall begin by the society, chiefly composed of the <i>ci-devant +noblesse</i>, several of whom, never having quitted France, have preserved some +of their property; and of emigrants, lately returned to their own country, and +who have enough remaining to allow them to have a household establishment, but +in a very modest style indeed, compared to that which their rank and fortune +enabled them to support before the revolution.</p> +<p>You present yourself at the residence of <i>Madame la Marquise de C----</i>. +In the anti-room, you declare your name and quality to the groom of the +chambers. Then, the opening of one or two folding-doors announces to the +mistress of the house, and to the company, the <i>quantum</i> of the ceremonies +which are to be paid to the newcomer. Keep your eye constantly on the +<i>Marquise</i>, her behaviour will regulate yours in regard to the individuals +who compose her party. In the course of conversation, take special care not to +omit the title of the person to whom you address yourself. Such an instance of +forgetfulness savours of a man of the new <i>régime</i>. Never pronounce the +new denominations respecting the divisions of the French territory, the months, +the weights, measures, &c. Those words would draw on you an unfavourable +interpretation. If you are inclined to hear a discussion on the arts and +sciences, or on any new discovery whatever, you seldom find, in these parties, +persons who can gratify your taste; though you may meet with many who, as Locke +says, "know a little, presume a great deal, and so jump to a conclusion."</p> +<p>From the plebeians, whose presence the <i>ci-devant</i> nobles are so +condescending as to endure, much obsequiousness and servility are required; and +it is expected that the distance of rank should never be forgotten. But the +learned or scientific French revolutionist, who admits no other distance than +that between knowledge and ignorance, not choosing to submit to such +conditions, seldom presents himself at the house of <i>Madame la Marquise de +C----</i>. However, you will hear her company speak of the court of France, of +the interest which each individual had there, and also a few anecdotes not +uninteresting, and which will furnish you with some ideas of the brilliant +parties there formed. After this discussion, one will talk to you of his +regiment; another, of his hunting establishment, of his <i>châteaux</i>, of his +estates, &c. <i>Chez Madame la Marquise de C----</i>, you will find no +inconsiderable prepossession against every thing that is not of the old order +of things, and even some exclusive pretensions to manners which belong to those +only who are real gentlemen. Yet, through all these absurdities, you will +always see good-breeding prevail in this society, and the disposition which +distinguishes a Frenchman from other polished nations, will here break forth +and present itself to you in a striking manner.</p> +<p>While speaking of the <i>ci-devant noblesse</i>, I cannot forbear to mention +the loss which those who had the happiness of her acquaintance, have sustained +by the recent death of Madame DE CHOISEUL, the relict of the duke of that name, +minister to Lewis XV. Her virtues shed such a lustre round her, that it reached +even the monarch himself, who, when he banished her husband to Chanteloup, +wrote to him: "I should have sent you much further, but for the particular +esteem I have for Madame DE CHOISEUL, in whose health I take no small +interest." This uncommonly-respectable woman will long be quoted and deservedly +regretted, because she was modest in greatness, beneficent in prosperity, +courageous in misfortune, pure in the vortex of corruption, solid in the midst +of frivolity, as simple in her language as she was brilliant in her +understanding, and as indulgent to others as she was superior to them in grace +and virtue.</p> +<p>I shall next lead you to the house of a <i>parvenu</i>, that is, one of +those, who, from having made some successful speculations, and possessing a +conscience not overnice as to the means of fixing Fortune, is enabled to live +in the expensive style of the <i>ci-devant</i> court-lords and farmers-general. +A letter changed in the person's name, not unfrequently a <i>de</i> or a +<i>St.</i> added, (sometimes both) puzzles the curious, who endeavour to +discover what was formerly M. <i>de St. H------</i>, now in the enjoyment of an +annual income of a hundred thousand francs, or £4000 sterling.</p> +<p>At his house, more than any where else, etiquette is kept up with an +extraordinary minuteness; and evil tongues will tell you that it is natural for +M. <i>de St. H------</i> to remember and avail himself of the observations +which he had it in his power to make in the place he formerly occupied. Under +his roof, you will find little of that ease and amiableness which are to be +remarked in the other societies of Paris. Each individual is on his guard, and +afraid of betraying himself by certain expressions, which the force of habit +has not yet allowed him to forget. But if you are fond of good music, if you +take a pleasure in balls, and in the company of <i>femmes galantes</i> or +demireps; and even if first-rate jugglers, ventriloquists, and mimics amuse you +by their skilful performances, frequent the house of M. <i>de St. H------</i>, +and every day, or at least every day that he is at home, you will have a new +entertainment.</p> +<p>Between the acts, the company make their remarks, each in his own way, on +what they have just seen or heard. Afterwards, the conversation turns on the +public funds. Little is said, however, on affairs of State, the bankruptcies of +the day, and the profit which such or such a speculation might produce. The +ladies, after having exhausted the subject of the toilet, finish by giving, as +an apology for their own conduct, the charitable enumeration of the +peccadilloes which they fancy they have remarked in other women.</p> +<p>So little am I disposed for gaming, that I forgot to mention +<i>bouillotte</i>, <i>quinze</i>, and also whist and reversi, which are +introduced at all these parties. But the two last-mentioned games are reserved +for those only who seek in cards nothing more than a recreation from the +occupations of the day. At the others, gain is the sole object of the player; +and many persons sit at the gaming-table the whole night, and, in the depth of +winter even, never leave it till the "garish sun" warns them that it is time to +withdraw.</p> +<p>I have now only to introduce you at M. <i>B------'s</i>, Counsellor of +State. Here you will find the completion of the other two societies, and a very +numerous party, which affords to every one a conversation analogous to his +taste or his means. Refrain, however, from touching on politics; the French +government, still in its infancy, resembles a young plant exposed to the +inclemency of the air, and whose growth is directed by skilful hands. This +government must remove, and even sometimes destroy every obstacle it meets +with, and which may be prejudicial to the form and direction that it thinks +proper to give to its branches and various ramifications. Beware, above all, of +speaking of the revolution. That string is too delicate to be touched in regard +to certain individuals of M. <i>B------'s</i> party, perhaps also in regard to +himself: for the periods of the calamities which the French have undergone are +still quite recent, and the parts that many of these persons may have acted, +call to mind recollections too painful, which, for their tranquillity, ought +ever to be buried in oblivion. And, in fact, you will always perceive, in the +meetings of this class, a harmony, apparent indeed, but which, surprises a +stranger the more, as, of all the societies in Paris, it presents to him the +greatest medley in point of the persons who compose it.</p> +<p>In this society you will hear very instructive dissertations on the +sciences, sound literature, the fine arts, mechanics, and the means of +rendering useful the new discoveries, by applying them with economy to the +French manufactories, either public or private: for M. <i>B------</i> considers +it as his duty to receive with distinction all the <i>savans</i>, and generally +all those called men of talent. In this line of conduct, he follows the example +set him by the government; and every one is desirous to appear a Mæcenas in the +eyes of Augustus. In other respects, the house of M. <i>B------</i> will afford +you the agreeble pastimes which you have found at M. <i>de St. +H------'s</i>.</p> +<p>In Paris, however, are several other societies which, to consider them +rightly, are no more than a diminutive of those you have just left; but which, +nevertheless, are of a character sufficiently distinct in their composition to +justify their pretensions to be classed as well as the others. This difference +proceeding chiefly from that of political opinions alone, an acquaintance with +the great societies here will enable you to select those of the middle class +which you may think proper to frequent, according to your taste, or your manner +of seeing and judging of the events of the French revolution. Yet, you must not +hence conclude that the conversation turns chiefly on that subject in this +particular class of the Parisian societies. They concern themselves less about +it perhaps than the others, whether from the little share they have had in it, +or because they have but very indirect connexions with the government, or +lastly, and this final reason is, I believe, the most conclusive, because a +Frenchman, from the nature of his character, ends by forgetting his misfortunes +and losses, cares little for the future, and appears desirous to enjoy the +present only; following, in that respect, the precept of La Fontaine:</p> +<p class="bq"><i>"Jouis dès aujourd'hui, tu n'as pas tant à vivre;<br /> +Je te rebàts ce mot—car il vaut tout un livre."</i></p> +<p>In truth, although, among this people, vexations and enjoyments are almost +always the result of imagination, they have preserved the remembrance of their +misfortunes only to turn to account the terrible lessons which they have +received from them, by adopting, in regard to the present and to the future, +that happy philosophy which knows how to yield to the circumstances of the +moment. This it is (you may rely on the fact) that has contributed, more than +any other cause, to re-establish, in so short a period, the order and +tranquillity which France presents to the eyes of astonished foreigners. This +it is too that has, in a great measure, obviated the fatal consequences which +their past troubles must have made them fear for a long time to come, and for +which few remedies could be expected, especially when we reflect on the +divisions which the revolution has sown in almost every family in this +country.</p> +<p>P. S. The sound of cannon, which strikes my ear at this moment, announces +the signature of the definitve treaty. In the evening, a grand illumination +will take place to celebrate the return of the most desirable of all +blessings.</p> +<p class="bq">"------------O beauteous Peace!<br /> +Sweet union of a State! What else but thou<br /> +Giv'st safety, strength, and glory to a people?"</p> +<h2><a class="let86">LETTER LXXXVI.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 28, 1802.</i></p> +<p>Whatever changes may have been introduced by the revolution, in one respect +at least, the Parisians still preserve towards foreigners that urbanity for +which they were remarkable half a century ago, when Sterne paid them a visit. +If you ask a shopkeeper here, of either sex, the way to a place, perhaps at +some distance, he or she neglects the occupation of the moment to direct you, +with as much solicitude and attention as though a considerable advantage was to +be the result of the given information. It is the small sweet courtesies of +life, as that sentimental traveller remarks, which render the road of it less +rugged.</p> +<p>Sometimes, indeed, a foreigner pays dearly for the civility shewn him in +Paris; but, in laying out his money, he must ever bear in mind that the +shopkeepers make no scruple to overcharge their articles to their own +countrymen, and some will not blush to take, even from them, a third less than +the price demanded.</p> +<p>Soon after my arrival here, I think I mentioned to you the excessive +dearness of</p> +<p class="center">FURNISHED LODGINGS.</p> +<p>Since the revolution, their price is nearly doubled, and is extremely high +in the most fashionable parts of the town, such as the <i>Chaussée d'Antin</i>, +the <i>Rue de la Loi</i>, the <i>Rue de la Concorde</i>, &c. For strangers +that know not in Paris any friend who will take the trouble to seek for them +suitable apartments, the only way to procure good accommodation is to alight at +a ready-furnished hotel, and there hire rooms by the day till they can look +about them, and please themselves. </p> +<p>For my own part, I prefer the quiet of a private lodging to the bustle of a +public hotel, and, as I have before mentioned, my constant resource, on such +occasions, has been the <i>Petites Affiches</i>. If you go to the office where +this Daily Advertiser is published, and inspect the file, it is ten to one that +you immediately find apartments to your wishes.</p> +<p>A single man may now be comfortably lodged here, in a private house with a +<i>porte-cochère</i>, at from 5 to 8 louis per month; and a small family may be +well accommodated, in that respect, at from 12 to 16 louis. A larger party, +requiring more room, may obtain excellent apartments at from 20 louis a month +upwards, according to the situation, the conveniences, the taste and condition +of the furniture, and other contingencies. To prevent subsequent +misunderstanding, I would always recommend a written agreement.</p> +<p>The English have hitherto paid dearer than other foreigners for whatever +they want in Paris, because they generally trust to their servants, and think +it beneath them to look into those matters connected with their own comfort. +But the <i>Milords Anglais</i> are now entirely eclipsed by the Russian Counts, +who give two louis where the English offer one. A person's expenses here, as +every where else, materially depend on good management, without which a +thoughtless man squanders twice as much as a more considerate one; and while +the former obtains no more than the common comforts of life, the latter enjoys +all its indulgences.</p> +<p>With respect to the gratifications of the table, I have little to add to +what I have already said on that subject, in speaking of the +<i>restaurateurs</i>. If you choose to become a boarder, you may subscribe at +the <i>Hôtel du Cirque</i>, <i>Rue de la Loi</i>, and sit down every day in +good company for about seven louis a month; and there are very respectable +private houses, where you may, when once introduced, dine very well for five +livres a time; but, at all these places, you are sure to meet either English or +Americans; and the consequence is, that you are eternally speaking your +mother-tongue, which is a material objection with those who are anxious to +improve themselves in the French language. For a man who brings his family to +Paris, and resides in private apartments, it might, perhaps, be more advisable +to hire a cook, and live <i>à l'Anglaise</i> or <i>à la Française</i>, +according to his fancy.</p> +<p>No conveniences have been so much improved in Paris, since the revolution, +as</p> +<p class="center">JOB AND HACKNEY CARRIAGES.</p> +<p>Formerly, the <i>remises</i> or job-carriages were far inferior to those in +use at the present day; and the old <i>fiacres</i> or hackney-coaches were +infamous. The carriages themselves were filthy; the horses, wretched; and the +coachmen, in tatters, had more the look of beggars than that of drivers.</p> +<p>Now, not only good hackney-coaches, but chariots and cabriolets likewise, +figure here on the stands; and many of them have an appearance so creditable +that they might even be taken for private French equipages. +<a name="let86fr1"></a>The regular stipulated fare of all these vehicles is at +present 30 <i>sous</i> a <i>course</i>, and the same for every hour after the +first, which is fixed at 40 <i>sous</i>.[<a href="#let86f1">1</a>] In 1789, it +used to be no more than 24. For the 30 <i>sous</i>, you may drive from one +extremity of Paris to the other, provided you do not stop by the way; for every +voluntary stoppage is reckoned a <i>course</i>. However, if you have far to go, +it is better to agree to pay 40 <i>sous</i> per hour, and then you meet with no +contradiction. From midnight to six o'clock in the morning, the fare is +double.</p> +<p>The present expense of a job-carriage, with a good pair of horses, +(including the coachman, who is always paid by the jobman) varies from 22 to 24 +louis a month, according to the price of forage. If you use your own carriage, +the hire of horses and coachman will cost you from 12 to 15 louis, which, in +1789, was the price of a job-carriage, all expenses included.</p> +<p><a name="let86fr2"></a>Under the old <i>régime</i>, there were no stands of +cabriolets.[<a href="#let86f2">2</a>] These carriages are very convenient to +persons pressed for time; but it must be confessed that they are no small +annoyance to pedestrians. Of this Lewis XV was so convinced, that he declared +if he were Minister of the Police, he would suffer no cabriolets in Paris. He +thought this prohibition beneath his own greatness. To obviate, in some +measure, the danger arising both from the want of foot-pavement, and from the +inconsiderate rapidity with which these carriages are not unfrequently driven, +it is now a law that the neck of every horse in a cabriolet must be provided +with bells, and the carriage with two lamps, lighted after dark; yet, in spite +of these precautions, and the severity which the police exercises against those +who transgress the decree, serious accidents sometimes happen.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, "<i>gare! gare!</i>" was the only warning given here +to foot-passengers. The master, in his cabriolet, first drove over a person, +the servant behind then bawled out "<i>gare!</i>" and the maimed pedestrian was +left to get up again as he was able. Such brutal negligence now meets with due +chastisement.</p> +<p>At a trial which took place here the other day in a court of justice, the +driver of a cabriolet was condemned to three months imprisonment in a house of +correction, and to pay a fine of 100 francs for maiming a carter. The horse had +no bells, as prescribed by law; and the owner of the cabriolet was, besides, +condemned, in conjunction with the driver, to pay an indemnification of 3000 +francs to the wounded carter, as being civilly responsible for the conduct of +his servant.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding the danger of walking in the streets of Paris, such French +women as are accustomed to go on foot, traverse the most frequented +thoroughfares in the dirtiest weather, at the same time displaying, to the +astonished sight of bespattered foreigners, a well-turned leg, a graceful step, +and spotless stockings.</p> +<p>If you arrive in Paris without a servant, or (what amounts almost to the +same thing) should you bring with you a man ignorant of the French language, +you may be instantly accommodated with one or several domestics, under the name +of</p> +<p class="center">VALETS-DE-PLACE.</p> +<p>Like every thing else here, the wages of these job-servants are augmented. +Formerly, their salary was 30 or 40 <i>sous</i> a day: they now ask 4 francs; +but, if you purpose to spend a few weeks here, will be glad to serve you for 3. +Some are very intelligent; others, very stupid. Most of them are spies of the +police; but, as an Englishman in Paris has nothing to conceal, of what +consequence is it whether his steps are watched by his own +<i>valet-de-place</i> or any other <i>mouchard?</i> It is usual for them to lay +under contribution all the tradesmen you employ; and thus the traiteur, the +jobman, &c. contribute to augment their profits. However, if they pilfer +you a little themselves, they take care that you are not subjected to too much +imposition from others.—To proceed to a few</p> +<p class="center">GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.</p> +<p>In visiting the French capital, many Englishmen are led into an error. They +imagine that a few letters of recommendation will be the means of procuring +them admission into other houses besides those of the persons to whom these +letters are addressed. But, on their arrival in Paris, they will find +themselves mistaken. The houses of the <i>great</i> are difficult of access, +and those of the secondary class scarcely open with more ease than they did +before the revolution. If proper attention be paid to all the letters which a +stranger brings, he may be satisfied; though the persons to whom he is +recommended, seldom think of taking him to the residence of any of their +friends. Therefore, an English traveller, who wishes to mix much in French +society, should provide himself with as many letters of recommendation as he +can possibly obtain; unless, indeed, he has a celebrated name, which, in all +countries, is the best introduction; for curiosity prompts the higher classes +to see and examine the man who bears it. The doors of every house will be open +to him, when they are shut against other strangers, and he may soon establish +an intimacy in the first circles. To those who possess not that advantage, a +Frenchman may be induced to offer a dinner, or two, perhaps, and return them a +few formal visits. He will profess more than he performs. In a word, he will be +polite, but not familiar and friendly.</p> +<p>An Englishman, thus circumstanced, finding that he gains no ground, and is +treated with a sort of ceremony, will probably seek other company, dine at the +<i>restaurateurs'</i>, frequent the <i>spectacles</i>, and visit the impures: +for such was the life our countrymen, in general, led in Paris before the +revolution. Public amusements may, perhaps, make him amends for the want of +private society. As, from their astonishing number, they may be varied without +end, he may contrive to pass away his evenings. His mornings will, at first, be +employed, no doubt, in visiting public curiosities; but, after he has +repeatedly surveyed these scenes of attraction, he will fail in what ought to +be the grand object of foreign travel, and return home without having acquired +a competent knowledge of the manners of the country. He ought therefore to +husband proper French acquaintances, and keep up a constant intercourse with +them, or he will run a risk of finding himself insulated. Should indisposition +confine him to the house for a few days, every one to whom he has been +recommended, will suppose him gone, he will no longer be thought of; +<i>ennui</i> will take possession of him, and, cursing France, he will wish +himself safely landed on the shore of Old England.</p> +<p>If this is the case with an Englishman who brings letters to Paris, what +must be the situation of one who visits this capital entirely unprovided in +that respect? The banker on whom he has a letter of credit, may invite him to a +dinner, at which are assembled twenty persons, to all of whom he is a perfect +stranger. Without friends, without acquaintances, he will find himself like a +man dropped from the clouds, amidst six or seven hundred thousand persons, +driving or walking about in pursuit of their affairs or pleasures. For want of +a proper clue to direct him, he is continually in danger of falling into the +most detestable company; and the temptations to pleasure are so numerous and so +inviting in this gay city, that it requires more fortitude than falls to the +lot of many to resist them. Consequently, an untravelled foreigner cannot be +too much on his guard in Paris; for it will require every exertion of his +prudence and discrimination to avoid being duped and cheated. Above all, he +should shun those insinuating and subtle characters who, dexterous in +administering that delicious essence which mixes so sweetly with the blood, are +ever ready to shew him the curiosities, and introduce him into coteries, which +they will represent as respectable, and in which the mistress of the house and +her daughters will, probably, conspire to lighten his pocket, and afterwards +laugh at his credulity.</p> +<p>As to the reception which the English are likely to meet with here after the +ratification of the definitive treaty, (if I may be permitted to judge from +personal experience and observation) I think it will, in a great measure, +depend on themselves. Therefore, should any of our countrymen complain of being +treated here with less attention now than before the revolution, it will, on +candid investigation, prove to be their own fault. The essential difference +will be found to consist in the respect paid to the man, not, as formerly, in +proportion to his money, but to his social worth. The French seem now to make a +distinction between individuals only, not between nations. Whence it results +that, <i>cæteris paribus</i>, the foreigner who possesses most the talent of +making himself agreeable in society, will here be the most welcome. Not but, in +general, they will shew greater indulgence to an Englishman, and be inclined to +overlook in him that which they would consider as highly unpardonable in a +stranger of any other country.</p> +<p>On such occasions, their most usual exclamation is "<i>Les Anglais sont des +gens bien extraordinaires! Ma foi! ils sont inconcevables</i>!" And, indeed, +many Englishmen appear to glory in justifying the idea, and <i>astonishing the +natives</i> by the eccentricity of their behaviour. But these <i>originals</i> +should recollect that what may be tolerated in a man of superior talent, is +ridiculous, if not contemptible, in one undistinguished by such a pretension; +and that, by thus <i>posting</i> their absurdities to the eyes of a foreign +nation, they leave behind them an impression which operates as a real injury in +regard to their more rational countrymen. Another circumstance deserves no less +animadversion.</p> +<p>In their first essay of foreign travel, our British youths generally carry +with them too ample a share of national prepossession and presumption. +Accustomed at home to bear down all before them by the weight of their purse, +they are too apt to imagine that, by means of a plentiful provision of gold, +they may lord it over the continent, from Naples to Petersburg; and that a +profuse expenditure of money supersedes the necessity of a compliance with +established forms and regulations. Instead of making their applications and +inquiries in a proper manner, so as to claim due attention, they more +frequently demand as a right what they should rather receive as a favour. +Finding themselves disappointed in their vain conclusions, their temper is +soured; and, being too proud to retract their error, or even observe a prudent +silence, they deal out their impertinence and abuse in proportion to the number +of guineas which they may be able to squander. Of course, they cannot but view +the peculiar habits and customs of all foreign nations with a jaundiced eye, +never reflecting that in most countries are to be found, either in a moral or a +physical sense, advantages and disadvantages in which others are deficient. +<i>Le</i> POUR <i>et le</i> CONTRE, as a well-known traveller observes, <i>se +trouvent en chaque nation</i>. The grand desideratum is to acquire by travel a +knowledge of this POUR <i>et</i> CONTRE, which, by emancipating us from our +prejudices, teaches us mutual toleration—for, of every species of +tyranny, that which is exercised on things indifferent in themselves, is the +most intolerable. Hence it is less difficult to deprive a nation of its laws +than to change its habits.</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let86f1">Footnote 1</a>: When assignats were in +circulation, a single <i>course en fiacre</i> sometimes cost 600 livres, which +was at the rate of 10 livres per minute. But this will not appear +extraordinary, when it is known that the depreciation of that paper-currency +was such that, at one time, 18,000 livres in assignats could be procured for a +single <i>louis d'or</i>. <a href="#let86fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let86f2">Footnote 2</a>: A cabriolet is a kind of +one-horse chaise, with a standing head, and inclosed in front by a wooden +flap, in lieu of one of leather. Behind, there is a place for a +footman. <a href="#let86fr2">Return to text</a></p> +<h2><a name="let87">LETTER LXXXVII</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, March 31, 1802.</i></p> +<p>If I mistake not, I have answered most of the questions contained in your +letters; I shall now reply to you on the subject of</p> +<p class="center">DIVORCE.</p> +<p>The number of divorced women to be met with here, especially among the more +affluent classes, exceeds any moderate calculation. Nothing can more clearly +manifest the necessity of erecting some dike against the torrent of immorality, +which has almost inundated this capital, and threatens to spread over all the +departments.</p> +<p>Before the revolution, the indissolubility of marriage in France was +supposed to promote adultery in a very great degree: the vow was broken because +the knot could not be untied. At present, divorces are so easily obtained, that +a man or woman, tired of each other, have only to plead <i>incompatibility of +temper</i>, in order to slip their necks out of the matrimonial noose. In +short, some persons here change their wedded partner with as much unconcern as +they do their linen. Thus, the two extremes touch each other; and either of +them has proved equally pernicious to morals.</p> +<p>Formerly, if a Frenchman kept a watchful eye on his wife, he was reckoned +jealous, and was blamed. If he adopted a contrary conduct, and she was +faithless, he was ridiculed. Not unfrequently, a young miss, emerged from the +cloisters of a convent, where she had, perhaps, been sequestered, in order that +her bloom might not eclipse the declining charms of her mother, and who +appeared timid, bashful, and diffident, was no sooner married to a man in a +certain rank in life, than she shone as a meteor of extravagance and +dissipation. Such a wife thought of nothing but the gratification of her own +desires; because she considered it as a matter of course that all the cares of +the family ought to devolve by right on the husband. Provided she could procure +the means of satisfying her taste for dress, and of making a figure in the +<i>beau monde</i>, no other concerns ever disturbed her imagination. If, at +first, she had sufficient resolution to resist the contagion of example, and +not take a male friend to her bosom, by way of lightening the weight of her +connubial chains, she seldom failed, in the end, to follow the fashion of the +day, and frequent the gaming-table, where her virtue was sacrificed to +discharge her debts of honour.</p> +<p>But what have these <i>would-be</i> republicans to allege as an excuse in +their favour? They have no convents to initiate young girls in the arts of +dissimulation; no debauched court to contaminate, by its example, the wavering +principles of the weak part of the sex, or sap the more determined ones of +those whose mind is of a firmer texture; nor have they any friendly, +sympathizing confessors to draw a spunge, as it were, over the trespasses hid +in a snug corner of their heart. No: every one is left to settle his own +account with heaven. Yet the libertinism which at present reigns in Paris is +sufficient to make a deep impression on persons the least given to +reflection.</p> +<p><i>Il matrimonio</i>, says the Italian proverb, <i>è un paradiso o un +inferno</i>. In fact, nothing can be compared to the happiness of a married +couple, united by sympathy. To them, marriage is really a terrestrial paradise. +But what more horrid than the reverse, that is, two beings cursing the fatal +hour which brought them together in wedlock? It is a very hell on earth; for +surely no punishment can exceed that of being condemned to pass our days with +the object of our detestation.</p> +<p>If the indissolubility of marriage in France was formerly productive of such +bad consequences; now that the nuptial knot can be loosened with so much +facility, there can no longer exist the same plea for adultery. Is then this +accumulation of vice less the effect of the institution of divorce in itself, +than that of the undigested law by which it was first introduced?</p> +<p>The law of divorce was, I find, projected in 1790, under the auspices of the +last Duke of Orleans, who, utterly regardless of the welfare of the State, +wished to revolutionize every thing, solely with a view to his own individual +interest. His object was to get rid of his wife, who was a woman of strict +virtue. This law was decreed on the 20th of September 1792, without any +discussion whatever. On the 8th of Nivôse and 4th of Floréal, year II, (29th of +December 1794 and 24th of April 1795) the Convention decreed additional laws, +all tending to favour the impetuosity of the passions. Thus the door was opened +still wider to licentiousness and debauchery. By these laws, an absence of six +months is sufficient for procuring a divorce, and, after the observance of +certain forms, either of the parties may contract a fresh marriage.</p> +<p>It is not difficult to conceive how many hot-headed, profligate, +unprincipled persons, of both sexes, have availed themselves of such laws to +gratify their unruly passions, their resentment, their avarice, or their +ambition. Oaths, persons, or property, are, in these cases, little respected. +If a libertine finds that he cannot possess the object of his desires on any +other terms, like Sir John Brute, in the play, he marries her, in order to go +to bed to her, and in a few days sues for a divorce. I have been shewn here a +Lothario of this description, who, in the course of a short space of time had +been married to no less than six different women.</p> +<p>"Divorce," says a judicious French writer, "is a separation, the necessity +for which ought to be supported by unquestionable proofs; otherwise, it is +nothing more than a legitimate scandal."</p> +<p>The French often wish to assimilate themselves to the Romans, and the Roman +laws sanctioned divorce. Let us then examine how far the comparison can, in +this respect, be supported.</p> +<p>"Among the Romans," continues he, "the first who availed himself of this +privilege was Spurius Corbilius, because his wife was steril. The second +divorce was that of C. Sulpicius, because his wife had gone abroad with her +hair uncovered, and without a veil over her head. Q. Anstitius divorced on +account of having seen his wife speak to a person of her own sex, who was +reckoned loose in her conduct; and Sempronius, because his had been to see the +public entertainments without having informed him. These different divorces +took place about a hundred years after the foundation of Rome. The Romans, +after that, were upwards of five hundred years without affording an instance of +any divorce. They then were moral and virtuous. But, at length, luxury, that +scourge of societies, corrupted their hearts; and divorces became so frequent, +that many women reckoned their age by the number of their husbands." To this he +might have added, that several Roman ladies of rank were so lost to all sense +of shame, that they publicly entered their names among the licensed +prostitutes.</p> +<p>"Marriage," concludes he, "presently became nothing more than an object of +commerce and speculation; and divorce, a tacit permission for libertinism. Can +divorce among the French, be considered otherwise, when we reflect that this +institution, which seemed likely to draw closer the conjugal tie, by restoring +it to its state of natural liberty, is, through the abuse made of it, now only +a mean of shameful traffic, in which the more cunning of the two ruins the +ether, in short, a mound the less against the irruptions of immorality?"</p> +<p>So much for the opinion of a French writer of estimation on the effect of +these laws: let us at present endeavour to illustrate it by some examples.</p> +<p>A young lady, seduced by a married man, found herself pregnant. She was of a +respectable family: he was rich, and felt the consequences of this event. What +was to be done? He goes to one of his friends, whom he knew not to be +overburdened with delicacy, and proposes to him to marry this young person, in +consideration of a certain sum of money. The friend consents, and the only +question is to settle the conditions. They bargain for some time: at last they +agree for 10,000 francs (<i>circa</i> £410 sterling). The marriage is +concluded, the lady is brought to bed, the child dies, and the gentleman sues +for a divorce. All this was accomplished in six months. As such opportunities +are by no means scarce, he may, in the course of the year, probably, meet with +another of the same nature: thus the office of bridegroom is converted into a +lucrative situation. The following is another instance of this melancholy +truth, but of a different description.</p> +<p>A man about thirty-two years of age, well-made, and of a very agreeable +countenance, had been married three months to a young woman of uncommon beauty. +He was loved, nay almost adored by her. Every one might have concluded that +they were the happiest couple in Paris; and, in fact, no cloud had hitherto +overshadowed the serenity of their union. One day when the young bride was at +table with her husband, indulging herself in expressing the happiness which she +enjoyed, a tipstaff entered, and delivered to her a paper. She read it. What +should it be but a subpœna for a divorce? At first she took the thing for +a pleasantry: but the husband soon convinced her that nothing was more serious. +He assured her that this step would make her fortune, and his own too, if she +would consent to the arrangement which he had to propose to her. "You know," +said he, "the rich and ugly Madame C----: she has 30,000 francs a year (circa +£1250 sterling); she will secure to me the half of her property, provided I +will marry her. I offer you a third, if, after having willingly consented to +our divorce, you will permit me to see you as my female friend." Such a +proposal shocked her at the moment; but a week's reflection effected a change +in her sentiments; and the business was completed. <i>O tempora! O +mores!</i></p> +<p>But though many married individuals still continue to break their chains, it +appears that divorces are gradually decreasing in number; and should the +government succeed in introducing into the law on this subject the necessary +modifications, of course they will become far less frequent.</p> +<p>Every legislature must be aware to what a degree plays are capable of +influencing the opinions of a nation, and what a powerful spring they are for +moving the affections. Why then are not theatrical representations here so +regulated, that the stage may conduce to the amelioration of morals? Instead of +this, in most French comedies, the husband is generally made the butt of +ridicule, and the whole plot often lies in his being outwitted by some +conceited spark. Marriage, in short, is incessantly railed at in such a lively, +satirical manner as to delight nine-tenths of the audience.</p> +<p>This custom was also introduced on our stage under the reign of Charles II; +and, not many years ago, it was, I am told, as usual to play <i>The London +Cuckolds</i> on Lord Mayor's day, as it is now to give a representation of +<i>George Barnwell</i> during the Easter holidays. Yet, what is this practice +of exhibiting a cuckold in a ridiculous point of view, but an apology for +adultery, as if it was intended to teach women that their charms are not formed +for the possession of one man only? Alas! it is but too true that some of the +French belles need no encouragement to infidelity: too soon all scruple is +stifled in their bosom; and then, they not only set modesty, but decency too at +defiance. <i>Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute</i>; or, as the same idea is +more fully expressed by our great moral poet:</p> +<p class="bq">"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,<br /> +As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;<br /> +Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face,<br /> +We first endure, then pity, then embrace."</p> +<p>However, in both the instances which I have adduced, the fault was entirely +on the side of the men; and, in general, I believe this will prove to be the +case. Recrimination, indeed, is loudly urged by our sex in Paris; they blame +the women, with a view of extenuating their own irregularities, which scarcely +know any limits.</p> +<p>On a question of a divorce-bill brought on, not long since, in the House of +Commons, you may recollect that a member was laughed at, for asserting that if +men expected women to reform, they ought to begin by reforming themselves. For +my part, I conceive the idea to be perfectly just. Infidelity on the woman's +side is, unquestionably, more hurtful to society than a failure of the same +sort on the man's; yet, is it reasonable to suppose women to be so exempt from +human frailty, as to preserve their chastity inviolate, when men set them so +bad an example?</p> +<h2><a name="let88">LETTER LXXXVIII.</a></h2> +<p class="right"><i>Paris, April 3, 1802</i>.</p> +<p>Circumstances have at length occurred to recall me to England, and as this +will, probably, be the last letter that you will receive from me before I have +the pleasure of taking you by the hand, I shall devote it to miscellaneous +subjects, and, without studying any particular arrangement, speak of them at +random, just as they chance to present themselves.</p> +<p>A fellow-creature, whose care-worn countenance and emaciated body claimed a +mite from any one who had a mite to bestow, had taken his stand at the gate-way +just now as I entered. The recollection of his tale of woe being uppermost in +my mind, I begin with</p> +<p class="center">MENDICANTS.</p> +<p>In spite of the calamities which all great political convulsions never fail +to engender, the streets of Paris present not at this day that vast crowd of +beggars, covered with rags and vermin, by which they were formerly infested. +This is to be attributed to the partial adoption of measures for employing the +poor; and, doubtless, when receptacles come to be established here, according +to the salutary plans introduced into Bavaria by Count Rumford, mendicity will +be gradually annihilated.</p> +<p>But, if beggars have decreased in Paris, this is not the case with</p> +<p class="center">PAWNBROKERS.</p> +<p><a name="let88fr1"></a>They seem to have multiplied in proportion to the +increase of the number of opportunities afforded for gambling in the lottery, +that is, in the ratio of 21 to 2.[<a href="#let88f1">1</a>]</p> +<p>Formerly, in addition to the public establishment called the <i>Mont de +Piété</i>, commissioners were appointed, in different parts of the town, to +take in pledges, and make advances on them previously to their being lodged in +that grand repository. There, money was lent on them at an interest of 10 per +cent; and if the article pledged was not redeemed by a certain time, it was +sold by public auction, and, the principal and interest being deducted, the +surplus was paid to the holder of the duplicate. Thus the iniquitous projects +of usury were defeated; and the rich, as well as the poor, went to borrow at +the <i>Mont de Piété</i>. To obtain a sum for the discharge of a debt of +honour, a dutchess here deposited her diamond ear-rings; while a washerwoman +slipped off her petticoat, and pawned it to satisfy the cravings of hunger.</p> +<p>At the present moment, the <i>Mont de Piété</i> still exists; but, +doubtless, on a different plan; for Paris abounds with <i>Maisons de prêt</i>. +On the eve of particular days in each month when the shopkeepers' promissory +notes become due, they here pledge articles in order to procure the means of +making good their payments. But the crowd of borrowers is the greatest on the +days immediately preceding those on which the Paris lottery is drawn; the +hucksters, marketwomen, porters, retailers of fruit, and unfortunate females, +then deposit their wearing apparel at these dens of rapacity, that they may +acquire a share of a ticket, the price of which is fixed so low as to be within +the purchase of the poorest classes.</p> +<p>The lottery being over, till the next drawing, those persons think no more +of their effects, provided they are within two or three of the winning numbers; +and thus they gamble away almost every thing belonging to them, even to the +very clothes on their back. This is so true that it is not, I understand, at +all uncommon in Paris, for a Cyprian nymph to send her last robe to the nearest +pawnbroker's, in order to have the chance of a prize in the lottery, and to lie +in bed till she obtains the means of purchasing another. Nor is this by far the +worst part of the story.</p> +<p>The too credulous followers of Fortune, on finding all their hopes of +success blasted, frequently seek a termination of their misery by suicide: and +a person of veracity, who made a point of visiting the <i>Morne</i> almost +daily, assured me that he always knew when the lottery had just been drawn, by +the increased number of dead bodies, there exposed, of persons who had put an +end to their existence.</p> +<p>These are facts shocking to relate; but, if legislators will promote gaming, +either by lotteries, or in any other manner, such are the consequences to be +expected.</p> +<p>Another article which has multiplied prodigiously in Paris, since the +revolution, consists of</p> +<p class="center">NEWSPAPERS.</p> +<p>In 1789, the only daily papers in circulation here were the <i>Journal de +Paris</i> and the <i>Petites Affiches</i>; for the <i>Gazette de France</i> +appeared only twice a week. From that period, these ephemeral productions +increased so rapidly, that, under the generic name of <i>Journaux</i>, upwards +of six thousand, bearing different titles, have appeared in France, five +hundred of which were published in Paris.</p> +<p>At this time, here is a great variety of daily papers. The most eminent of +these are well known in England; such as the <i>Moniteur</i>, the only official +paper, the sale of which is said to be 20,000 per day; that of the <i>Journal +de Paris</i>, 16,000; of the <i>Publiciste</i>, 14,000; of the <i>Journal des +Débats</i>, 12,000; of the <i>Journal des Défenseurs de la Patrie</i>, 10,000; +and of the <i>Clé du Cabinet</i>, 6,000. The sale of the others is +comparatively trifling, with the exception of the <i>Petites Affiches</i>, of +which the number daily sold exceeds 30,000.</p> +<p>In addition to the <i>Journals</i>, which I mentioned in my letter of the +16th of December last, the most esteemed are the <i>Magazin Encyclopédique</i>, +edited by MILLIN, the <i>Annales de Chimie</i>, the <i>Journal des Arts</i>, +the <i>Journal Polytechnique</i>, the <i>Journal des Mines</i>, the <i>Journal +général des Inventions et des Découvertes</i>, &c. I stop here, because it +would be useless to attempt to send you a complete list of all the French +periodical publications, as, in the flux and reflux of this literary ocean, +such a list cannot long be expected to preserve its exactness.</p> +<p>Among the conveniences which this city affords in an enviable degree and in +great abundance, are</p> +<p class="center">BATHS.</p> +<p>Those of Paris, of every description, still retain their former +pre-eminence. The most elegant are the <i>Bains Chinois</i> on the north +Boulevards, where, for three francs, you may enjoy the pleasure of bathing in +almost as much luxury as an Asiatic monarch. Near the <i>Temple</i> and at the +<i>Vauxhall d'Été</i>, also on the old Boulevards, are baths, where you have +the advantage of a garden to saunter in after bathing.</p> +<p>On the Seine are several floating baths, the most remarkable of which are +the <i>Bains Vigier</i>, at the foot of the <i>Pont National</i>. The vessel +containing them is upwards of 200 feet in length by about 60 in breadth, and +presents two tiers of baths, making, on both decks, 140 in number. It is +divided in the middle by a large transparent plate of glass, which permits the +eye to embrace its whole extent; one half of which is appropriated to men; the +other, to women. On each deck are galleries, nine feet wide, ornamented with +much architectural taste. On the exterior part of the vessel is a promenade, +decorated with evergreens, orange and rose trees, jasmines, and other +odoriferous plants. By means of a hydraulic machine, worked by two horses, in +an adjoining barge, the reservoirs can be emptied and filled again in less than +an hour.</p> +<p>The <i>Bains Vigier</i> are much frequented, as you may suppose from their +daily consumption of two cords of wood for fuel. Tepid baths, at blood-heat, +are, at present, universally used by the French ladies, and, apparently, with +no small advantage. The price of one of these is no more than 30 <i>sous</i>, +linen, &c. included.</p> +<p>If you want to learn to swim, you may be instructed here in that necessary +art, or merely take a look at those acquiring it, at the</p> +<p class="center">SCHOOL OF NATATION.</p> +<p>The Seine is the school where the lessons are given, and the police takes +care that the pupils infringe not the laws of decency.</p> +<hr width="50%"> +<p>It is certain that, as far back as the year 1684, means were proposed in +London to transmit signs to a great distance in a very short space of time, and +that, towards the close of the seventeenth century, a member of the Academy of +Sciences made, near Paris, several minute experiments on the same subject. The +paper read at the Royal Society of London, and the detail of the experiments +made in France, seem to suggest nearly the same means as those now put in +practice, by the two nations, with respect to</p> +<p class="center">TELEGRAPHS.</p> +<p>The construction of those in France differs from ours in consisting of one +principal pole, and two arms, moveable at the ends. There are four in Paris; +one, on the <i>Louvre</i>, which corresponds with Lille; another, on the +<i>Place de la Concorde</i>, with Brest; a third, on one of the towers of the +church of <i>St. Sulpice</i>, with Strasburg; and the fourth, on the other +tower of the said church, which is meant to extend to Nice, but is as yet +carried no farther than Dijon. To and from Lille, which is 120 leagues distant +from Paris, intelligence is conveyed and received in six minutes, three for the +question, and three for the answer.</p> +<p>Yet, however expeditious this intercourse may seem, it is certain that the +telegraphic language may be abridged, by preserving these machines in their +present state, but at the same time allotting to each of the signs a greater +portion of idea, without introducing any thing vague into the +signification.</p> +<p>Independently of the public curiosities, which I have described, Paris +contains several</p> +<p class="center">PRIVATE COLLECTIONS.</p> +<p>Among them, those most deserving of attention are:</p> +<p>ADANSON'S cabinet of Natural History, <i>Rue de la Victoire</i>.</p> +<p>CASAS' cabinet of Models and Drawings, <i>Rue de Seine, Faubourg St. +Germain</i>.</p> +<p>CHARLES'S cabinet of Physics, <i>Palais National des Sciences et des +Arts.</i></p> +<p>DENON'S cabinet of Drawings, &c. <i>Hôtel de Bouillon</i>, <i>Rue J. J. +Rousseau</i>.</p> +<p>FOUQUET'S cabinet of Models of Antique Monuments, <i>Rue de Lille</i>, <i>F. +S. G.</i></p> +<p>HAUPOIS' cabinet of Mechanics.</p> +<p>SUË'S cabinet of Anatomy, <i>Rue du Luxembourg</i>.</p> +<p>TERSAN'S cabinet of Antiquities, <i>Cloître St. Honoré</i>.</p> +<p>VAILLANT'S cabinet of Birds, &c. <i>Rue du Sépulchre</i>, <i>F. S. +G.</i></p> +<p>VAN-HORREN'S cabinet of Curiosities, <i>Rue St. Dominique</i>, <i>F. S. +G.</i></p> +<p>I must observe that, to visit these men of science, without putting them to +inconvenience, it is expedient either to procure an introduction, or to address +them a note, requesting permission to view their cabinet. This observation +holds good with respect to every thing that is not public.</p> +<p>If you are fond of inspecting curious fire-arms, you should examine the +<i>dépôt d'armes</i> of M. BOUTET in the <i>Rue de la Loi</i>, whose +manufactory is at Versailles, and also pay a visit to M. REGNIER, at the +<i>Dépôt Central de l'Artillerie</i>, <i>Rue de l'Université</i>, who is a very +ingenious mechanic, and will shew you several curious articles of his own +invention, such as a <i>dynamomètre</i>, by means of which you can ascertain +and compare the relative strength of men, as well as that of horses and +draught-cattle, and also judge of the resistance of machines, and estimate the +moving power you wish to apply to them; a <i>potamomètre</i>, by which you can +tell the force of running streams, and measure the currents of rivers. M. +REGNIER has also invented different kinds of locks and padlocks, which cannot +be picked; as well as some curious pistols, &c.</p> +<p>I have, as you will perceive, strictly confined myself to the limits of the +capital, because I expect that my absence from it will not be long; and, in my +next trip to France, I intend, not only to point out such objects as I may now +have neglected, but also to describe those most worthy of notice in the +environs of Paris.</p> +<p>If I have not spoken to you of all the metamorphoses occasioned here by the +revolution, it is because several of them bear not the stamp of novelty. If the +exchange in Paris is now held in the <i>ci-devant Eglise des Petits Pères</i>, +did we not at Boston, in New England, convert the meeting-houses and churches +into riding-schools and barracks?</p> +<p>As the <i>Charnier des Innocens</i>, which had subsisted in the centre of +Paris for upwards of eight centuries, and received the remains of at least ten +millions of human beings, was, before the revolution, turned into a +market-place; so is the famous spot where the Jacobin convent stood in the +<i>Rue St. Honoré</i>, and whence issued laws more bloody than those of Draco, +now on the point of being appropriated to a similar destination. The cemetery +of St. Sulpice is transformed into a Ranelagh. Over the entrance is written, in +large letters, encircled by roses, "BAL DES ZÉPHYRS," and, underneath, you +read:</p> +<p class="bq"><i>"Has ultra metas requiescunt<br /> +Beatam spem expectantes."</i></p> +<p>And on the door itself:</p> +<p class="bq"><i>"Expectances misericordiam Dei."</i></p> +<p>I was just going to conclude with <i>Adieu, till we meet</i>, when I was +most agreeably surprised by the receipt of your letter. I am happy to find +that, through the kind attention of Mr. Mantell of Dover, whose good offices on +this and other simllar occasions claim my most grateful acknowledgments, you +have received all the packets and books which I have addressed to you during my +present visit to Paris. It is likewise no small gratification to me to learn +that my correspondence has afforded to you a few subjects of deep +reflection.</p> +<p>As I told you at the time, the task which you imposed on me was more than I +could accomplish; and you must now be but too well convinced that the +apprehension of my inability was not unfounded. It may not, perhaps, be +difficult for a man of sound judgment to seize and delineate the general +progress of the human mind during a determined period; but to follow +successively, through all their details, the ramifications of the arts and +sciences, is a labour which requires much more knowledge and experience than I +can pretend to: nor did self-love ever blind me so far as to lead me to +presume, for a moment, that success would crown my efforts.</p> +<p>However, I think I have said enough to shew that one of the striking effects +of the revolution has been to make the arts and sciences popular in France. It +has rendered common those doctrines which had till then been reserved for +first-rate <i>savans</i> and genuises. The arsenals of the sciences (if I may +use the expression) were filled; but soldiers were wanting. The revolution has +produced them in considerable numbers; and, in spite of all the disasters and +evils which it has occasioned, it cannot be denied that the minds of Frenchmen, +susceptible of the least energy, have here received a powerful impulse which +has urged them towards great and useful ideas. This impulse has been kept alive +and continued by the grand establishments of public instruction, founded during +the course of that memorable period. Thus, in a few words, you are at once in +possession both of the causes and the result of the progress of the human mind +in this country.</p> +<p>You may, probably, be surprised that I could have written so much, in so +short a space of time, amid all the allurements of the French capital, and the +variety of pursuits which must necessarily have diverted my attention. Perhaps +too, you may think that I might have dwelt less on some of my least interesting +details. I must confess that I have, in some measure, subjected myself to such +an opinion; but, knowing your wish to acquire every sort of information, I have +exerted myself to obtain it from all quarters. To collect this budget has been +no easy task; to compress it would have been still more difficult, and, alas! +to have transmitted it, in an epistolary form, would have been totally out of +my power, but for the assistance of two very ingenious artists, who have not a +little contributed to lighten my labour. Introducing themselves to me, very +shortly after my arrival, the one furnished me with an everlasting pen; and the +other, with an inexhaustible inkstand.</p> +<p>Farewell, my good friend. I have obtained a passport for England. My baggage +is already packed up. To-morrow I shall devote to the ceremony of making visits +<i>p. p. c.</i> that is, <i>pour prendre congé</i> of my Parisian friends; and, +on the day after, <i>(Deo volente)</i> I shall bid adieu to the "paradise of +women, the purgatory of men, and the hell of horses."</p> +<p class="fnt"><a name="let88f1">Footnote 1</a>: Since the revolution, the +Paris lottery is drawn three times in each month, in lieu of twice; and +lotteries have also been established in the principal towns of the Republic, +namely; Bordeaux, Lyons, Marseilles, Rouen, Strasburg, and Brussels. The +offices in the capital present the facility of gambling in all these different +lotteries as often every month as in that of +Paris. <a href="#let88fr1">Return to text</a></p> +<h2>THE END.</h2> +<p><i>The new organisation of the National Institute, referred to in Letter XLV +of this volume, will be found among the <a href="#neworg">prefaratory +matter</a> in Vol. I, immediately preceding the Introduction.</i> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Paris As It Was and As It Is, by Francis W. Blagdon + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARIS AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS *** + +This file should be named 8998-h.htm or 8998-h.zip + +Produced by John Hagerson, Carlo Traverso, and Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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